Interim Police Chief Jason Ta and two other California law enforcement veterans are vying to become Vallejo’s next chief of police, Open Vallejo has confirmed.
Along with Ta, the other finalists are Mark Salazar, a deputy chief with the Fresno Police Department, and Mikail Ali, a former deputy police chief in San Francisco who retired last year, according to sources with knowledge of the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss internal personnel matters.
While soliciting feedback from Vallejo residents throughout the process, City Manager Andrew Murray and lead recruiter Joe Gorton, from Bob Hall & Associates, have attempted to keep the candidates’ names confidential. During a community meeting in June, Gorton said that publicly disclosing their names could drive away applicants or harm their career prospects.
Other cities have opted for more transparent processes. In 2021, for example, the nonprofit newsroom San Jose Spotlight reported that Ta was a finalist for the police chief position in that city after City Manager Dave Sykes announced the names of seven candidates. The city also hosted a virtual forum to introduce candidates to the community. (Former Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo, who led that department when George Floyd was murdered, withdrew from consideration after activists raised concerns about his candidacy.)
In February of this year, Oakland’s Police Commission held a police chief community forum billed as, “an opportunity for Oaklanders to hear from our top candidates and provide feedback on their candidacy.”
When contacted for comment Friday, Murray asked Open Vallejo not to publish this article.
“I would ask that Open Vallejo and other media outlets not release the names of the candidates as it can jeopardize the candidates’ current employment arrangements,” he wrote in an email.
Three panels — one with current or former police chiefs, another with community members, and a third with Vallejo city staff — interviewed six candidates for the position in early September. All three panels agreed on the top candidates, according to Murray. A spokesperson for the Vallejo Police Department declined to comment.
Panelists were asked to sign a confidentiality agreement on the morning of the interviews.
Originally expected to wrap up this month, the police chief selection process was extended to solicit more public input after a panelist stepped forward with concerns about a lack of Black representation on the community interview panel. Facing significant community backlash and pressure from the state Department of Justice, Murray announced Monday that he will convene a second, more diverse community panel to interview the three finalists. On Tuesday night, the city manager apologized and, at the suggestion of the whistleblower, said he will consider hiring an equity officer in Vallejo.
Ta has led the Vallejo Police Department as interim chief since his predecessor, Shawny Williams, abruptly resigned in November of 2022 after facing significant opposition from the Vallejo Police Officers’ Association. Ta stepped into the role while the department was working collaboratively with the California Department of Justice to implement 45 reforms recommended by expert consultants; by June of 2023, Vallejo police had complied with 20 of the recommendations, according to the DOJ.
The department must now complete the remainder of those recommendations, plus dozens more reforms related to citizen complaints, bias-free policing, and use of force, among other issues, under the terms of an April settlement agreement between Vallejo and the state DOJ.
Ta began his law enforcement career at the San Jose Police Department in 1996. After climbing the ranks to captain, he left the agency in 2021 to work as a deputy chief under Williams in Vallejo. The following year, he allegedly arrived at a homicide scene reeking of alcohol. Shortly after becoming interim chief, Ta canceled the department’s contract with Truleo, a technology company that uses artificial intelligence to review officers’ body camera footage. His decision came in response to pushback from Vallejo’s police union after the software allegedly flagged potential incidents of unprofessional conduct, according to public records.
This February, Open Vallejo reported that Ta was under consideration for the police chief job in Salinas, Calif. The following week, Salinas Interim City Manager Jim Pia announced that the city would begin a new search for a police chief after residents and members of the law enforcement community criticized the hiring process for a lack of transparency.Â
Among the critics was former Salinas Police Chief Kelly McMillin, who said at a Feb. 20 Salinas City Council meeting that he was hired following an “extensive” and “very public” national search that included a public forum with top candidates.
Ta did not respond to a request for comment.
Like Ta, Salazar and Ali each have roughly three decades of experience in California law enforcement.
Salazar joined the Fresno Police Department in 1996 and rose through the ranks, becoming a deputy chief in 2020, public records show. He also serves as treasurer for the Fresno Police Activities League, which offers mentorship opportunities for youth through boxing, football, and other recreational events.
Salazar unsuccessfully applied for the Fresno Police Chief position in 2019. In 2022, he ran for Fresno County Sheriff-Coroner on a platform of fighting crime and engaging with the community, according to The San Joaquin Valley Sun, a nonprofit newsroom. In a two-way contest, Salazar earned 40 percent of the vote but lost to the county’s assistant sheriff, who was endorsed by the outgoing sheriff. He could not immediately be reached for comment.
Ali, who has lived in Vallejo for more than five years, retired last July from a 30-year career with the San Francisco Police Department. Records show he became a deputy chief in 2015, serving in that role under two police chiefs. In other roles, Ali served as interim director of the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice, which promotes safe neighborhoods through efforts like gun buy-back events, and head of SFPD’s Special Operations Bureau.
In retirement, Ali works part-time for an independent police auditing company and coaches youth soccer, he told Open Vallejo in a Friday interview. As a resident of Vallejo, he said he is familiar with the city’s challenges and hopes to assume the police chief role to “be a part of the change.”
“I think there’s something special about being able to lead a public safety effort in your own community,” Ali said. “Even when you’re off-duty, per se, shopping at Safeway or shopping at the farmer’s market, you see things and you interact with people and it just gives you a different perspective.”
Ali said he fully supports Murray’s decision to convene a second community interview panel, noting that having an inclusive process benefits the decision-makers by providing more diverse perspectives.
“I applaud the city for being responsive,” he said. “This is absolutely necessary because the community has asked for it, and it’s a reasonable request.”
