Vallejo police union holding up oversight

VALLEJO – The Vallejo Police Officers’ Association has held up a city contract that would have added an outside police oversight consultant, despite the City Council voting to approve the contract more than two years ago, the city attorney’s office disclosed in a report to the council on Tuesday.

The report from Assistant City Attorney Randy Risner states that the VPOA submitted a grievance letter complaining that the city had not engaged in a meet and confer process prior to approving the contract, which would have made Southern California-based OIR Group the city’s interim police auditor while the council designed a permanent police commission.

Rather than meet with the police union, city staff never executed the signed contract and did not inform the council. Meanwhile, a police commission ordinance passed in December is held up by ongoing discussions with the union, which have no specified time limit.

Independent oversight is one of the 45 recommendations that the state Department of Justice has called for in its collaborative agreement with the city and the Vallejo Police Department. However the VPOA wrote in a July 2021 letter that it is entitled to engage in a collective bargaining process over the responsibilities of the Interim independent Auditor that are outlined in the contract.

The contract was approved by the city council in February 2021. But according to Risner’s report, in June of that year the Sonoma County Sheriff's Deputies Association prevailed in a lawsuit over a similar case requiring Sonoma County to engage in a meet and confer process prior to establishing oversight of the sheriff’s office.

Shortly after the ruling, the VPOA filed the grievance to stop the city from executing the independent auditor contract with the OIR Group. The grievance noted the independent auditor’s ability to access the department’s complaint investigation files, personnel discipline records and conduct independent investigations.

Risner’s report states that “the decision was made to not move forward with the interim contract in order to settle the grievance and instead to focus efforts on the permanent oversight model.”  

Andrea Sorce, chair of the city’s Surveillance Advisory Board, questioned the decision at Tuesday’s council meeting. “Why didn’t we fight a grievance?” Sorce said. “And if they decided not to fight, why weren't you all informed if they just made a unilateral decision to roll over to a union that we know is hostile to reform?”

Councilmember Mina Loera-Diaz had asked staff why they never implemented  the independent auditor contract during a meeting in December 2022.  Risner said then that staff didn’t  execute the contract because of a conflict of interest because the OIR group was providing expert testimony in a lawsuit against the city. Risner did not specify what case created the conflict.

The OIR Group has previously conducted a scathing evaluation of department culture and drafted the 45 recommendations that are now required by the Department of Justice. It also investigated the 2020 fatal shooting of Sean Monterrosa and found that Detective Jarrett Tonn had violated policies when he killed Monterrosa.

Risner’s report on Tuesday did not mention any conflict of interest.

The council expected to revisit the issue of the interim auditor in January, but city staff did not return with their report until Tuesday.

Tuesday’s  report appeared as an information item on the council’s consent calendar, which is usually reserved for routine action items that are passed in bulk without discussion.

The union is also holding up permanent police oversight. In December 2022 the city adopted the Police Oversight and Accountability Ordinance which details the role of the Police Oversight and Accountability Commission as well as a separate Independent Auditor position.

According to Risner’s report Tuesday, the ordinance is subject to VPOA approval through a meet and confer process that is currently underway. Risner wrote that he expects to reach an agreement this summer.

But the delays mean that there is no oversight in place to investigate the Vallejo police shooting of a burglary suspect in the early morning hours on Tuesday.

City Attorney Veronica Nebb said that Tuesday that the staff could prepare a request for proposals for the permanent Independent Auditor role outlined in the oversight ordinance by July 20. Council requested that staff provide copies of the RFP to the council for review prior to posting it.

However, the role and powers of the Independent Auditor and the police commission will be adjusted depending on the collective bargaining agreement reached by the City and VPOA.