In 2016, for example, Nyhoff said there were more than 69,000 calls made to Vallejo police. The same year, there were 150 use-of-force incidents.

"Those don’t seem like there’s excessive use of force, or a lot of use of force in our community," he said. "That is such a tiny number when you think of how many times our officers interact with the public."

Beyond the Shootings

Nold said problems with policing in Vallejo are costing the city — and taxpayers — money.

The city of Vallejo was paying so much in legal settlements related, in part, to cases against its police department that it impacted its relationship with the California Joint Powers Risk Management Authority — an agency that has effectively served as an insurance company for the city for about three decades.

But by 2017, documents from the authority show that Vallejo had become a liability. In a December 2017 meeting, the agency discussed how Vallejo’s losses are "large and disproportionate compared to the other members."

Nyhoff said the Authority planned to charge more for its insurance because of “a lack of risk management oversight and accountability generally." The city left that group and joined another insurance pool.

"How can they approve these multimillion-dollar settlements and never ever for one second look in the mirror and go, ‘Hey what's going on?' " said Dan Russo, a criminal defense attorney in Vallejo since 1978. In 2018, one of his clients settled a case against the police department for $2.5 million.

"Are we just unlucky? Are we just having a bad run of luck? Or is there some fundamental, basic problem that is more transcendent than a bad apple?"

Russo said city leaders aren’t living up to their obligation and responsibility to hold its police officers accountable — and it's not just when it comes to police shootings. There have also been allegations of harassment, false arrests, intimidation and racial profiling.

"Those calls I get every day," said Melissa Nold, who sees these calls as examples of a department that is afraid of its community.

Brent Garrick, the retired Vallejo police officer, is also a Vallejo native. He said being from the city has served him well in his career, because officers who don't understand the communities they serve carry around a certain level of fear. By the time Garrick left the department, he said just a few officers had gone to school or grew up in Vallejo, or had families in Vallejo.

Nold said that kind of intimacy with the community is a matter of life or death.

"Just from a psychological perspective, it's very difficult to kill people that you know," Nold said.

The Search for a New Police Chief

Vallejo Police Chief Andrew Bidou retired in June, and the city is looking for its next chief. The city has held at least one community forum to get input from residents about what they want from their next chief.

"What I have heard is the public wants a chief who is a good listener, who cares about this community and who is proud to represent the Vallejo Police Department as a leader," Nyhoff, the city manager, said in an email.

"They also want someone who is a communicator and will get out in the public to talk about tough issues, learn about their problems and bring ideas to the table to collaborate with our community and unite us in the common goals of public safety. They are also looking for accountability from Department leadership and tough — even if unpopular — decisions."

Others have been showing up to City Hall, making their case for transparency and accountability.

In June, Alicia Saddler addressed the City Council, saying she wants to prevent what happened to her brother, Angel Ramos — who was shot and killed by a Vallejo police officer in 2017 — from happening to anyone else.

"If you bring the right chief in, things can change. And our loved ones can get the justice, and nobody else’s family will have to feel the pain that me and all these other families have to feel," she said.

This story was reported and produced by KQED's local news podcast, The Bay. Click the "listen" button above to hear the episode.

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