Where is the accountability?

Last week, we lost another life needlessly to police violence. The day after the killing, the officer who shot Daunte Wright resigned, and the police chief and City Manager of Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, were both fired by the city council.

That is what a city should do. That is what we elect our representatives to do. After the firing, the Mayor of Brooklyn Center stated that “the city council determined it was in the best interest of the city and its residents to seek new leadership in the city.”

Let’s contrast that with what we’ve seen in Vallejo. Sean Monterrosa was murdered last June during the George Floyd protests. The day after the killing, Vallejo City Manager Greg Nyhoff withheld information from the public, described the protestors as “packs” in a press conference, and said, “our hearts and souls go out to the business community.”

Our city council did nothing — absolutely nothing — to hold anyone accountable. Jarret Tonn was back on patrol within days. The Vallejo Police Department got a 10% increase in their budget. Our police have been murdering unarmed civilians for decades, and no one holds them accountable, so they keep doing it.

Across the country, we are seeing elected officials take action. It took Brooklyn Center one day to fire its city manager and police chief. It’s been almost a year since Sean Monterrosa was killed. Why has nothing been done to hold anyone accountable? Why does Greg Nyhoff still have a job right now?

The city manager oversees the VPD and clearly isn’t holding them accountable, so the only remaining option is to fire the City Manager. And the only people who can do that are his direct supervisors, the Vallejo City Council.

This community needs answers. Each individual member of the Vallejo City Council needs to explain why they did nothing after Sean Monterrosa was murdered. Why no one has been held accountable, and why they continue to defend a City Manager who should have been fired last June, and would have been fired in just about any other city around the country.

We were reminded again this week that after a senseless police killing, city councils can and should take action.

Why hasn’t ours?