This article has been updated to include a statement from plaintiffs’ attorney Geneviéve Jones-Wright.
A social advocacy group is suing the San Diego Police Department for mislabeling police complaints in order to sidestep review by the independent Commission on Police Practices.
The San Diego Police Department has categorized nearly 80% of all complaints against officers as “miscellaneous,” thereby keeping the complaints from being reviewed by the commission, alleges a writ of mandate newly filed by the Pillars of the Community, a San Diego-based advocacy group, and local advocate Tasha Williamson.
The legal petition argues the practice is a violation of Measure B, which nearly three-quarters of San Diego voters passed in 2020. The ballot measure established an independent civilian oversight body, whose members were appointed by the city council. The board would have its own staff and attorneys, the power to issue subpoenas, and would be tasked with investigating police officer misconduct and making recommendations on officer discipline.
The commission’s power, however, was tested shortly after Measure B passed.
In June 2021, some board members were disappointed with the language then city-attorney, Mara Elliott, used to implement the ordinance and upset that the city prevented them from appointing new members to fill the commission’s 23 seats.
At the time, Brandon Hilpert cautioned the city council that the board was losing members at a fast rate because of the city’s failure to implement the ordinance.
“The commission raises the concern that the commission may soon be unable to provide the civilian oversight the community expects and demands,” Hilpert wrote to Councilman Sean Elo-Rivera.
The following year, the city attorney’s office released new ordinance language, which most members found agreeable. However, the city and the police union said the ordinance required labor negotiations, resulting in additional delays, as well as more resignations from the board due to heavy caseload and inadequate support from the city.
“A Commission that does not have the full faith and trust of the community it represents cannot achieve the kind of meaningful transformation in public safety that we all deserve,” wrote Commissioner Patrick Anderson in his July 2022 resignation letter.
The commission continued to falter in the years that followed and soon abandoned reviewing officer misconduct reports due to a mounting backlog of other cases.
Frustration remained in the community. In 2025, some remaining commissioners conducted an audit, identifying flaws in the complaint portal that prevented those on mobile devices from submitting complaints and those with sensory and cognitive impairments from lodging complaints. San Diego Police say those issues have since been resolved.
Now with the newly-filed writ of petition, the city and the police department face a more serious charge: that the department is purposely labeling nearly 80% of all complaints as miscellaneous to avoid review.
“We filed this lawsuit because the voters of San Diego approved Measure B to create meaningful, independent civilian oversight of the Police Department, and that oversight cannot function if SDPD can unilaterally decide which complaints the Commission on Police Practices gets to review,” wrote attorney Geneviéve Jones-Wright.
“This case is about more than any single complaint. It is about preserving a system of civilian oversight that community members fought for over decades,” said Jones-Wright. “Measure B was intended to ensure independent review of police misconduct complaints and to build public trust through transparency and accountability. Our position is that SDPD cannot create internal processes that effectively remove complaints from that oversight framework and then decide for itself which complaints receive independent scrutiny.”
Added Wright, “The Commission on Police Practices exists because the community demanded independent oversight. When complaints are withheld, excluded, or classified in ways that prevent meaningful review, the public loses the accountability and transparency that voters mandated. This lawsuit seeks to ensure that the Charter is followed and that the civilian oversight system approved by the people of San Diego functions as intended.”
The writ of mandate includes alleged examples of the department’s mislabelling or refusing to submit complaints to the board.
Among them are a series of complaints from social advocate Tasha Williamson, who said she submitted three complaints over the span of several weeks that officers had used force and falsely detained a group of minors at the Dolores M. Magdaleno Memorial Recreation Center in Logan Heights in January of this year.
The court petition alleges the department refused to send Williamson’s complaint to the commission.
Pillars of the Community, who joined Williamson in the petition, said they have “multiple” other similar examples.
The petition seeks to force the department and the city to comply with Measure B and asks a judge to prohibit the San Diego Police from withholding any additional complaints to the commission.
The city declined to comment on the writ of mandate due to pending litigation.
