The Vallejo Police Department (VPD) is the most troubled police department in northern California. This is clear to residents of Vallejo, potential VPD applicants, local and national media, and police professionals in the Bay Area. But this has never been directly acknowledged by our leaders, nor has there been a substantive attempt to make amends to the families who have lost loved ones, to those who have been subjected to police abuse, or to the community. Past attempts at reform have been completely ineffective. 

For decades, too many people have suffered at the hands of Vallejo Police. Lives have been stolen. Families are left grieving, without loved ones and without accountability or justice. Vallejo has had the highest rates of police shootings and liability payments per officer, and the revelations of wrongdoing have steadily continued. The lack of accountability and transparency are visible to all and ongoing.

See Appendix A for a list of grave violations of trust and legitimacy by the Vallejo Police Department and Vallejo Police Officers' Association (VPD / VPOA).

Public safety in our community is fundamentally compromised until the city addresses these issues. Vallejoans are concerned about crime and about the lack of staffing and response times in the department. We recognize that law enforcement does necessary and often dangerous work. We do not believe that more pay or a new police headquarters will substantially reduce our recruitment and retention problems. We must reckon with our record of killing and liability, badge bending gang, cover-ups, and lack of accountability. 

We would all like to move on from the past. But past inaction and indifference created the severe problems that we face today. We must see major actions led by City Council, NOW. The inaction and resistance to reform by City staff and the VPOA has exacerbated a public safety crisis which will continue to worsen until bold action is taken. 

We support extended oversight by the California Department of Justice and a stipulated consent decree, similar to the one for the City of Louisville, that establishes a court-supervised monitor who will oversee the VPD/ VPOA and implementation of reforms.

We demand the following immediate actions by the Vallejo City Council:

1. Direct the City Attorney to enter into a stipulated agreement with the Department of Justice or a negotiated settlement agreement in the McCoy case that establishes a court-supervised monitor of the VPD / VPOA.
2. Adopt a resolution requesting that the state DOJ extend and broaden its oversight of the VPD for five additional years.
3. Implement the OIR independent auditor agreement, identical to the contract unanimously approved by council in February 2021, with OIR’s work to be overseen directly by City Council.
4. Restructure the destruction of evidence investigation, so that the Sacramento investigative law firm reports directly to City Council without any middleman, and undertake a public review of the scope of work for the investigation to ensure that the firm performs a full review and possesses all relevant information for a thorough, independent investigation.
5. Initiate independent investigations into issues (with the investigator reporting directly to council) into the matters listed at Appendix A.

Additional demands and details can be found in Appendix B.

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The independent monitor, auditor, and investigator are needed because our city is incapable of reforming VPD/VPOA on its own. The city has known for decades that there are massive problems in the VPD / VPOA. In 2018, a self-insured pool of twenty local cities forced Vallejo out of the pool and into a higher-risk pool, where the cost of insurance has been ten million dollars higher. The community attempted to initiate major reform with the DOJ a decade ago. Nothing resulted. 

In 2019, the OIR Group, the most respected police accountability consultant in the western United States, did a comprehensive review of VPD practices and made 45 recommendations to be completed by June 30, 2023. To date, we have only met 2 of the 45 recommendations. Additionally, for more than two years, City staff have blocked oversight by OIR after council’s unanimous authorization of an auditor contract in February 2021.

In the past few months, our city has re-committed itself to the longstanding VPD / VPOA culture. Although the passage of the police oversight ordinance in December was a positive step, the empowerment of the VPOA undermines and offsets that progress. VPOA leaders and insiders were promoted and forced Chief Williams out. The VPOA now enjoys full control of our police department - they are in charge of recruitment, hiring, promotions, discipline, training, and policy.

We must face our reality. Anyone who googles VPD will find videos and media stories exposing who we are. The VPD / VPOA will always claim that money is the solution to all policing problems. But we had severe police misconduct issues when our officers were among the highest paid in the state. Competitive compensation is necessary, but completely insufficient. We will not make meaningful progress recruiting and retaining good officers without massive reform, strong independent oversight and greater community trust.

To attract and retain the type of officers who will practice good policing, we need to own our history and undertake one of the most comprehensive and bold efforts in the nation to reform a police department. We must establish clear, verifiable goals and a strong vision of what kind of police department we will be. We must have objective milestones.

We must have safeguards to prevent the quasi-gang culture of badge benders and their enablers in the VPD/ VPOA and at city hall. If we continue to ignore these massive problems, we condone and embolden a culture that is incompatible with attracting and retaining the good officers needed to keep us safe. Ongoing inaction will promote misconduct, increase our legal liabilities, and result in harm to Vallejo residents.

As evidenced by the magnitude of the wrongdoing, lack of progress on the OIR recommendations, and circumstances around Chief Williams’ departure, this is an institution that cannot be left to reform itself. Serious, permanent change requires external, independent oversight.

The only way to move our city’s public safety forward is to acknowledge and be transparent about our past, commit to and deliver on necessary reforms, and transform our police department into an agency that prioritizes the safety and security of all members of our community, with no exceptions.

The priorities above were developed by a strong and diverse coalition of community members, including legal experts and those impacted by police violence. A copy will be provided to the state DOJ, the city's partner in achieving police reform.

