Vallejo police oversight commission gets started filling attorney, auditor roles

VALLEJO – Vallejo’s Police Oversight and Accountability Commission took steps to find an outside counsel and fill its independent auditor role at its meeting Thursday as it looks to ramp up its work after years in limbo.

The commission began meeting earlier this year after  the Vallejo Police Officers Association completed a lengthy meet and confer process with the city. Its establishment is one of 45 reforms required by the state Department of Justice in a 2020 agreement. 

In its meeting Thursday, the commissioners sought to hire outside counsel for legal matters. The commission has been reluctant to use the city attorney’s office, in part because of allegations of misconduct made by the American Civil Liberties Union, including that the city attorney’s office destroyed records from multiple police shootings and helped to obstruct the commission from getting started. In December, the City Council hired the Shaw Law Group, to consider whether to investigate the ACLU’s claims.

Chief Assistant City Attorney Randy Risner said Thursday that a request for outside legal services to handle the commission’s business may get responses from throughout the state, although he said he prefers finding an attorney who lives close enough to attend meetings. 

Commissioner Naomi Yun asked for a full solicitation process to begin hearing from multiple candidates throughout California. The commissioners voted to, at the next meeting, establish an ad hoc committee to consider applications and hire an outside attorney.

In public comment, Robert Schussel criticized the lack of materials on the agenda provided for the public to review about the attorney selection. “The public does not have any trust in the city attorney’s office to have any role in this at all,” he said. “If her staff has any role in this, the commission is in trouble.”

The commission also recommended keeping the same online portal for public complaints which the Vallejo Police Department maintains, although Yun said she wants to see all steps in the complaint portal spelled out to show it will go to the commission. The current format offers a complaint form, which also offers people a phone number to call to make verbal complaints as well.

Councilmember Tonia Lediju, the commission’s liaison to the Vallejo City Council, told the commission that the integrity of the internal complaint system is critical. She said that people are concerned about knowing the police are the first point of contact when complaints are made, including when making complaints about officers.

“If I am uncomfortable with the police department, I am not going to call the police department and allow you to take my complaint and log it,” she said. 

Lediju said she has experience designing and running whistleblower programs for this reason.

“We have to remember, for the integrity of a complaint, we also need to make sure that complaint gets in the system and it’s where it’s supposed to be as well,” Lediju said. “We’re trying to create trust, but we also need compliance.”

The commissioners also gave the city feedback about the selection of an independent auditor to work with the commission on investigations. Similar to the discussion on outside legal counsel, City Manager Andrew Murray said that the city will send out a request for proposals to help fill this role. The commission can at an upcoming meeting decide whether to create an ad hoc committee to help vet the candidates for the job.

Chair John Lewis said that the commission still needs a young adult aged between 18-25, even though it is unpaid, and an unhoused person, to represent youth and homeless residents.

“What we need to do is be proactive,” Lewis added. “It’s why I found it so frustrating that since we were appointed, we could read complaints but we could have been holding meetings, we could have been listening to the community. The city is listening, we’re listening and I think the chief is listening. So make yourself heard.”