Hansel Aguilar, the former Berkeley Director of Police Accountability, sued the city of Berkeley and Mayor Adena Ishii for allegedly collaborating with the Berkeley Police Department to retaliate against him after trying to investigate police misconduct and exercise the duties and functions of his job.
The lawsuit, filed May 15 with the Alameda County Superior Court, alleges Aguilar faced harassment; obstructed access to police department records; a hiring freeze to limit the authority and investigations of the Office of Police Accountability; family leave discrimination; and termination without notice or cause. The lawsuit also alleges whistleblower retaliation, harassment, discrimination and wrongful termination.
“My removal … comes at a time of mounting structural pressure on the independence of civilian oversight in Berkeley: an extended hiring freeze … resistance to producing records that has forced the oversight office into court to enforce a subpoena, and the resignation of experienced Police Accountability Board members,” Aguilar said in a February statement after his removal.
Aguilar was appointed as the Director of Police Accountability in 2022 by the City Council and the mayor. He was dismissed Feb. 9 in a near-unanimous closed-session vote by City Council members.
Former city worker Kathy Lee is now serving as the Interim Director of Police Accountability.
According to the lawsuit filed by Aguilar, the city allegedly failed to comply with the employment agreement between them and Aguilar by not providing a performance evaluation process.
Aguilar claims he regularly asked the city and mayor for performance evaluations over the course of his employment but never received them, despite city officials claiming a consultant would eventually be hired to undertake the process.
In an April 2023 memo to former Councilmember Kate Harrison, Aguilar alleged BPD delayed or denied records and information requests, obstructing the Office of Police Accountability from completing charter-mandated investigations, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit notes that Police Chief Jen Louis responded by accusing Aguilar of “repeated fabrications and stretching of facts” to “intentionally discredit the integrity of the department.”
Harrison presented Louis’ accusations at a City Council meeting, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit alleges that Aguilar’s “protected activity became increasingly public, inconvenient, and adverse to the positions taken by city leadership,” prompting public criticism of Aguilar despite the city’s failure to create a performance evaluation process.
In December, Aguilar took legal action against Louis following an administrative subpoena for allegedly denying recordings from a June 2025 sweep of the Eighth and Harrison encampment that involved a potential police misconduct investigation by the Police Accountability Board.
Later, court filings claimed that the city believed Aguilar to have lacked authority to initiate the subpoena without City Council approval, countering advice Aguilar says he formerly received.
Additionally, Aguilar alleges Ishii discouraged him from speaking during council meetings. The suit further alleges that after Aguilar placed items regarding his office’s investigative authority on the council agenda in October 2025, he faced public criticism from council members and the mayor.
Aguilar and the city of Berkeley did not respond to a request for comment. Ishii’s office declined to comment, saying Ishii is unable to comment on “active litigation as well as personnel matters.”