Vallejo police detail staffing gaps, push for coordinated response to trafficking and domestic violence

Captain Jerome Bautista of the Vallejo Police Department presented the operations bureau report for March 2026, saying the department has 79 sworn officers (77 active, two inactive) and 41 officers assigned to patrol, with one officer currently in field training expected to go solo next week. "We currently have 41 officers on patrol and 1 on field training," Bautista said. He reported 12,614 calls for service and 6,075 incidents for March and said the city saw about a 50% drop in homicides and shootings while aggravated assault, simple assault and domestic-violence reports have increased.

The captain described a theft- and stolen-vehicle assessment broken down by beat, noting that Beats 1–2 and Beat 4 had high activity and identifying common vehicle types and timeframes. He also announced a police-department 'safe exchange zone' outside the station, saying the sign and monitored parking and lobby are intended to provide a safe meeting place for transactions.

A resident who lives near City Park urged the committee to relist human trafficking as a substantive agenda item for fuller review, saying arrests of out-of-town buyers have not meaningfully deterred street-level trafficking. "You say you've arrested 10 Johns and 8 are out of town. So how does arresting people who are already out of town deter ongoing activity here?" the resident asked.

Lieutenant Josh Gatham, who oversees investigations, declined to discuss an active homicide investigation but described progress on the domestic-violence initiative and coordination with community partners. "We're working with the Family Justice Center, VEST, and partners to create a one-click resource on the website and a credit-card-sized resource card for officers to hand out," Gatham said, adding that lethality-assessment training is underway and a Solano County resource guide will be posted online.

Tanya Brownrigg of VEST and Nora Martinez of the Family Justice Center Solano reported on capacity limits across the county and urged Vallejo to consider a locally focused domestic-violence program. Brownrigg proposed a coordinated community response and said she had provided a budget and proposal to the police department. Martinez recommended consolidating multiple pamphlets into a single brochure, verifying 24-hour and shelter intake contact details and translating materials into Spanish and Tagalog.

Council members pressed for clearer action planning and funding. The chair and members asked VPD to return recommendations on outreach, technology (social-media messaging and camera programs) and recruitment assistance. The committee discussed making human trafficking and the domestic-violence initiative standing items on future subcommittee agendas so the work remains visible and coordinated.

The committee closed the item with directions for staff and partners to circulate proposed pamphlets, resource cards and camera-program plans to the council for a formal recommendation.

The subcommittee did not vote on new ordinances or appropriations during the discussion; members asked staff to return with an action plan and potential funding requests at a future meeting.