Over the last several years, the San Diego Police Department (SDPD) has faced cases of criminal misconduct by police officers, including sexual assaults of women by on-duty officers. Former Chief of Police William Lansdowne announced a seven-point plan to prevent recurrences of misconduct and criminal acts by officers included measures such as strengthening the internal affairs unit, establishing a 24/7 confidential complaint hotline, and evaluating the department’s early identification and intervention system (EIIS), which is intended to provide early alerts to police supervisors about potentially problematic behavior by officers. The SDPD had fully implemented Chief Lansdowne’s seven-point plan by February 2013. In early 2014, new allegations of criminal sexual misconduct by two additional SDPD officers refocused attention on the issue of misconduct within the SDPD and left many individuals questioning the full implementation of the seven-point plan. In response, Chief Lansdowne sought outside assistance to review the SDPD’s systems for detecting and preventing misconduct, evaluate how the department had handled the misconduct cases, and recommend reform measures. This report is the result of that external review.
