The Sacramento Police Department is a leader in transparent and progressive policing. We continually find ways to advance our profession and we demand high standards of those entrusted with providing service to our community.

Many of the policy recommendations made by OPSA in their External Audit Report have value. Some of the recommendations are already in place. The Sacramento Police Department has reviewed and is considering all of the additional recommendations.

We acknowledge the critical role of oversight in public safety, which builds and maintains public trust by ensuring that SPD adheres to high standards. We also know the importance of public trust in our department and our responsibility to provide timely, factual, and accurate information. During our review, SPD identified pertinent facts and information that are not accurate and could be misleading.

For perspective, during the audit period, the SPD responded to 772,863 service calls to the public and made 2,128 arrests. During that same time, SPD received 594 complaints and in more than 99% of all cases reviewed by the OPSA, they concurred with SPD findings.

The OPSA reported that they reviewed 109 cases between June 1, 2020, and June 30, 2022 with a complaint of "illegal search and seizure." Of those, OPSA reported that SPD should have determined misconduct occurred in 38 of these cases, while SPD found misconduct only 17- leaving 21 cases in question.

After an extensive review of the 21 cases in question by the OPSA, SPD found the following:

· OPSA had previously reviewed nine of those 21 cases for a violation of search and seizure and had concurred with SPDs findings. No violations of search and seizure were identified in those 9 cases.

· Five of the cases have been settled in court - Three of which were reviewed by a judge in a special hearing and the searches were upheld in a court of law. The other two cases pled guilty.

· In only two of the cases, SPD was unable to determine if there was a violation of search and seizure. In those two cases, additional interviews should have been conducted.

· In the remaining cases, SPD was able to provide the appropriate case law to show that no misconduct had occurred.

SPD is committed to constitutional policing. We will continue to work with our community, collaborate with OPSA, and proactively identify ways to move our department forward.