San José Police Watchdog Retires Suddenly
San José’s independent police auditor will retire at the end of the month, shortly after he was put on leave last week with no public explanation, city officials said.
Eddie Aubrey, a 67-year-old former police officer and prosecutor, was appointed to run the city’s Independent Police Auditor office in May 2024.
His sudden retirement puts him in league with a string of city police auditors who have left the role after a handful of years in the position or fewer, including some who departed amid controversy.
Without sharing a reason, San José Mayor Matt Mahan’s office confirmed last week that Aubrey was put on administrative leave on Aug. 4. The Mercury News first reported the change.
On Tuesday afternoon, Mahan’s office issued a statement saying Aubrey would retire, and that a nationwide recruitment process would begin immediately to find a replacement. Aubrey did not respond to requests for comment.
Mahan told KQED on Wednesday that he cannot share details about Aubrey’s retirement because it is a confidential personnel matter, but he thanked Aubrey for his work and praised changes made under his tenure.
“We have much clearer protocols between the IPA and [SJPD] internal affairs when it comes to timely access to information and their working relationship,” Mahan said. He also said the office is fully staffed with “really talented” employees who are “delivering high-quality work product.”
The auditor, a civilian position, is charged with collecting and reviewing complaints about San José police department officers and officials, as well as reviewing the department’s own internal affairs investigations into misconduct allegations and police shootings.
The office works directly with internal affairs — the police division charged with investigating alleged misconduct by police officers — but does not have power to force changes. The auditor also produces an annual public report, which makes recommendations for policy changes and flags concerns or positive developments largely based on cases it reviewed.
The office, which Deputy Independent Police Auditor Dwight White is temporarily helming, will present its annual report to the council on Sept. 15, the mayor’s office said.
Aubrey was hailed as an experienced leader at the time of his appointment by the city council in 2024, which followed a period of tumult at the office.
He succeeded interim Independent Police Auditor Karyn Sinunu-Towery, a former 30-year prosecutor in Santa Clara County.
She was selected for the temporary role after former auditor Shivaun Nurre’s unexpected retirement in June 2023. It was later revealed that just before retiring, Nurre got into a heated verbal argument with a San José police officer at the San José Greek Festival while she was drunk.
A few months later, the then-assistant IPA, Eva Roa, resigned and wrote a letter criticizing city management and officials for ignoring the IPA’s recommendations and chiding Sinunu-Towery for being too trusting of police department investigators.
Voters granted the office expanded investigatory access in a 2020 ballot measure. Nurre, echoing a consultant’s report to the council, later advocated for the city to further expand the powers of the auditor, including the right to directly conduct investigations into alleged police misconduct instead of only auditing internal police investigations.
Former Mayor Sam Liccardo found council support for such a proposal in late 2022, but it faced harsh pushback from the powerful San José Police Officers’ Association.
In November 2023, while Sinunu-Towery was at the helm of the office, the council voted 8-2 to formally reject plans to expand those powers.
Teresa Guerrero-Daley served more than a decade as the city’s first-ever independent police auditor beginning in 1994. But since her retirement, the office has seen six other auditors come and go.
Before Nurre, Aaron Zisser resigned after less than a year in the job, citing personal attacks from the police union.
Mahan on Wednesday acknowledged the scrutiny that comes with the job and the sometimes short tenures of IPAs in the city.
“My preference, of course, would be to have someone who is there for a longer period of time because I think it adds stability,” Mahan said. “I don’t know what the exact right number of years is. It’s a high-pressure, tough job, and you’ve got to expect a certain amount of turnover in all of the council-appointee jobs.”
Mahan said the role is critical to building trust in public safety officials in the large and diverse city.
“We cannot continue to be the safest big city in the country if we don’t hire the best and brightest to ensure transparency and accountability,” he said.