The Sacramento Police Department has arrested an officer in the department for two felony counts of filing a false police report. The officer, 26-year-old Alexa Palubicki, was placed on administrative leave as soon as the department received information about her misconduct. In July of 2020 this information was brought to the attention of the department by other Sacramento Police Department officers.
Once the Sacramento Police Department was alerted to the dishonesty, the department launched a thorough audit of all arrests and associated supplemental reports submitted by Palubicki over the course of her three-year employment. Investigators in the department spent five months interviewing dozens of employees as well as reviewing footage from body-worn-cameras, in-car-cameras, and surveillance cameras as part of a comprehensive criminal and administrative investigation. In addition, search warrants were served for cell phones and social media accounts associated with the officer. The case was submitted to the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office, which has been working collaboratively with the Sacramento Police Department throughout the process.
“The Sacramento Police Department does not tolerate dishonesty by any employee. In fact, our department mandates that employees bring misconduct to the attention of their supervisors and intervene when misconduct occurs. This individual’s criminal behavior has no place in the Sacramento Police Department. I am grateful for the other officers in this department who demonstrated strong integrity to come forward with information about this individual,” said Sacramento Police Chief Daniel Hahn. “The Sacramento Police Department took swift action against this employee by removing peace officer powers and placing the individual on administrative leave.”
The Department has instituted a number of changes to prevent incidents like this from ever happening again. These changes include creating an Inspection and Standards Team that is responsible for conducting reoccurring audits of arrest reports, body worn camera footage, and crime reports to ensure that arrests are lawful and within policy.
The internal affairs process regarding this case is still ongoing in accordance with state law. The department is committed to transparency and we will continue to update our community regarding this case as we are able.
