Community members demand action on Vallejo police violence as council copes with officer shortage

VALLEJO – Activists and families affected by police violence demanded more accountability and transparency from the Vallejo Police Department at a City Council meeting Tuesday night, even as the mayor considered rolling back reform efforts to cope with a shortage of police officers.  

The family of Sean Monterrosa, who was killed by a Vallejo police officer in 2020,  and other activists seeking reforms of the police department called for supporters to “pack the room” to demand the release of the city’s investigation into the department’s practice of bending the tips of their badges following a shooting.

Public comments at the meeting ranged from family members describing the ongoing trauma they experience from losing their loved ones to police killings to points about systemic inequality that underpins institutional violence.

Lee Merritt, an attorney for the Monterrosa family in their lawsuit against the city, called on the council to take action to prevent the return of Officer Jarrett Tonn, who killed Monterrosa, following an arbitrator’s decision ordering him reinstated with back pay.

“On behalf of the Monterrosa family and the community, we don’t consent to the return of Jarrett Tonn to the streets!” Merritt said over applause in the packed chambers. “And I want to encourage you all not to believe the myth of your inability to do anything about it.”

Mayor Robert McConnell directly responded to Merritt’s statements with a question: “As a constitutional scholar, do you have any recommendation as to how we should deal with the arbitrator’s adverse decision?”

Merritt said that it would be difficult to answer McConnell’s question in a short sound bite but he offered his own expertise and the resources of his office and noted that there is an international network of attorneys and experts who work with cities on these issues and they could come up with an answer to the question.

Later, Merritt said that it was promising that the council was open to looking into ways to overturn the arbitrator’s decision to reinstate Tonn.

But as community members departed from the council chambers the council shifted to address the staffing crisis in the Police Department.

Since the city declared a state of emergency over police staffing issues in July, interim police Chief Jason Ta has provided regular updates on the department’s staffing. Previously, he said that the department had collapsed the traffic division in order to staff patrol shifts and that he was in conversation with the Vallejo Police Officers Association about moving to 12-hour shifts in order to manage the workload with the shrinking police staff.

City Manager Mike Malone said Tuesday that if the conversations with the union were not fruitful the city would take action to institute the 12-hour shifts without VPOA approval as allowed under the state of emergency.

McConnell asked about the remaining department divisions in which Ta had not pulled officers from to rotate onto patrol shifts, which Ta said included a task force in charge of implementing reforms required by the state Department of Justice, the internal affairs and professional standards division, and some administrative positions.

McConnell asked Ta, “Have you given any thought to reducing the participation of some of these individuals in other DOJ activities that take them off the streets of the city of Vallejo?”

Ta said, “I’ve considered it, and I think they are better utilized where they are just because of the vital nature of the function that they perform.”

Several councilmembers spoke about the numerous complaints that they receive about crime in the city. Councilmember Peter Bregenzer said that the catalytic converter on his vehicle was stolen earlier that day.

Ta said that he had asked for staffing help from the California Highway Patrol, the sheriff’s offices in Alameda, Contra Costa, San Joaquin, Sacramento, Marin, Napa, Sonoma and Yolo counties as well as all law enforcement agencies in Solano County, but all of them had said that they cannot offer help.  

Councilmember Mina Loera-Diaz said that she felt hurt because the other law enforcement agencies in the region had refused to provide assistance. She asked Ta why the agencies said no when Vallejo is so badly in need of support.

Ta said that some of the agencies are struggling with their own staffing problems and since Vallejo is the biggest city in the county, many of the officers in other cities and even in the sheriff’s office do not have experience with the issues that can arise in an urban setting like Vallejo.  

Ta’s explanation did not satisfy Loera-Diaz as she addressed the departments that had refused Ta’s request for help: “We have a right to feel safe like anybody else,” she said. “Shame on you! All of you entities that have turned your back on Vallejo!”

One of the items on the agenda was the dispersal of $862,000 in remaining funds from the federal American Rescue Plan Act. Discussion of that item also crossed police staffing issues when Loera-Diaz presented a prepared list of her preferences for distributing the funds. She requested amending the staff recommendations to include creating a city grant for small businesses that have been dropped from their insurance policy because of repeated break-ins and are now having to pay higher insurance rates.

The council eventually approved $60,000 for the grant program. It also voted to spend $410,000 on repairs to the elevator of Vallejo Museum, $100,000 for high quality sound equipment for the Empress Theatre, $200,000 to fill a funding gap to complete the Broadway supportive housing project, $40,000 for Vallejo Main Street events and $52,000 for the Humane Society.

The council did not, however, vote on a proposal to give the city manager a 3% raise. The police union and other city employee unions sent angry letters complaining about Malone’s treatment of city employees ahead of the meeting and the council pulled the item from the agenda.