Vallejo City Manager Andrew Murray announced today that Interim Police Chief Jason Ta has been selected as the city’s next permanent chief following a controversial — and at times halting — hiring process.
Vallejo has not had a permanent police chief since November 2022, when Shawny Williams, the city’s first Black police chief, abruptly resigned. Ta, then a deputy chief, has led the agency since then. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Ta will step into the permanent position next month. He inherits a complex public safety environment that includes a sweeping reform effort by the state attorney general, a long-running staffing crisis that has led to skyrocketing response times, a high homicide rate, newly imposed civilian oversight, and an all-new mayor, city manager, and city council. Last year, Attorney General Rob Bonta expressed doubt about Ta’s ability to collaborate with the state on reform efforts that began under his predecessor.
Ta began his law enforcement career at the San Jose Police Department in 1996. 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, following 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.
The other finalists for Vallejo police chief were 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.
