The California Highway Patrol will expand its presence to another Bay Area city to combat crime, weeks after a petition started by a resident urged state leaders to deploy officers to combat crime amid a local police staffing shortage.
Car side shows, where people show off their cars and often make dangerous stunts in vacant lots and public intersections, as well as drug crimes, shootings and shoplifting, have made life in the Vallejo enclave more dangerous, wrote Petition resident Paula Conley, posted on the website Change.org.
Conley and other residents urged Gov. Gavin Newsom to deploy California Highway Patrol officers to Vallejo in a similar manner to how the governor sent CHP officers to Oakland earlier in 2024 to address a crime surge there.
“We're starting to see their (crime) statistics go down and their quality of life improve and they're dealing with crime better,” Conley told Fox News Digital. “We have the same problems that Oakland does, but we're just a smaller city. It's going to take manpower to really help us.”
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The headquarters of the Vallejo Police Department are in Vallejo, California. (Paul Chen/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)
“We're not asking this lightly. This has just been a crisis situation for too long. Our leadership continues to have a lack of urgency in dealing with this, and at some point, someone has to help us,” she added.
Deploying CHP officers and Solano County sheriff's deputies to Vallejo could help tackle crime, serve as a deterrent to would-be criminals and provide support to an overworked police force, Conley wrote in her petition.
The agency has assisted the Vallejo Police Department since July, making 600 traffic enforcement stops and making 32 arrests, CHP Deputy Commissioner Isiri Beauchamp told reporters at a news conference in Oakland last week.
CHP leaders met with Solano County Sheriff Thomas Ferrara, and the agency is “committed” to working with interim Vallejo Police Chief Jason Ta “to help combat the side shows and illegal street racing plaguing the community,” Beauchamp said.
A pedestrian crossing Georgia Street in Vallejo, California. Residents there are demanding more help in fighting crime. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Newsom acknowledged the request for a CHP presence in Vallejo last week, but said city leaders must eventually address police staffing issues.
“I just want people in Vallejo to know that they are not letting the CHP do the work of local law enforcement,” he said. “They're somehow thinking, 'Well, the state is going to come in and provide this support for free.' “They have a lot of vacancies…and instead of contracting with, say, the sheriff's office and the county, they're hoping to get the state to do it for free. We're not going to do that work.”
“We're in the support business. You see what we're doing in Vallejo. We're supporting them,” Newsom added.
Conley agreed that Vallejo authorities need to address police staffing issues.
California Governor Gavin Newsom speaks during a news conference on public safety in 2025 with new laws and more enforcement, in Oakland, California on December 27, 2024. (Photo by Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“Just as Oakland Police needs to do its part to properly run its department, so does Vallejo. This is a big part of why we are in this state of decline and I agree with the governor on that responsibility,” she told Fox News Digital. “Our city cannot expect anyone else to save our situation but to provide us with support to take control of the rebuilding process.”
In September, the governor signed emergency legislation to allow retired Solano County sheriff's deputies to return to the force full-time to help meet Vallejo's public safety needs. The Vallejo Police Department currently has only 75 officers out of 129 available positions, Vallejo police Sgt. Rashad Hollis told Fox News Digital.
Vallejo City Manager Andrew Murray said the city was aware of Conley's request.
“We respect and value our community’s right to express their concerns and welcome continued dialogue about public safety in Vallejo,” Murray said in a statement provided to Fox News Digital by the Vallejo Police Department and city leaders when asked for comment on the matter. “The Mayor, City Council, and I recently sent requests for law enforcement support to the governor and state and regional agencies.”
California Highway Patrol (CHP) officers provide security at the State Capitol in Sacramento. (Photo by Robin Beck/AFP via Getty Images)
Murray acknowledged that rebuilding the beleaguered police department is a top priority but that more needs to be done. He added that the department coordinates daily with neighboring law enforcement agencies.
