Interim Vallejo police chief seeks city council approval for gunshot detection devices

VALLEJO – Interim Vallejo Police Chief Jason Ta has asked the city council to allow the installation of 80 to 100 gunshot detection devices throughout Vallejo, despite objections from the city’s surveillance advisory board.

Atlanta-based Flock Safety is seeking to beta test the devices by pairing them with automated license plate readers (ALPR) already installed in Vallejo. The council will consider Ta’s request at its meeting Tuesday.

“Deploying proven technology that will improve response times, provide real-time intelligence, increase efficiency and effectiveness of emergency response is paramount to public safety and saving lives,” Ta wrote in a staff report to the council.

Ta, who became interim police chief following the resignation of Chief Shawny Williams last month, rejected a recommendation from the surveillance board that Vallejo not accept the devices amid concerns about data retention and privacy issues associated with the technology.

The surveillance board provided a statement stating that it also had concerns about the city failing to state what success or failure looks like with the new system.

“The city has not put forth in the policy or elsewhere in any of our meetings a false positive and false negative rate that would be considered a minimum standard,” the statement said. “There is no measure the city has employed specifically to determine the success or failure of that system.”

The board further argued that the technology “would place additional demands on on-duty staff, in terms of training officers and on the additional calls for service and additional responsibilities for dispatchers,” while possibly causing attentional tension between the community and police force.

“This technology would lead officers to scenes in which they are expecting a live shooter or prepared for a live shooter, and in which the residents on the scene are not expecting the police to show up, which could lead to escalations and use of force,” the board said. “VPD will be responding with heightened threat on every single one of these calls.”

City officials said there would be no fiscal impact to accepting the contract as Flock Safety will provide equipment, cost of installation, and training.

Vallejo already contracts with Flock for license plate readers, which scan the license plates of passing cars and check the information against a database of vehicles known to be associated with a crime or suspect. The readers can be mounted to bridges, traffic lights, overpasses, light posts, and police vehicles.  

The proposed contract would add gunshot detection devices. When a gunshot is recorded, on-duty officers and the Flock Safety system would review a five-second clip to determine if the information is correct. Flock Safety says the pairing of the two technologies allow officers to review the license plates of any cars nearby when a gunshot is detected.

City council expected to approve police oversight model

The city council is expected to take a final vote on establishing a new police oversight model that will be an attempt to hold a police force accountable that has killed 19 people since 2010.

The council approved an ordinance last week creating a three-prong oversight approach, including outside investigations of serious police incidents, a Community Police Oversight Accountability Commission, and a police auditor. A second and final vote is required for formal adoption.

Under the ordinance, a third-party investigator will be tasked with reviewing serious police incidents, including when an officer shoots at a person, when an officer’s use of force results in death or great bodily injury, any other in-custody deaths, and allegations of sexual assault or dishonesty. The investigations would be conducted in parallel with the department’s internal affairs investigation.

A nine-member police commission will review the reports of the outside investigator, while also advising the chief of police on discipline and reviewing reports of bias or racism by officers. The commission would also review any citizen complaints.

Finally, an office of Independent Police Auditor would be created to review the final investigatory reports, whether by the outside investigators or internal affairs, and make recommendations to the city’s police chief or the police commission.

According to a memo by Chief Assistant City Attorney Randy Risner, following adoption Tuesday, officials “will continue its efforts to meet and confer with the Vallejo Police Officers’ Association and other affected bargaining units.”

“During that process, staff and Council may prepare for implementation and training of Commissioners,” Risner added. “However, the Commission will not be part of any process until the meet and confer process is completed.”

Police reform has been before the council for several years with the establishment of a police commission being a recommendation from the OIR Group, which released an assessment of the police department in May 2020.

The ordinance is based on a draft presented by members of Common Ground, a non-partisan group of religious and non-profit organizations.

Council to reaffirm spending plan following passage of Measure P

The city council is expected to approve a spending plan indicating that maintaining critical city services and “keeping public spaces healthy, safe and clean” are the top priorities for new funding that will be generated following passage of Vallejo’s sales tax increase, Measure P.

Measure P,  which received 55% approval,  is expected to generate an additional $18 million annually for the city’s coffers. Vallejo's new sales tax will be the highest in Solano County at 9.25%.

The other priorities include maintaining fire protection, emergency medical responses, crime prevention, addressing homelessness and dumping, while also repairing deteriorating neighborhood streets, roads and sidewalks

Measure P faced an uphill climb as city leaders were stung two years ago when voters narrowly rejected a similar tax hike.

This year, city officials originally sought a special tax to address infrastructure needs but scrapped those plans when a polling firm hired to survey 500 residents determined that such a tax measure was likely to fail. The poll found that about 60% of residents had an unfavorable opinion of the city council, while 67% said they had an unfavorable opinion of the city government overall.

A special tax requires a two-thirds supermajority to pass, while Measure P, a general transaction and use tax, only required a simple majority of 50% plus 1 to pass. A general transaction and use tax can be spent on most needs in the city, which raised concerns about how the revenue would be spent.

Those against Measure P argued that the tax is regressive in that it taxes the rich and those in most need financially equally and asks the poorest Vallejo residents to contribute more in a challenging economic environment. Those supporting the hike said that it was the only way to address Vallejo's issues and would make the city more appealing to outside businesses and investors.

The Vallejo City Council meeting is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m., Tuesday inside the Vallejo City Hall Council Chambers at 555 Santa Clara St.

Members of the public will be able to participate in-person or remotely via Zoom.