Vallejo deputy police chief leaves department as veteran captain gets promotion

VALLEJO – Vallejo police Deputy Chief Joseph Gomez resigned from the Vallejo Police Department as of Wednesday after only nine months in the position, a department spokesperson said.

Vallejo police spokesperson Sgt. Rashad Hollis said Wednesday was Gomez’s last day with the agency. "We appreciate Deputy Chief Gomez's dedicated contributions to the Vallejo Police Department and wish him the best of luck in all his future endeavors,” Hollis said.

Hollis also confirmed that Vallejo police Capt. Robert Knight was recently promoted to deputy chief. The departure of Gomez makes Knight the sole second in command to interim Vallejo police Chief Jason Ta. 

Knight has been with Vallejo police since 1999. As Vallejo deputy chiefs are at-will employees, when he was promoted Knight left the Vallejo Police Officers Association, the union that represents Vallejo police officers, where he was a board member in 2022. 

In 2020, Knight was a lieutenant in the professional standards division under former Vallejo police Chief Shawny Williams and was in charge of recruiting new officers. Email records show that Knight fought with two veteran police recruiters Williams hired from San Jose. Meanwhile, staffing levels declined, which the union blamed on Williams.

Williams – who was hired from San Jose police to help reform the department in 2019 – was constantly at odds with the union until he suddenly resigned in late 2022. Another of Williams’ San Jose colleagues, then-Deputy Chief Ta – was appointed interim chief and has had the position since. 

Since Ta took over, the state Department of Justice filed a stipulated judgment requiring Vallejo police to complete a slate of reforms, officers’ use of force has increased substantially and officers engaged in a record year of pursuits which killed two bystanders. Meanwhile, staffing levels in the department have continued to decline and the City Council declared an emergency because of the low staffing levels. 

The city is also looking for a new permanent city manager, as City Manager Mike Malone announced late last year that he would retire at the end of April. The City Council is currently interviewing candidates to replace him.

When Gomez was hired in June 2023, the city said that he would bring “unparalleled expertise in gang enforcement, violent crime reduction, and fostering community trust.”

Gomez often represented the department publicly, appearing at a town hall just days after he was hired to present body camera footage of the first police shooting by a Vallejo police officer in three years. He often appeared before the City Council.

Gomez joined Vallejo police after serving as police chief in Selma, California, where he also mysteriously left about a year after joining that department. He suddenly stepped away in July 2021, but the city manager would not provide a reason, saying it was a confidential personnel matter, according to the Fresno Bee.

Gomez also worked for the Fresno Police Department for 32 years, rising to the rank of lieutenant and serving as the agency’s public information officer. During his time in Fresno, he was also the department’s gang task force commander and violent crime impact team commander, among other positions.