The Solano County Sheriff responds to certain calls in Vallejo to assist local authorities, he said. Rex Hawkins. He said the Sheriff's Office is in the process of submitting a service proposal to the city of Vallejo.
If approved, “a contract for services will be provided and when the contract is signed, a law enforcement response construction operation will occur,” Hawkins told Fox News Digital.
Some Vallejo residents have cited the lack of police officers as a decrease in quality of life.
As of December 27, the city has seen 24 murders in 2024, up from 21 in the same period last year, according to police data. Cases of rape and theft also increased. Vehicle break-ins and thefts, as well as assaults and burglaries, decreased slightly.
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California Governor Gavin Newsom speaks during a news conference with the California Highway Patrol to announce new efforts to enhance public safety in the East Bay, in Oakland on July 11. (Photo by Stephen Lamm/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)
Scott, a Vallejo resident who declined to give his last name because of concerns about repercussions from local criminals, told Fox News Digital that he has seen the city suffer a general decline since moving more than two years ago from San Francisco, where he lived for two decades.
“We have problems with drug houses and prostitution out in the open,” he said. “Criminal elements are coming into the city and taking advantage of the fact that there are so few police.”
“San Francisco is a lot safer than Vallejo,” Scott, 54, added. “I can walk around San Francisco late at night. Vallejo, I wouldn't walk around at night. There's too much criminal activity.” “The media likes to choose San Francisco. There is no comparison.”
Vallejo city leaders declared a police emergency in July, giving the police chief and Murray, the city manager, powers to address the problem, including seeking help from the mayor's office and the CHP.
Progress has been made to address police staffing levels, but “we recognize there is more work to come,” Murray said.
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“The Vallejo Police Department collaborates daily with our neighboring law enforcement agencies, and we are grateful for their continued mutual support,” he said. “As we continue to rebuild, we remain open to exploring additional formal support for police services that enhances the public safety of our community.”
The deployment of more CHP officers to Vallejo will come months after Newsom sent the state agency officers in February to Oakland to address crime, including car theft, organized retail theft and violent crimes.
“With crime rates declining across California — including across the Bay in San Francisco — Oakland is seeing the opposite trend,” Newsom said at the time. “What is happening in this fine city and surrounding area is alarming and unacceptable. I will send the California Highway Patrol to assist local efforts to restore the sense of safety that the hardworking residents of Oakland and the East Bay demand and deserve.”
In July, the governor announced he would quadruple the number of shifts CHP officers conduct in the city after the CHP recovered more than a thousand stolen vehicles, seized 55 crime-related weapons, and arrested 562 suspects in the East Bay since February.
Newsom announced last week that the CHP would remain in Oakland for an additional month to bolster the law enforcement presence there. He also criticized local leaders for not changing the policy that limits police pursuit of fleeing criminals, even though he asked them to do so over the summer, saying “they had a chance and they didn't do it.”
Vallejo is located about 25 miles south of Oakland.
California Governor Gavin Newsom announced an increase in the number of law enforcement officers in Oakland over the summer. (Getty Images)
In a statement to Fox News Digital, Newsom's office pointed to the CHP's statement highlighting the CHP's work in Vallejo.
“The CHP is present and active in Vallejo and will continue to work with community stakeholders, including the police department, to ensure its community is safe and protected,” CHP Sgt. Andrew Barclay said.
The CHP said it contacted Ta, Vallejo's interim police chief, about law enforcement assistance to help bolster police presence in the area. Barkley said units from the CHP's Solano District Office were advised to assist on the streets of Vallejo when available or in the area.
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In response to the petition, most of the feedback has been positive, said Conley, who noted her frustration with why it was created in the first place.
“I tried to work with our city and tried to get answers and everything, and I talked to the county. I said, 'Well, who else can we go to?'” She said, “Let's go to the governor.” “I never applied. This is all new to me. “There's a lot of apathy in our city because things have been bad for a long time and they're still that way.”
