Vallejo kicks off national search for new police chief

VALLEJO – Vallejo is embarking on a national search to recruit candidates for a new police chief, starting with a series of public engagement meetings later this month, city officials said at a City Council meeting Tuesday.

The city has been without a permanent police chief since 2022, when then-Chief Shawny Williams suddenly resigned from the position. Since then, Jason Ta has been the city’s interim police chief.

The city expects the search process to take about four months. It will hold an online public engagement meeting on June 27 and in-person meetings on June 29 and July 25. The recruiting team will begin contacting law enforcement organizations and agencies in search of applicants in July. 

The team will screen applicants in August and present qualified candidates to three panels, one made up of community members from each district, a professional panel made up of police chiefs and city managers and a panel made up of city leaders and staff members. 

City Manager Andrew Murray will conduct final interviews and make the hiring decision in September. 

At Tuesday’s meeting, American Civil Liberties Union Legal-Policy Advocate Marshal Arnwine Jr. presented a list of requests that he said would allow for the recruitment process to support the civil rights of community members.

“We are asking for the minimum,” Arnwine said. “Conduct a nationwide search for candidates, do not limit the search to local or statewide candidates, do not recruit from within the current leadership or rank and file membership of the Vallejo Police Department.”

Arnwine went on to recommend the involvement of community members in the selection process and urged councilmembers to pass along information from community members in any discussions with the city manager regarding the decision.

The city hired the staffing organization Bob Hall and Associates to conduct the recruitment process. Joe Gorton, former San Ramon mayor and police chief and a former Antioch police captain, is the lead recruiter.

Gorton said that many of Arnwine’s requests have been included in the recruitment process. He said that the team will draw on the information collected from the community to create posts and brochures describing the desired qualifications for the position.

Gorton said the recruitment team will send information and advertising materials to a number of organizations, including the Oregon Association of Police Chiefs, the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs, the National Organization of Women Law Enforcement Executives, the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives and the National Organization of Hispanic American Police Command Officers, among others.

The team will also contact agencies that currently employ law enforcement leadership professionals who are qualified candidates for the position, according to Gorton

Meanwhile, a group of about 20 community members attended the meeting to demand that the city implement an independent police auditor for the city’s troubled police department. The role is part of the required reforms outlined in a three-year reform agreement with the state Department of Justice, which expired last year with the reforms incomplete. 

The City Council approved a contract with the OIR Group as an interim police auditor in February 2021 but the contract, signed by city staff, never made it to the OIR Group to finalize the agreement. 

The auditor position was intended as a stop gap while the city designed a Police Oversight and Accountability Commission. The City Council established the commission in and ordinance in 2022 and members were appointed in February, but have not been seated as the city is still engaged in a “meet and confer” process with the Vallejo Police Officers Association and the members are required to undergo an extensive training program that can run as long as nine months.

Liz Blum, an organizer with ACLU Northern California, noted that the city is still under threat of legal action if the Vallejo Police Department does not implement the required reforms. Blum said that she had joined community members to urge the city to implement the police auditor position as well as the Police Oversight and Accountability Commission.  

“Time is of the essence, especially because the POAC appointees should be a part of the police chief hiring process,” Blum said.

Councilmember Mina Loera-Diaz said that she wants a police chief that is honest, with integrity and one who is community oriented. “If we are going to get folks to trust the police department again we have to start healing certain things that have happened,” she said. 

Loera-Diaz went on to mention more qualities including someone who supports transparency, someone who is a good listener and takes action on community suggestions, someone who has the ability to admit to mistakes and can hold the department staff accountable. 

Many councilmembers echoed Loera-Diaz’s remarks and offered additional qualities that they would like to see. Mayor Robert McConnell said that he would like someone that has experience with handling mental health issues and experience managing a department that is under a consent decree or other external oversight. 

Councilmember Charles Palmares said that he would like to see candidates that are not solely focused on enforcement but can also employ crime prevention and deterrence methods.

Councilmember Cristina Arriola said that she believes a woman would perform well in the role.

Councilmember Rozzana Verder-Aliga said that it will be important for candidates to be prepared to face potential challenges from the leadership of the Vallejo Police Officers Association. “[We need] someone that is able to work with that leadership, of course it’s always going to be a two-way street, so he or she will have to have those skills,” Verder-Aliga said.

Williams faced a contentious relationship with the police union, which took a vote of “no confidence” in his leadership months before he resigned. The union blamed Williams for a depleted staff, but records show that the union obstructed the city’s efforts to recruit.

The staffing issues grew so pronounced that the council declared a public safety staffing emergency in July 2023. 

The city has sought outside help to shore up police staffing, including from the Solano County Sheriff’s Office, but so far has not received any assistance. Ta said Tuesday that the sheriff’s office is waiting on whether a proposed state bill passes. SB 1379 would extend the number of hours per year that retired sheriff’s deputies can work, allowing the sheriff’s office a larger pool of employees to draw on in order to manage additional shifts in Vallejo.

SB 1379 was authored by state Sen. Bill Dodd and originally extended the hours that retired Vallejo officers could work as well, but the Senate Labor, Public Employment and Retirement Committee amended the bill to eliminate the hours extension for retired Vallejo officers.

In an email, Paulette Thornton, communications director for committee chair Sen. Lola Smallwood-Cuevas, said that the committee elected not to include retired Vallejo officers because "the City of Vallejo’s police department works with the Attorney General’s office to address its policing practices."

SB 1379 still requires approval by the Assembly and is currently under review by the Assembly Public Employment and Retirement Committee. Ta said that he spoke with Dodd and he expects the bill to pass in August. 

The city council had allocated $1.2 million in unspent American Rescue Plan Act funds to pay the county for the support from the sheriff’s office, however those funds were reallocated to pay for the bailout of a supportive housing project on Broadway. If SB 1379 is approved, the city will have to find additional funds to pay for sheriff’s deputies to take shifts in Vallejo. 

Ta also noted that the city is in the final stages of preparing a request for proposals from security companies to provide security guards to patrol high crime areas. 

Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct the name of Joe Gorton.