San Jose police adopt more scrutiny on use of force

SAN JOSE — In a groundbreaking move inspired by civilian oversight, the San Jose Police Department is instituting a new policy to increase reviews of officers’ use of force and intensify investigations into the most serious instances, officials announced Tuesday.

Before the new policy was adopted, use-of-force reviews for violent but non-fatal police encounters typically occurred only in response to a police complaint, made with the department’s Internal Affairs unit or the city’s Office of the Independent Police Auditor.

Police supervisors and commanders will now be expected to launch force investigations on their own based on what they observe in the field. Additionally, violent incidents will be graded on a new four-tier scale where a higher risk of injury or death triggers a corresponding increase in scrutiny from police brass, instead of being evaluated uniformly with no consideration for severity.