The Vallejo Police Department has long had a reputation for being a little trigger-happy, but now the ACLU alleges the Vallejo City Attorney’s Office has been in on some cover-ups, and is calling for an independent investigation.
In recent months we’ve seen renewed interest in Vallejo’s 2015 Denise Huskins kidnapping case because of a Netflix documentary, which exposed how the Vallejo Police Department botched that case. But the Vallejo PD is notoriously no stranger to controversy, having shot a man 55 times while he was passed out, allegedly bent their badges to celebrate shooting people, and of course, the Sean Monterrosa shooting where they may have destroyed a little evidence here and there.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta already has that department under state oversight, and the Vallejo Sun points out that “From April 2001 to June 2020, Vallejo police officers shot 56 civilians, killing 30."
So the department has had third-party adults come in to look over their shoulders. But the ACLU of Northern California sees some misconduct by the Vallejo City Attorney’s Office in helping the department bury some of these misconduct cases, and NBC Bay Area reports that the ACLU is calling for an independent investigation into Vallejo City Attorney Veronica Nebb.
That Vallejo Sun reports details five separate police shooting cases where the City Attorney’s Office "inadvertently" lost or destroyed evidence, the firing of the whistleblower in the badge-bending scandal, and some seemingly quite inadequate background checks on new police officer hires.
“Numerous, credible sources have provided concerning evidence of serious misconduct by City Attorney Veronica Nebb and her staff,” ACLU senior attorney Allyssa Victory said in a letter to Vallejo City Council. “Accumulating evidence that the City Attorney has conspired to conceal, allow, and thereby enable such police misconduct can only deepen public perception that its policing problems are intractable, and that its government is corrupted. Public safety is seriously imperiled when these sentiments take hold.”
The Vallejo City Attorney’s office, not surprisingly, is dismissive of the request.
"The ACLU’s letter contains numerous statements and allegations relating to the City Attorney’s Office which are not factual,” that office said in a statement to NBC Bay Area. “The City Attorney’s Office continues to be committed to serving the City of Vallejo with the utmost honesty and integrity."
No one on the Vallejo City Council has commented on the ACLU request. Though the Vallejo Sun reports that new Vallejo Mayor Andrea Sorce has spoken in favor of some independent investigations.
Image: Vallejo Police Department via Facebook
