VALLEJO (CBS SF) — It’s an issue that has shaken the Vallejo community. Since 2010, 19 people have been killed in officer involved shootings by Vallejo Police.
On Wednesday night, officers sat down with the community in an effort to make reforms.
The use of force policy has been in the works since 2019, even before Chief Shawny Williams joined the department. Williams has already seen positive changes within the department.
“I would want them to know and what I believe is important is that we care,” he told KPIX. “We want to work with them so they can begin to see the changes that they’ve been asking for.”
Of particular concern for Williams are the families that have lost loved ones.
Shortly after taking over, he developed a de-escalation policy and he says that policy has made a difference.
“In 2021 we saw about a 40% reduction in use of force,” he said. “For the first 20 years, we did not have a critical incident or an officer involved shooting. Our claims were down and our complaints were down.”
But the department and the community recognize there is a lot more work to do.
“I’m concerned about the past behavior of the police department,” local resident Andrea Sorce said. “The use of behavior in the past and the lack of accountability for those officers and those that have bended their badges to celebrate those killings.”
Tony Stewart echoed those sentiments.
“A lot of time you hear the big stories, the folks are often my age,” he said. “They often look like me, so I wanted to be here to give people my age a voice. Be here so that it’s not like every 27-year-old African American male is a threat to a cop because we’re not right?”
The officer-involved shootings of young men such as Ronell Foster and Willie McCoy have fractured the Vallejo community. Stewart though has hope things can change for the better in the future.
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“I really want people my age to come out,” he said. “Be involved and have a voice in these changes and actually be able to implement those changes so in 20-30 years, my kids and other people’s kids aren’t dealing with the same issues that we’re dealing with now.”
Source: sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com.