Vallejo police get help responding to 911 calls from Solano Co. sheriff deputies

VALLEJO, Calif. (KGO) -- This week, the city of Vallejo started having more law enforcement on the streets responding to 911 calls.

"We are going to have six deputies and a sergeant lieutenant, and these are actually new markings for our new cars," Captain Jackson Harris with the Solano County Sheriff's Department.

Solano County sheriff's deputies have geared up to officially partner with the Vallejo Police Department in three designated areas of east and south Vallejo for a one-year program to help address the department's staffing crisis.

"The main focus is going to be to reducing the response time when people are calling 911. That is one of the main reasons Vallejo was having some issues," Harris said.

This staffing support has been two years in the making after Senate Bill 1379 was approved and signed into law in 2024.

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"We have divided the city up geographically, and our deputies, during the hours of 2 p.m. to midnight, will be responding to calls for service," said Solano Co. Sheriff Brad DeWall. "As we move forward -- and if we get enough staffing onboard -- we could proceed with expanding our services in the city of Vallejo. We could go to a seven-day-a-week model with more staffing."

Tiffany McCleod, owner of The Grind Café, is glad the city is listening. She was at the receiving end of a 911 dispatcher telling her officers were not available to respond to an emergency.

"It was disheartening my staff. We just locked the door, and we said, 'I don't think we can open the business, because if we don't have police show up, we don't know what this guy can do,'" McCleod said.

The city of Vallejo is budgeting up to $11 million for this program. Vallejo's mayor said this will be pivotal to increasing safety.

"For too long the residents of Vallejo have been expressing their concerns, and we have been seen the problems, and we haven't seen them get solved and today is a huge step to being more responsive to the needs of our residents," said Vallejo Mayor Andrea Source.