SF Police Accountability Dept Faces Lawsuit Over Misconduct, Misused Funds

Inside San Francisco's Department of Police Accountability, the agency charged with investigating police misconduct, a former employee alleges she witnessed a strip show, was exposed to a photograph of a sex toy, and was ultimately fired for telling the Police Commission the agency wasn't doing its job.

Janelle Caywood, who worked at the DPA from December 2018 to August 2025 as an attorney and policy director, filed a lawsuit Tuesday in San Francisco Superior Court accusing Executive Director Paul Henderson of misappropriating funds, retaliating against her with a demotion and eventual termination, and fostering what the complaint describes as "an environment of favoritism, retaliation, and off-color jokes that often veered into harassment."

The complaint also accuses Henderson of crossing professional boundaries by holding a strip show at work and showing an employee a picture of a sex toy, and accuses the agency of failing to address racist text messages circulated internally.

Caywood's problems with management began, the suit alleges, after she was promoted to policy director. She reported to the Police Commission that the DPA was regularly late in updating SFPD policies and had created new rules on covert social media accounts without alerting the commission. Henderson responded, the complaint claims, by demoting her. In her subsequent role as a team attorney for a group of investigators, she faced harassment from supervisor Diana Rosenstein, according to the suit. Henderson ultimately fired her in August 2025, which the lawsuit frames as retaliation for raising those oversight concerns with the city.

The DPA is a civilian-staffed agency whose core mandate is to investigate police misconduct and officer-involved shootings, review departmental policies, and audit the SFPD. The agency has faced a turbulent period, with resignations, firings, and prior claims of wrongdoing raising questions about its internal culture even before Caywood's complaint was filed.

Attorneys for Caywood declined to comment. Jen Kwart, a spokesperson for the city attorney's office, said only: "Once we are served, we will review the complaint and respond in court." No public statement from Henderson, the DPA, or Rosenstein was available at the time of publication.

The complaint does not include publicly disclosed dollar amounts tied to the alleged misappropriation of funds, and the city attorney's office had not yet confirmed whether it had been formally served.