On Feb. 22, Vallejo announced that it had launched an independent investigation into allegations that city employees improperly disposed of police records.
Vallejo Mayor Robert McConnell and the Vallejo City Council have supported the request, coming from City Attorney Veronica Nebb.
There have been recent allegations that audio and video records of five police shootings were "accidentally" destroyed by the city.
Melissa Nold, the lawyer representing some cases of records being destroyed, said the news was expected.
“I was not surprised to learn that the city was destroying evidence, because I’ve been witnessing it and hearing rumors about it for the past several years,” Nold said. “But I was quite surprised that they were foolish enough to document their destruction of evidence so thoroughly and then tell provable lies to the media, by claiming the destruction of evidence was ‘inadvertent,’ which is clearly untrue based on the email evidence.”
Evidence was allegedly destroyed in multiple federal civil rights cases, including the Willie McCoy case, while the cases are still pending.
VPD and City Hall are accused of systemic and widespread corruption and cover-ups relating to the use of force incidents, according to the lawsuits.
“The evidence clearly shows the city attorney’s office conspired with former police union President (Matt) Mustard to hide evidence of unconstitutional shootings, including a shooting the union president was involved in, while there were multiple open investigations going on, including one by the DOJ”, Nold said. “I think we all need to be asking ourselves, ‘If this is what they’re admitting to publicly, imagine what they’re not telling us.'”
The blatant disposal of incriminating cases involving the Vallejo City Police Department is a transgression that cannot be ignored and is an example of the widespread corruption found in police departments nationwide.
Source: Times Herald