SAN JOSE — Eddie Aubrey, who had been serving as San Jose’s civilian police watchdog for over two years until he was mysteriously placed on administrative leave last week, is retiring, according to city officials who have yet to give any public reasoning for abruptly sidelining him.

Aubrey, 67, took the helm of the Office of the Independent Police Auditor in April 2024, and had served a relatively low-key tenure that included some modest clashes with the police department last year but nothing that was significantly controversial.

The mayor’s office confirmed to this news organization that he was placed on leave Aug. 4 and declined to comment on the basis for the action. A news release Tuesday announcing his retirement, effective Sept. 1, did not clarify the matter any further, and Aubrey has not responded to this news organization’s messages seeking comment.

Assistant Independent Police Auditor Dwight White will be running the office as the city works to launch a national search for a replacement, according to the mayor’s office. White joined the office last year after a police oversight career that saw him appointed in 2021 as Sacramento’s first inspector general before coming to San Jose.

“Trust and transparency create safety – and the Independent Police Auditor helps maintain both here in San Jose,” Mayor Matt Mahan said in a statement. “I want to thank Eddie Aubrey for his service to our city and urge those who care deeply about justice and accountability to apply for this important position.”

The city warmly welcomed Aubrey upon his appointment as he arrived with a background that encompassed work as a police officer in Santa Monica and Los Angeles from 1980 to 1997, followed by work in Seattle, where he earned a law degree and served as a criminal and city prosecutor, headed a community college public safety department, and served as a pro tem judge.

In 2009, he led the establishment of a police oversight body similar to San Jose’s model in Fresno, and relocated to the Bay Area in 2016 to be the founding leader of the Office of Professional Accountability in the Richmond Police Department.

While official explanations have been absent regarding Aubrey’s departure and the circumstances that preceded it, its mysterious nature evokes the similarly abrupt exit of his predecessor, Shivaun Nurre, three years ago.

Nurre, who worked in the office for nearly two decades under multiple IPA’s before heading the office herself in 2018, ran the office to high regard before she suddenly submitted her retirement notice in June 2023. She would later reveal that she sent in that notice three days after she drunkenly accosted San Jose police officers while attending the San Jose Greek Festival.

White, now the acting auditor, came to San Jose after serving as Sacramento’s first inspector general, leading independent and administrative investigations into police shootings, in-custody deaths and excessive force cases and reviewing misconduct complaints. That was preceded by work in Chicago investigating white-collar misconduct for the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, and an earlier job investigating police misconduct and homicides in that city. He has a degree from the University of Illinois – Chicago School of Law.

San Jose’s IPA office was established in 1993 as a compromise between city leaders, who wanted a police commission, and the police union, which resisted creating additional civilian oversight. Aubrey was the seventh person to serve as the city’s independent police auditor.

The purview of the office is as an independent repository for public complaints about police behavior and conduct in the city — particularly for those who do not want to submit complaints directly the police department — and to audit internal and external misconduct investigations evaluated by the internal affairs unit. But practically, the office is limited to serving as an advisory body, with no legislated means to enforce reforms or recommendations beyond public and political pressure.

The office publishes annual reports to help the public chart and track trends on issues including police use of force and their treatment of members of the public, and uses its evaluations to push for changes in the scope and diligence of internal police investigations. In its news release announced Aubrey’s retirement, the mayor’s office said the latest IPA report — covering 2025 — will be heard by the City Council as scheduled Sept. 15.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.