VALLEJO – A commenter on the Vallejo Police Department’s official Facebook page attempted to crowdsource positive comments for the police, offering five cents for each positive comment left on the department’s Facebook page, according to screenshots of the job listing provided to the Vallejo Sun.
The listing was posted by Julianne Wurm on Aug. 10 on Amazon Mechanical Turks, a marketplace for individuals and businesses to hire people for menial or repetitive tasks that can be done remotely.
The listing sought to have commenters respond to Facebook posts with messages such as, “Lt. Darden is a great, experienced police officer just doing his job,” or “The VPD is so understaffed that is the problem.”
The solicitation appeared to be in response to an influx of comments after Lt. Steve Darden arrested YouTuber Jonathan Moore, who goes by Bay Area Transparency, while he was filming a video at the Vallejo City Unified School District officers at 665 Walnut Ave. on July 28.
Moore describes himself as an investigative journalist who engages in “interactions that showcase police misconduct issues,” while filming in places he says are protected by the First Amendment. In the video, Moore entered the school district offices and began filming, refusing to leave or explain his purpose.
Vallejo police later arrived and Darden arrested Moore after a contentious interaction. According to jail records, Moore was cited for a disruption on school property and providing a false identification to a police officer, which Moore disputes.
School district spokesperson Celina Baguiao said after the incident that the district revised its security procedures. “Unfortunately, we live during a time when school and mass shootings happen regularly,” she said. “Our training has taught us to be suspicious of those who walk into an office and won’t identify themselves or share their business purpose for being there.”
The video was has since been viewed 359,000 times after it was posted on Aug. 2 and numerous viewers posted it to Vallejo police Facebook posts with derogatory comments about Darden.
Other commenters pushed back, including Wurm, who according to her LinkedIn profile, worked as a designer and manager for Genentech before founding a stealth startup earlier this year.
“PLEASE LEAVE,” she wrote to one commenter on Aug. 10. “Please maybe this town will become more civilized without the kind of uninformed internet trolls who speak out [of] turn.”
In another, she called a commenter a “moron.” In another, she defended Darden and said the department was understaffed but had “wonderful officers and humans.”
It is unclear whether the post to Amazon Mechanical Turks resulted in any positive comments on the department’s Facebook page. On Google, however, the department maintains a 1.4 out of five stars, with many recent reviews mentioning either Darden or Bay Area Transparency.
Wurm did not respond to questions sent to her Facebook and LinkedIn accounts. After the article was published, Wurm contacted the Vallejo Sun via Twitter but indicated that she would involve an attorney and declined to answer questions in writing.
In an email, Vallejo police spokesperson Sgt. Rashad Hollis said that the department has no association with Wurm and had no knowledge anyone was soliciting positive comments on the department’s behalf.
Editor's note: This story has been updated with a response from Julianne Wurm.
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