Use of force by Vallejo police officers increased fivefold in 2023

VALLEJO – Vallejo police officers used force during arrests more than five times as much in 2023 as they had at this point last year, using force 198 times through September 2023 compared to 38 times by that point in 2022, according to data released by Vallejo police last week.

The increase comes despite that crime is down in most categories and there are fewer Vallejo police officers on the force. The department has faced a staffing shortage that led the City Council to declare a state of emergency in July.

During a recent press conference announcing expanded oversight by the state Department of Justice, interim police Chief Jason Ta said that he was seeking to move the department towards a culture shift and had seen progress in trends such as complaints and officer shootings. “All of those metrics have improved significantly,” he said.

But the use of force statistics indicate that since Ta took over last November, several metrics have significantly worsened.

Vallejo police did not respond to questions ahead of the publication of this article. In a statement released on Nov. 6, more than a week later, Vallejo police said that the department had expanded its use of force tracking process in 2023, making year to year comparisons "confusing."

"The new process significantly captures much more data compared to VPD’s previous [use of force] tracking process," the statement said. "This expanded method now includes lower-level force types, such as control holds and ground control techniques, regardless of complaint of pain or injury."

Because of this change, the department said it saw particularly large increases in tracked incidents of ground take downs – which went from 16 incidents in 2022 to 91 incidents in 2023 – and control holds, which shot up from only two in 2022 to 92 in 2023. Last year, the use of force was only tracked if there was a complaint of pain or injury, according to the department.

But officers also used Tasers more frequently – 26 incidents in 2023 vs. 19 in 2022 – as well as batons, beanbag rounds and flashbangs. There was also a dramatic increase in incidents when the force caused severe injury, which happened five times in 2023 but not at all in 2022, according to Vallejo police data.

The number of force incidents particularly swelled over the summer, with the most incidents in the last two months.

The increase in force incidents this year follows a steady decline under former Vallejo police Chief Shawny Williams, who suddenly resigned in November under pressure from the Vallejo Police Officers Association.

According to a report compiled last year by a data analysis firm contracted by the city, use of force by officers went down 33% in 2021, with 95 incidents.

The 33% reduction included no shootings by officers since the fatal shooting of Sean Monterrosa on June 2, 2020. The report also found that officers had not used any impact weapons or neck restraints in 2021. Neck restraints were banned by the state legislature in 2020.

The VPOA argued that individual officers weren’t using less force but the decline was because there were fewer officers in the department.

This year there are even fewer officers, but there have been several recent high-profile incidents of Vallejo officers using force.

In June, a Vallejo police officer shot a suspect for the first time in three years when Officer Brad Kim fired on a suspected burglar attempting to flee a gas station in a Dodge Charger. The driver, Jamazea Kittell, was shot in the face but survived.

A new use of force policy took effect days later that prohibited officers from shooting at vehicles in most circumstances.

Days after that, a woman was arrested after her husband was pulled over in front of their home. One officer violently took her to the ground to handcuff her as she screamed in pain. Neither she nor her husband were charged with a crime.

A video of a Vallejo police officer punching a woman who had just crashed after a pursuit went viral on TikTok earlier this month. During the press conference announcing the new state Justice Department reforms, Attorney General Rob Bonta called the incident “concerning” and “disturbing.”

The officer was identified as Colin Eaton, one of six officers who shot and killed Willie McCoy in 2019. Eaton was later disciplined for stepping on a man’s head during a search. 

The data released last week also indicated that there has been an increase in police pursuits in 2023. Some recent pursuits have injured or killed bystanders. A woman was injured in the pursuit involving Eaton and two bystanders have been killed in other recent pursuits. California Highway Patrol data indicates that Vallejo police initiate more pursuits than the vast majority of California agencies.

Editor's note: This story has been updated to include a statement from Vallejo police.