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Residents can search a comprehensive, publicly accessible database of internal police records documenting use of force and misconduct, including cases involving the Richmond Police Department.
The Police Records Access Project, launched today, makes available nearly 1.5 million pages of documents from almost 500 law enforcement agencies across the state. The records cover about 12,000 cases involving allegations such as excessive force, dishonesty, sexual harassment, and incidents where police action resulted in death or serious injury.
Built by UC Berkeley and Stanford University with funding from the State of California, the database is published through major outlets, including the Los Angeles Times and San Francisco Chronicle. The database creators say it is the first of its kind nationwide, providing a centralized, searchable platform to improve transparency and accountability around law enforcement statewide.
The search tool now allows the public to view records tied to the Richmond Police Department, searchable by officer name, allegation type, or keyword, with links to original internal reports.
Among the Richmond-related entries are files connected to some of the city’s most scrutinized cases, including the 2014 killing of Richard “Pedie” Perez, whose family fought for years to obtain records that helped lead to California’s landmark police transparency laws.
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The database also contains files tied to the June 2023 fatal shooting of 66-year-old Kevin McDonald in Point Richmond. The Contra Costa District Attorney ruled the officers’ actions lawful after McDonald allegedly pointed an assault rifle at police during a search warrant service.
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The Richmond Community Police Review Commission voted 5 to 2 to find that the use of deadly force was unreasonable during their September 4, 2024, meeting.
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Threet said he no longer believes the commission can be relied upon to reach a valid finding on allegations of officer misconduct based on an objective, unbiased view of the evidence.
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Additionally, Richmond officers were among those investigated in the Bay Area-wide scandal involving Celeste Guap, who alleged sexual relationships with multiple officers while underage.
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“The creation of a public-facing database is critical for all stakeholders in the criminal legal system: whether public defenders, innocence organizations, prosecutors, police departments, or academics,” said Barry Scheck, co-founder of the Innocence Project.
Aditya Parameswaran, associate professor at UC Berkeley who helped lead the technical development, praised the use of generative AI combined with expert review to build a system “at a scale that’s unprecedented, for a task that’s never been done before and for societal impact.”
The database excludes audio and video evidence, as well as sensitive information relating to victims of sexual assault or domestic violence. The records have been carefully redacted to comply with California’s public records laws.
According to the Richmond Police Department, the database contains records previously released by the department and already made publicly available.
“The records contained in the database have always been and will remain available to the public, as required by and in compliance with the law,” said Lt. Donald Patchin, the department’s Public Information Officer.
Patchin said the department will continue to handle public access to records in the same way it always has, in compliance with the law.
Residents and journalists can explore Richmond-specific records by visiting the Richmond-filtered portal hosted by the San Francisco Chronicle.
https://clean.sfchronicle.com/?filter_source_agency=Richmond+Police+Department
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