American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California v. Vallejo Police Department (Police misconduct)

The ACLU of Northern California filed a lawsuit to compel the city of Vallejo to release public records that contain information about officers in the Vallejo Police Department who allegedly bent their badges after on-duty shootings as a badge of honor. Following litigation, the City of Vallejo was forced to release a long-suppressed third-party investigation into the allegations.

In November 2022, the ACLU of Northern California filed a lawsuit to compel the city of Vallejo to release public records that contain information about officers in the Vallejo Police Department who bent their badges after on-duty shootings, allegedly as a badge of honor. The ACLU’s petition details Vallejo PD’s long history of shooting and killing people, a disproportionate number of whom are People of Color.

The ACLU sought a 150-page report produced by former Sonoma County Sheriff Rob Giordano who was hired to conduct an independent investigation after the badge bending practice became public in 2020.

Although the report was completed in 2021, the city of Vallejo refused to release it. City officials claim that the report is a police personnel record and therefore exempt from California public records laws.

The ACLU lawsuit argued that the report is not a personnel record. And if it were, it would still have to be made available to the public because it relates to the investigations of use of deadly force by police officers, and is therefore public under Senate Bill 1421.

The ACLU’s original petition was filed in Solano Superior Court in November 2022. In October 2024, the Court granted in part the ACLU’s petition, ordering that documents previously considered confidential — including a partially redacted version of the report prepared by Rob Giordano — be made public. The Court denied the ACLU’s request for release of the investigation records in their entirety under S.B. 1421. The City of Vallejo appealed the Superior Court’s decision ordering public release of some records, and the ACLU cross-appealed the partial denial of release.

In an Opinion dated June 27, 2025, the Court of Appeal reversed the Superior Court and ruled that all the withheld records (including the full investigative report, findings, and interview transcripts) should have been disclosed under S.B. 1421.

In June 2026, the City of Vallejo was forced to release the long-suppressed investigative report prepared by Rob Giordano. The release of the Giordano Report should prompt a long overdue reckoning—for the badge-bending scandal, and the rotten culture that created it. Vallejo residents should demand that city and VPD officials answer to the public for this scandal.

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ACLU sues Valleo for Badge-Bending Records, Nov. 23, 2022