Facing a state of emergency since July, some retired Vallejo police officers are starting to return to work full-time, thanks to California Senate Bill SB 1379.
The bill — introduced in February — would permit Vallejo’s retired police officers to return to the force full-time. Last week’s initial committee meeting was cancelled at the request of the author, Senator Bill Dodd.
“We needed additional time to continue negotiations with the Senate Committee on Labor, Public Employment and Retirement,” said Press Secretary Paul Payne.
Interim Chief of Police Jason Ta shared staffing numbers with the Vallejo City Council at last week’s meeting, saying there are presently 72 total officers sworn in and 36 officers working patrol. According to the Vallejo Police Department bureau reports, 6,355 overall crimes were recorded in 2023.
Under the Public Employees and Retirement System and The California Public Employee Pension Reform Act of 2013, retirees are limited to 960 hours of employment within a calendar or fiscal year. However, amid the shortage of Vallejo police officers, the bill would alleviate long response times resulting from the stretched bandwidth of current officers.
Civil rights attorney Melissa Nold said she was concerned about the overall implications of retired officers returning full-time.
“Some officers left because they were under immense scrutiny, during the badge bending scandal, or because they refused to work with Chief Williams.”
The badge bending practice involved Vallejo officers bending the tips of their badges after they were involved in an on-duty shooting. Further, former chief of police Shawny Williams resigned at the end of 2022, shortly after the Vallejo Police Officers Association declared it had no confidence in him. According to a news release put out by the city, police shootings, use of force incidents, and citizen complaints and claims had decreased during his short tenure.
“So long as the police can assure the public the records of the retired officers are clean, their return full-time isn’t inherently problematic,” said Jack Glaser, Ph.D., professor at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley. Glaser primarily focuses his research on stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination.
“Officers are more attuned to racial issues post-George Floyd, and there’s been substantial shifts in scrutiny of racial bias among officers,” Glaser said.
Nold said the liability quadruples if officers without clean records return to the police force and engage in the same behavior.
“The Vallejo PD doesn’t have extra money for litigation,” Nold said.
Data released by the Washington Post in 2022 indicated 25 of the nation’s largest police and sheriff’s departments spent over $3.2 billion to settle claims in 2010 to 2020. Nold, who formerly worked as a police officer in Napa, says that officers generally don’t return to work when they retire.
Sergeant Rashad Hollis said Vallejo police can’t yet entertain the possibility of bringing officers back let alone consider the names of those who would be brought back.
“We’re still in the prelim stages, but if the bill gets approved, we’ll move forward with planning and onboarding,” he said.
For Nold, there are alternatives worth exploring besides growing the police force.
“The first solution would be to bring in people from the Sheriff’s Department,” Nold said. “A lot of employees just don’t want to work in Vallejo. It’s hard enough while then being under more scrutiny.”
During the last city council Meeting, Chief Ta said the bill would be a temporary solution to provide the department with additional support.
