Vallejo Municipal Code Ch. 18.02 Independent Investigations of Serious Incidents

A. Any serious incident, as that term is defined in Section 18.02.010D, involving a sworn police officer(s) employed by the Vallejo Police Department, shall be investigated by an independent investigator ("Independent Investigator"). Bias incidents, as that term is defined in Section 18.03.050C, as well as other potential policy violations may be investigated by the independent investigator as set forth in Section 18.03.050I.

B. The city manager, city attorney and human resources director shall, by consensus, select a contracted independent investigator after seeking advice and input from the Community Police Oversight and Accountability Commission ("Commission") at a noticed, open regular or special meeting. In order to improve efficiency and timeliness, the city manager may create a standing list of approved investigators. Thereafter, investigators may be selected from the list without seeking further advice and input from the commission. The list shall be updated on an annual basis. The list shall be a public record that the commission or the city manager may make available to the public online.

C. Any person or firm selected as an independent investigator shall have the following experience:

1. Be specifically trained in workplace investigations with at least five years of experience investigating workplace matters or public employment issues involving law enforcement agencies;

2. Have an office or place of business within one hundred miles of the city and be able to timely respond to serious incidents or other matters being investigated;

3. Have significant experience providing expert testimony before arbitrators or courts and able to cite to examples.

The independent investigator must not be a person who:

4. Is a current employee of the city or any immediate family member of such a person as defined in Section 18.03.020B(3);

5. Has ever been a peace officer for any federal, state or local law enforcement agency;

6. Is a current or former employee of the Vallejo Police Department or any immediate family member of such a person as defined in Section 18.03.020B(3);

7. Is an attorney or law firm who represents or represented any person in any proceedings or matters adverse to the city;

8. Is a party in any proceedings or matters adverse to the city within the last five years or any immediate family member of such a person as defined in Section 18.03.020B(3).

9. Is an attorney or law firm who represents or has represented peace officers at arbitration or before a Civil Service Commission or equivalent body involving a disciplinary matter;

D. A serious incident shall be defined as any incident involving sworn members of the Vallejo Police Department and concerning:

1. An incident involving the discharge of a firearm at a person by a sworn officer(s);

2. An incident in which the use of force by a sworn officer(s) against a person results in death or great bodily injury. Great bodily injury shall have the meaning set forth in Penal Code section 12022.7(f) and shall include, but shall not be limited to, any physical injury requiring medical treatment in a hospital. For purposes of this section hospitalization shall not include merely for routine medical clearance;

3. An incident involving any in-custody death of any person which is preceded by the use of force against that person by a sworn officer, whether or not that force ultimately caused the death;

4. An incident involving the death of any civilian which is preceded by the use of force against that person by a sworn officer, whether or not that force ultimately caused the death;

5. An incident involving an allegation of sexual assault, by a sworn officer(s) against a person. "Sexual assault" shall have the meaning set forth in Penal Code Section 832.7(b)(1)(B)(ii) and "member of the public" shall have the meaning set forth in Penal Code section 832.7(b)(1)(B)(iii);

6. An incident involving an allegation of dishonesty of a sworn officer(s) relating to the reporting, investigation, or prosecution of a crime, or directly relating to the reporting of, or investigation of misconduct by, another sworn officer(s), including, but not limited to, perjury, false statements, filing false reports, destruction of evidence, falsifying evidence, or concealing of evidence. All allegations of dishonesty, whether under oath or not, are included in this section.

E. The independent investigator shall conduct their investigation in parallel with any internal affairs investigation. All interviews conducted in any administrative investigation of serious incidents shall require the attendance of the independent investigator except that the initial interview conducted immediately after the occurrence of the serious incident may be conducted without the participation of the independent investigator if that person is unavailable.

