Special to The Post

California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced on April 11 that the California Department of Justice (DOJ) has secured a settlement agreement with the City of Vallejo and the Vallejo Police Department (VPD) requiring reforms to VPD’s policies and practices.

The agreement announced addresses DOJ’s allegations that the VPD engaged in a pattern or practice of unconstitutional conduct and ensures that the reform process agreed to by the parties in the stipulated judgment will begin immediately, overseen and enforced by DOJ.

As part of the settlement agreement, the city of Vallejo and VPD will undertake a comprehensive set of actions — to be led by an established independent evaluator, Jensen Hughes, and overseen directly by DOJ — to promote public safety, reduce unlawful uses of force, eliminate racial and identity disparities, strengthen accountability systems, continue to increase support for officers, and protect the statutory and constitutional rights of the people of Vallejo.

“It’s past time the people of Vallejo have a police department that listens and guarantees that their civil rights are protected,” Bonta said. “My office is committed to protecting the rights of the people of Vallejo by overseeing and enforcing the agreement and working collaboratively with VPD and the city and ensuring a fair, thorough, and transparent process.”

On June 5, 2020, DOJ, the city of Vallejo, and VPD entered into a MOU for VPD to institute a comprehensive modernized policing plan that included implementing 45 reform recommendations.

DOJ’s decision to enter into an MOU with VPD to reform its policing came in light of several high-profile uses of force, including a number of officer-involved shootings.

When the MOU expired on June 5, 2023, VPD had achieved substantial compliance with 20 out of the 45 agreed-upon recommendations, but the DOJ concluded that VPD failed to uniformly and adequately enforce the law, based in part, because of defective or inadequate policies, practices, and procedures.

Under the terms of the settlement, VPD and the City of Vallejo are required to implement the remaining reforms, and to implement additional reforms addressing civilian complaints, bias-free policing, stops, searches, seizures and arrest, and ongoing oversight of these reforms.

In October 2023, the parties agreed on a comprehensive five-year plan to address the numerous areas that need improvement and modernization to bring VPD into alignment with contemporary best practices and ensure constitutional policing.

Under the settlement, VPD will implement the remaining recommendations that have not been completed from the 45 recommendations contained in the May 2020 report, including to:

• Address unreasonable force by holding officers and supervisors accountable for not identifying, adequately investigating, or addressing force that is unreasonable or otherwise contrary to VPD policy; and refer uses of force that may violate law or VPD’s use of force policy to their Professional Standards Division (internal affairs) for further investigation or review.
• Enhance, promote, and strengthen partnerships within the community, to continue engaging constructively with the community to ensure collaborative problem-solving and bias-free policing, and to increase transparency and community confidence in VPD.
• Utilize its Chief’s Advisory Board (CAB) and the Police Oversight and Accountability Commission (POAC), to continue to develop and amend significant policies that impact the community, including to its use of force policies, community-policing strategy and policies, bias-free policing policies, and civilian complaint policies.
• Develop a policy that defines and limits the use of pretextual stops.
• Enhance and revise training with respect to investigatory stops, reiterating that race, color, ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender, gender identity, disability, or sexual orientation are not to be used as a factor in establishing reasonable suspicion or probable cause, except as part of actual and credible descriptions of a specific suspect.
• Prohibit officers from conducting consent searches during consensual encounters. Officers may not conduct a consent search after detaining a subject unless an officer reasonably suspects that the subject has contraband or evidence related to that detention, and the consent must be documented on body camera footage or a signed consent form.
• Ensure stops, searches, and seizures comply with the law, as part of an effective overall crime prevention strategy that does not contribute to counterproductive tension with the community.
• Commit to providing bias-free services and enforcing laws in a way that is professional, nondiscriminatory, fair, and equitable.
• Work with the independent Evaluator Jensen Hughes and DOJ to develop a policy and protocol for responding to calls involving a person in mental health crisis or suffering from a mental health disability. The policy and protocol will include utilizing professional civilian staff, who are trained professionals in responding to mental health crises, to respond when appropriate and available.
• Develop and implement policies, guidelines, and training to ensure all supervisors and managers:
  • Exercise appropriate supervisory oversight.
  • Conduct objective and impartial investigations.
  • Are held accountable for meeting agency standards and expectations.
  • Engage with and listen to community feedback.
  • Incorporate community feedback when able and appropriate.
  • Develop and evaluate policing strategies and tactics reflective of contemporary best community policing practices.
• Conduct an ongoing audit of incidents where an officer points a firearm at a member of the public or brandishes a firearm in the presence of a member of the public to ensure that its officers are not drawing a firearm solely based on the mere existence of a potential risk (e.g., public contact, pedestrian/traffic stop).

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