Mayor posts message addressing P.E.A.C.E
In his first message online in about two weeks, Vallejo Mayor Bob Sampayan addressed citizens’ understanding of the Vallejo Police Depa r t ment ’ s Operation P. E . A . C . E . project.
The project was implemented by VPD Chief Shawny Williams in August in response to the increasing high number of incidents of high crime and shootings in Vallejo.
“Operation P.E.A.C.E. focuses on four areas: redeployment, partnerships, technology, and community engagement, ” Sampayan said in his message. “As part of this plan, VPD has leveraged its existing resources to re-assign officers to its Patrol Division with local, state, and federal partners to provide added agency support.”
Sampayan goes on to say that part of the operation’s technology compponent is to have the VPD and City install new Automatic License Plate Readers (ALPR). The mayor says that the ALPRs will help the police department gather evidence to help solve property crimes, recover stolen vehicles and provide hotlist alerts for wanted persons.
“The largest, and quite frankly, one of my favorite parts of the operation is the community engagement portion,” Sampayan says in the message. “Operation P.E.A.C.E. calls for the department to strengthen community partnerships by participating in a series of community listening sessions, meetings and opening up human-to-human dialogues with our residents and business owners while offering support to families impacted by violence in our City.”
Since the VPD launched the operation six weeks ago, Vallejo has seen a 37 percent decrease in property crimes and a 56 percent decrease in violent crimes, according to Sampayan. Last month, Vallejo officers seized 37 firearms, 20 of which were recovered by Operation P.E.A.C.E.
Sampayan also encourages people to be involved with the upcoming Operation P.E.A.C.E.’s first-ever Virtual Community Day.
The event is scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 7 from 10 a.m. until noon and will be hosted online