1. All interviews of any subject or witness conducted by either the independent investigator or internal affairs shall be video and audio recorded. All such recordings shall be maintained by the city for a period of seven years and may not be destroyed or disposed of before the expiration of that time period;

2. All audio and video recordings of any interview of any subject or witness shall affirmatively be made available to the independent investigator immediately, or as soon as possible, and in no event exceeding five days from the date on which the recordings were made;

3. The independent investigator may conduct their own independent interviews of subjects and witnesses.

F. The independent investigator may conduct investigations of matters and incidents, other than serious incidents as set forth in Sections 18.03.050I, 18.03.060F or as otherwise set forth in this title.

G. Every city employee identified as a subject and every city employee identified as a witness in any investigation required by this chapter, shall cooperate to the fullest extent with the independent investigator. Failure to participate in interviews, provide documents, to be truthful and to otherwise cooperate shall be a violation of this section and shall subject any non-cooperating subject or witness to discipline, including potential termination, at the discretion of either the chief of police, if the employee works for the police department or city manager, if the employee works for any other city department.

H. The Vallejo Police Department and every city department shall cooperate with the independent investigator in providing all evidence determined relevant by the independent investigator including, but not limited to, recorded interviews, body-worn camera footage, car camera footage, written statements, investigative reports and all other files, documents and records requested by the independent investigator. No member of the Vallejo Police Department, city employee, or elected or appointed official shall interfere with the Independent Investigator or the conclusions of the independent investigative report. Notwithstanding anything herein to the contrary, the independent investigator is not entitled to any documents protected by the attorney client privilege or the attorney work product privilege unless such privilege is waived. Further, the independent investigator has no authority to interview any city elected official or city employee concerning any matters discussed in a closed session city council meeting or a closed session commission meeting. The independent investigator may not access documents or other potential evidence produced solely for use in a closed session meeting. A closed session meeting is any meeting lawfully allowed to be held by a legislative body as set forth in Government Code section 54954.5.

I. In conducting any investigation, the independent investigator shall reasonably "follow the evidence" and shall not be bound by any scope of work in any contract with the city when it comes to reasonably identifying and investigating the misconduct of an officer as set forth in this title.

J. The independent investigator shall have subpoena authority for records and other relevant material related to any independent investigation. No such subpoena shall issue, however, unless thirty days have elapsed since the independent investigator requested such records and they have not been provided. Any such subpoena may be enforced in the Solano County Superior Court and the city attorney, or their designee, shall take the necessary steps to enforce such a subpoena.

(Ord. No. 1869 N.C. (2d), § 1, 12-20-2022)

A. The independent investigator shall prepare a written investigative report for each serious incident ("Independent Investigative Report") or any complaint referred in accordance with the provisions of this title. The independent investigative report shall set forth findings of fact and a determination as to whether or not any Vallejo Police Department policies or city policies (the "Policy" or "Policies") were potentially violated including any potential violations committed during the investigation (e.g., dishonesty during any investigative interview). The independent investigator shall make their findings based upon a preponderance of the evidence. The term "preponderance of the evidence" shall have the same meaning as found in the most recent version of CALJIC 2.50.2 or any successor section defining "preponderance of the evidence."

B. Upon conclusion of the investigation, the independent investigator shall submit a signed copy of the investigative report to the commission, independent police auditor ("IPA"), chief of police, the city manager, the city attorney and the human resources director.

C. Nothing herein is intended to imply that any person employed by the city, including the chief of police, the city manager, the city attorney or the human resources director directs or supervises the independent investigator.

D. The independent investigator shall conclude the investigation as promptly as possible. In no event shall the independent investigator conclude the investigation any later than ninety days prior to the running of the time limitation set forth in Government Code section 3304(d).

E. Nothing herein shall supersede or impede a sworn officer's rights under the Peace Officer's Bill of Rights or under any current Memorandum of Understanding with the Vallejo Peace Officers Association or any other rights set forth in law.

F. No city employee shall influence or attempt to influence the outcome of any independent investigation or the contents of any investigatory report prepared by the independent investigator. If, after investigation, it is discovered that a city employee engaged in such behavior, that employee shall be subject to discipline up to and including termination, at the discretion of the city manager (if the employee is under the city manager) or city attorney (if the employee is under the city attorney).

(Ord. No. 1869 N.C. (2d), § 1, 12-20-2022)