 

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Appendix A: Revelations of Wrongdoing

The VPD / VPOA is arguably the most troubled police department in the state of California and among the most troubled in the nation. 

In the decade from 2010-2020, 19 people were killed at the hands of Vallejo police. In the years since, revelations have included:

• The ritual of badge bending
• Indifference and cover-ups of badge bending by city officials
• High rates of shootings and liability payments per officer
• Mishandling of fatal police shootings including lack of discipline for officers.
• A pattern of destruction of evidence by the police department and City Attorney’s office in at least 5 police shootings
• Alleged manipulation of the promotion process by the former VPOA president
• Alleged timecard fraud by the current VPOA president and cover-up by city officials
• A pattern of retaliation against whistleblowers who speak out about wrongdoing
• Failure to make progress on implementation of OIR reforms
• Lack of truly independent investigations into wrongdoing, for example badge bending and evidence destruction.
• An internal memo alleging that then-Deputy Chief and current Interim Chief Jason Ta showed up drunk to a homicide scene.

Discovery of additional misconduct by leaders and staff will continue to occur, as the current lawsuits proceed and journalists pursue major investigations.

 

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Appendix B: Additional demands for action by the Vallejo City Council

With problems of this magnitude, the solution will require a series of actions.

Together, an independent auditor, independent investigations, a police commission, and court-supervised auditor will reform the VPD/VPOA. No police commission will be functioning for a year. But, an independent auditor and independent investigations can be implemented now. 

In the presentation of the police commission ordinance in December no emphasis was placed on the central role of an independent auditor. A police commission is no more important than the independence and scope of work of the police auditor and independent investigators. 

Independent Auditor:

The independent auditor function is as essential to achieve transparency and accountability as the police commission. The auditor must begin its work now. There is no reason for delay.

Our council recognizes the importance of an independent police auditor. On February 23, 2021, the council unanimously approved the hiring of the OIR Group to serve as the city's interim police auditor. Mayor McConnell underscored the importance of OIR's work as independent police auditor through an amendment requiring reports from OIR to the council not less than every sixty days. 

After more than two years, the OIR Group, the VPD's independent auditor, has not reported once to council. In short, the OIR contract has been blocked.  Council must implement and oversee the OIR auditor contract immediately.

Due to the unexplained failure to implement the auditor contract, there has been no auditing and no independent reports to council about discipline, promotions, or misconduct in the VPD/VPOA.  

In Antioch, by contrast, we have seen a strong reaction by the mayor and city council, staff, and the community to police misconduct in their city. Antioch has initiated an independent audit of Antioch IAs and hiring and promotions for the past eight years. In Antioch the council stands with the community. Action has been rapid. 

The people of Vallejo expect more vigilance and external oversight than in Antioch. To do that, there must be an independent auditor now.

Independent Investigator:

The community does not consider city hall’s preferred investigators independent. They are investigators acceptable to the VPOA. Investigators must be truly independent and report directly to City Council without any middleman (or with the assistance of an independent consultant, who, unlike the current consultant, has not been paid large sums by the Vallejo city manager and city attorney for past work and whose loyalty appears to be to senior staff and not council).

Below are additional demands for City Council action:

1. Release the bent badge investigation, as the ACLU’s lawsuit demands, so that the community may identify the gaps in witnesses, evidence, and content and determine next steps; along with an explanation of whether anyone has been disciplined for badge bending and if not, why not.
2. Re-agendizize the police oversight ordinance to consider key amendments, alongside immediate recruitment and appointment of members to the police oversight commission.
3. Commit to a charter change and form of a community task force that will recommend the specific language to Council for the charter amendments relating to police oversight.
4. Retain a police accountability consultant to oversee implementation of the OIR Group recommendations. We need an external specialist who will submit an action plan with deadlines and transparency regarding their work progress, and who can provide public updates every 30 days.
5. In addition to external monitoring and oversight, independent investigations, overseen by City Council, are needed into:
   1. The apparent existence of a law enforcement gang in the VPD/VPOA.
   2. Compliance with new laws that allow for decertification of officers: SB16, which made  significant changes to the law intended to to increase the level of transparency into allegations and investigations of peace officer misconduct, and accountability for such misconduct, and SB2, which intends to increase accountability for misconduct by peace officers and require notification to POST of certain allegations of misconduct;
   3. The badge tip-bending and lack of discipline for participating in and enabling a possible criminal gang (See SB 16) in the VPD/ VPOA;
   4. Destruction of records by the City Attorney's Office and VPD/VPOA;
   5. Racial disparities in stops, use of force, and the severity of force;
   6. The promotion, testing, and screening process that led to the current rank of the ex-VPOA president;
   7. The failure of the VPD/VPOA to investigate the arrest, vehicle confiscation and conduct of the current VPOA president relative to Carlos Yescas;
   8. The departure of Chief Williams;
   9. The lack of semi-annual reports regarding Vallejo liability insurance costs;
   10. The failure of the city to implement Advance Peace and a CAHOOTS-style mental health response program;
   11. Possible timecard fraud by the current VPOA president;
   12. The failure to use vehicle cameras.

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