The Sacramento Police Department (SPD) isn’t interested in being good enough, or in narrowly complying with the laws and policies governing our work. We continue to seek ways to be a leader in law enforcement and to set an example of transparency, community involvement and constant improvement.

“That’s why we invited the California Attorney General to examine our department from top to bottom – to help us find ways to improve, even in ways no other department or agency is doing today.” -Chief Daniel Hahn

Attorney General Becerra delivered on that request, and we are grateful to say we have a robust list of recommendations we are taking to heart. We are going to keep our promise to examine every one of them with an open mind and an open organization.

The California Department of Justice (DOJ) report on use of force-related polices, training, and practices within the Sacramento Police Department is available through this link:

https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/attachments/press-docs/spd-report.pdf

Today’s list of recommendations is only the first phase of what we know will be an ongoing cooperation with the Attorney General’s Office. We welcome this partnership and intend to hold up our end of it.

After an initial review, there are numerous promising practices we believe we are substantially fulfilling today, or where we have made significant progress toward implementing.

Of course, we know there is always room to improve, and we will focus on improving even those areas where we are already complied with the Attorney General’s recommendations. The fact that no one has done it before or it’s not real common in law enforcement will never prevent us from researching ways to continue to improve our department. 

In some cases, these recommendations reflect issues that face significant legal or legislative hurdles, but that law enforcement agencies statewide seek to explore further. Because we strive to be a department whose actions at all times reflect the best practices in our profession, we have begun moving toward the aspirations the Attorney General has for law enforcement in these areas.

We eagerly accept the challenge of leading the discussion and the path forward on these issues, and we look forward to partnering with the Attorney General’s Office to make them a reality in our community.

Please refer to this link for our current responses to the recommendations:

http://www.cityofsacramento.org/Police/Transparency/California-Department-of-Justice-Reports

We are very grateful to the Attorney General for this partnership to achieve excellence. When we said we wanted a thorough, unsparing examination of our department, we meant it. And, when Attorney General Becerra promised to deliver it, he meant it. Now, the work before both of our agencies begins in earnest.