Mike Nisperos, a longtime champion of police reform in Vallejo, resigned Monday from the Police Oversight and Accountability Commission hours before a special meeting, which he said the city scheduled in violation of a 2022 ordinance.
Nisperos emailed his resignation to District 1 City Councilmember Alexander Matias shortly after noon Monday, according to records obtained by Open Vallejo. Nisperos was among eight Vallejo residents appointed last February to serve on the civilian oversight board for the Vallejo Police Department, which was created through a city ordinance in December 2022 after more than a decade of community activism.
But more than two years after the board was created, the commission has been unable to begin work, despite a settlement agreement with the California Department of Justice which requires that Vallejo police work with the commission to strengthen community engagement. The commission has stalled because the Vallejo City Attorney’s Office has so far provided less than half of the required training, Nisperos wrote in his resignation letter.
The ordinance states that members should complete their training within nine months of their appointment to the board; that deadline passed in November as the city failed to provide the training. One commissioner’s term expired in February, although his name was still listed on the March meeting agenda.
City Attorney Veronica Nebb, City Manager Andrew Murray, Mayor Andrea Sorce, Vice Mayor Peter Bregenzer and Councilmembers Alexander Matias, Charles Palamares, J.R. Matulac, Helen-Marie Gordon and Tonia Lediju were not immediately available for comment. Vallejo police spokesperson Sgt. Rashad Hollis declined to comment.
The city scheduled a special meeting of the commission at 6 p.m. Monday to review and discuss proposed changes to the Police Oversight and Accountability Ordinance, according to a meeting agenda. Under the amended ordinance, the commission would be tasked with giving “opinions” to the police chief rather than “recommendations,” which police reform advocates have said will weaken the commission’s power.
The Vallejo City Council will also discuss the amended ordinance at a special meeting scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday at Vallejo City Hall.
Nisperos said he believes Monday’s meeting violates the police oversight ordinance, which prohibits members from participating on the commission until they have completed a series of mandatory training. The training that has not been provided includes guidance on the city’s memoranda of understanding with the Vallejo Police Officers’ Association, Nisperos said, as well as the California Peace Officer Bill of Rights, which provides civil service protections to officers.
Both are “the very essential information you would need in order to conduct a meaningful discussion about an amendment to an ordinance that you’re unfamiliar with,” he said. “It’s an illegal meeting.”
Nisperos, a former California State Bar prosecutor who served as a founding member of the Oakland Police Commission in 2017, has been involved with a years-long process to establish civilian police oversight in Vallejo. He said the experience has been long and frustrating due to the city’s mismanagement, but that he remains available as an informal resource to commissioners and city council members.
“I’m not withdrawing from participating or being engaged,” Nisperos said. “It’s just that I’m not going to participate in something that’s turning out to be a folly.”
