Jun 20, 2025; West Sacramento, California, USA; A police officer stands for the playing of the national anthem before the game between the Cleveland Guardians against the Athletics at Sutter Health Park. Mandatory Credit: Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images
Berkley, California – A groundbreaking public database launched Monday gives Californians unprecedented access to police misconduct records, marking a milestone in law enforcement transparency. The Police Records Access Project—developed by UC Berkeley and Stanford University—features approximately 1.5 million pages of internal affairs documents and use-of-force reports from nearly 700 agencies across the state.
The searchable archive includes records from more than 12,000 individual cases and is being jointly published by CalMatters, the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, and KQED. It is the first database of its kind in the United States and is designed to serve a wide range of users, from public defenders and journalists to researchers and bereaved families seeking answers.
“This living database makes the transparency and accountability aims of Senate Bill 1421 a reality,” said Tiffany Bailey of the ACLU Foundation of Southern California, one of the project’s key contributors. That 2018 law, along with SB 16 in 2021, opened certain police records to the public—but access often required navigating a time-consuming and inconsistent request process. Until now, records could only be obtained by filing individual public records requests with local agencies.
The new platform streamlines that process. Users can search by name, agency, or type of misconduct, creating opportunities for cross-agency comparison and historical analysis that were previously out of reach. Police departments can also use the tool to vet potential hires more thoroughly.
The project took seven years to complete and brought together a coalition of journalists, lawyers, civil rights advocates, and data scientists. It was spearheaded by the Berkeley Institute for Data Science, the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism, and Stanford’s Big Local News. Additional support came from the ACLU of Southern California, the California Innocence Coalition, UC Irvine’s Press Freedom Project, and several academic centers focused on justice reform.
Documents were sourced from law enforcement agencies, prosecutors’ offices, and watchdog organizations and were redacted to comply with California privacy laws. Crime scene images, audio, and video files were excluded. Sensitive personal information—particularly involving victims of sexual assault or domestic violence—was removed by project staff.
The team also used advanced technologies, including generative AI, to organize, verify, and tag records in the database. Funding came in part from the state of California, with additional support from the Sony Foundation and Roc Nation.
Barry Scheck, co-founder of the Innocence Project, called the tool “critical for all stakeholders” in the justice system. “It offers a level of access that can lead to meaningful reform.”
