Open Vallejo (https://openvallejo.org/author/laurence-du-sault/)
The Vallejo Police Department has prepared an update on California Department of Justice reforms it plans to present at a special City Council meeting tonight. But one notable stakeholder was left out of the department’s assessment — the DOJ.
Bonta gave the clearest indication to date that his office intends to continue — and potentially deepen — its review of Vallejo police.
Claiming he found “concerning anomalies” when reviewing a financial report, Brown demanded Secretary Lynda Daniels turn over control of the NAACP’s bank account.
The Vallejo city attorney’s office has recused itself from an investigation into the destruction of evidence in multiple police shootings, according to a statement from the city manager’s office — but concerns about the process remain.
The Vallejo city attorney’s office has long resisted public scrutiny of the police department’s frequent shootings. With a new law poised to force the release of shooting records, a lawyer and a detective made a decision no court can reverse.
In 2020, the California DOJ endorsed 45 reforms for Vallejo police. The department has implemented just two of them.
The City of Vallejo has signed a $100,000 consulting agreement with former Sacramento Police Chief Daniel Hahn, whose tenure included the fatal shootings of Stephon Clark and Darrell Richards.
The Vallejo Police Department is hiring a new deputy chief, promoting multiple officers to the upper echelons of its command staff, and disbanding two key programs — all while the police chief is expected to be out of the office for weeks, Open Vallejo has confirmed.
Half a century ago, Vallejo had twice as many patrol officers per resident as it does today.
Vallejo Police Chief Shawny Williams was notified in March that his second-in-command had been drinking before he showed up to a homicide scene in a department SUV, according to an internal memo obtained by Open Vallejo. Now, sources say the city has opened an outside investigation — which the chief says he knows nothing about.