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Open Vallejo - Knowledge is power. Power to the people.

Open Vallejo (https://openvallejo.org/tag/vallejo-police-department/)

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Vallejo Police Department

Public Safety
Vallejo Police Chief Jason Ta leaves a Vallejo City Council meeting, bag of documents in hand. The images catches him mid-stride. He is an Asian American man in his 50s in a dark blue police chief's uniform. The first several rows of seats are nearly empty of audience members.

Vallejo police to update city on DOJ reforms

By Geoffrey King and Laurence Du Sault | May 16, 2023

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.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta speaks at a lectern featuring the seal of his office. The flags of California and the United States of America hang on poles behind him.
Featured

Civil rights investigation ‘on the table’ in Vallejo, Bonta says

By Geoffrey King and Laurence Du Sault | May 11, 2023

Bonta gave the clearest indication to date that his office intends to continue — and potentially deepen — its review of Vallejo police.

Frank Melville's mugshots, from the front and side.
News

‘The purpose of punishment is not to wreak vengeance’: the remarkable story of Vallejo’s ‘boy bandit’

By Brendan Riley | April 5, 2023

Vallejo has had its share of tough characters over the years, author Brendan Riley observes in this column written especially for Open Vallejo. But few can rival the exploits of “boy bandit” Frank Melville, one of Vallejo’s original gangsters.

A crowd of people gathers for a vigil behind a building at nighttime. A Black woman holds a flag with the visage of Ronell Foster, a 33-year-old father of two who was killed by Vallejo police in 2018. The flag reads "National Unity Against Police Brutality," "2018 Vallejo CA," and "Justice for Ronell Foster."
Public Safety

State Justice Department has not probed — or even logged — all police shootings of possibly unarmed people

By Nigel Duara | March 30, 2023

The California Department of Justice said it cannot say how many cases it chose not to investigate during the past 18 months under a new state law, which aimed to ensure state oversight of police shootings.

A police car sits in front of a roll-up metal door next to a "police vehicles only" sign in late afternoon light. The door is part of a large brick building. A security camera can be seen near the door.
Ethics

Open Vallejo cautions city’s lawyers in destruction probe

By Geoffrey King | February 28, 2023

Open Vallejo has cautioned Vallejo’s new outside counsel to ensure officials refrain from destroying evidence, as a Solano County judge sets a special hearing in the newsroom’s public records lawsuit against the city.

A middle-aged Black man wearing a suit sits to the right of a blonde woman who appears to be in her sixties. She is wearing glasses, a black top and a brown sweater. Both individuals are seated at a wooden city council dais. An American flag hangs behind them.
Ethics

Vallejo officials’ handling of evidence destruction probe marked by confusion, concern

By Laurence Du Sault and Geoffrey King | February 22, 2023

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.

A young woman wearing a red top, red shoes and white and red pants holds a bright pink handwritten sign that reads, "Release the tapes!! Killer Cop" She stands in front of a large, off-white sedan from the 1980s or early 1990s. The background is dark and it appears to have been raining.
Ethics

Senior officials ordered destruction of Vallejo police shooting evidence

By Laurence Du Sault and Geoffrey King | February 5, 2023

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.

Then-Vallejo Councilmember Hakeem Brown speaks at a city council meeting on police reform on Dec. 6, 2022. Brown is a Black man in his mid-40s wearing glasses, a green Pendleton-style cap and green vest over a black shirt. He has a goatee.
Civil Rights

Hakeem Brown to lead Vallejo NAACP despite domestic violence revelations

By Geoffrey King | January 13, 2023

A disturbing history of domestic violence, verbal clashes with colleagues and constituents, and vocal support for Vallejo police defined the former council member’s turbulent tenure.

A stocking hanging outside the Vallejo City Attorney’s office on Dec. 21, 2022 reads, “We’ve been GOOD, we PROMISE!!” In September, Deputy City Attorney Katelyn Knight hired a firm to uncover the identities of authors behind two social media accounts, an Open Vallejo investigation has found.
Surveillance

Vallejo spends thousands to expose online commenters

By Geoffrey King | December 23, 2022

The Vallejo City Attorney’s Office hopes to identify the authors behind two pseudonymous social media accounts, confidential records obtained by Open Vallejo show.

Vallejo Police Lt. Michael Nichelini takes a selfie with colleagues in front of his family’s winery in St. Helena, Calif. during a “training ride” on Nov. 14, 2019.
Public Safety

Termination overturned for Vallejo police lieutenant who threatened journalist

By Geoffrey King | December 1, 2022

If Nichelini is reinstated, “it should raise concern from the streets of Vallejo to the attorney general’s office about how seriously the police department is taking reform,” Otis R. Taylor, Jr., the reporter who received the menacing email, told Open Vallejo.

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