Galen Kusic, Editor

News broke at the Rio Vista City Council meeting Tue. that Rio Vista Police Chief Dan Dailey is under investigation by the City through two separate investigation firms for a multitude of serious accusations and complaints received from department officers, Rio Vista citizens and visitors.

Rio Vista citizens came out in force to the meeting, citing complaints about treatment and handling of the department. Those that spoke outlined serious accusations against Dailey for an alleged abuse of power while grossly mismanaging the department. Allegations include illegal misdemeanor arrests, failure to arrest when required by law, harassment and targeting of citizens and officers, department mismanagement and undermining of the city council regarding operations and personnel issues.

Since Dailey took over the department under two years ago, nine officers have either left or been fired. Only two officers currently remain from the previous administration.

What may be even more troubling is that Dailey, along with Commander Paul Tassone, are also the subject of a federal civil rights lawsuit.

Documents revealed that Tassone is the subject of two of these lawsuits, the first occurring while employed with the Sacramento Sheriff Department in 2011. The lawsuit states that Tassone used excessive force and even brandished a weapon on the alleged victim for no apparent reason and detained the victim unlawfully for over 30 minutes. *See correction below

The second lawsuit was filed on Nov. 20, 2018 in Rio Vista, naming both Chief Dailey and Tassone as defendants in the case.

“Because of the ongoing investigations, I am not able to comment on anything confidential,” said Dailey on Wed.

City Manager Rob Hickey noted that the City’s investigations should be “wrapped up in the next couple weeks.”

According to a source with direct knowledge of these issues, Commander Tassone has known Dailey for many years and was actually Dailey’s previous Chief at the Office of Emergency Services. They also worked together at the Sacramento Sheriff Department for decades.

Since being hired in Sep. 2017, Tassone was promoted to sergeant, then commander within seven months. Tassone is now second in command and drives an unmarked police vehicle to commute back and forth to Woodland on the city’s dime.

The promotion was not brought before the City Council for approval, nor was the position opened up for all officers to consider, which is a direct violation of department policy. Sergeant Lisa McDowell has been with the department for over 12 years and is also the President of the Police Officers Union, but was apparently not considered for the job.

“Quick hires with sudden promotions rarely occur in law enforcement,” said resident Lori Fishburn, a 25-year law enforcement veteran. “To me, it was looking more like good ‘ol boy hire and promote police department…I have formed the opinion that there is maybe police corruption at the command level.”

In addition, no exit interviews have been held when officers quit or are terminated. These are standard in law enforcement to give the city an opportunity to find out what steps can be done to reduce turnover, improve training, increase morale and find departmental issues that have caused the turnover.

According to the source, there are also a multitude of complaints against Tassone for drawing his weapon on citizens in Rio Vista. Apparently these incidents were not reported, nor were they investigated by the department under Dailey.

Further, Tassone is implicated in the false arrest of a person for a felony drug charge, when it was only a misdemeanor offense. Another incident involves Tassone pulling his weapon on a stop at the Chevron for a vehicle with expired registration. Tassone had the driver arrested for the infraction.

These are just some of the issues according to the source with direct knowledge, as more incidents and complaints are coming out.

“This City has a very serious situation on its hands,” said resident Debra King in public comment. “One which at the very least could expose it to great liability.”

King made recommendations to form a police oversight commission that would include residents and city council members to investigate concerns and issues brought forth. She also recommended freezing all adverse actions by the City until investigations are completed, and to address these requests at the next council meeting.

Residents don’t trust the department; citing blatant “disrespect” and mismanagement

Last week, news traveled after a video was released following Senate Bill 1421, which requires cities to release information when excessive force or great bodily injury is caused to a suspect. A video was released of a Rio Vista resident, Katherine Jenks being bitten by K9 Officer Rio as officers Natalie Rafferty and rookie Man Ly were attempting to arrest Jenks.

Ly was fired by the department, and Rafferty has been placed on administrative leave. Sergeant Thomas Tom is now set to begin training with Rio and take over as the dog’s new handler. He commutes and drives the new K9 vehicle, despite Rio’s absence.

This decision outraged members of the public that know Rafferty personally. Those involved with Friends of Rio Vista, a non-profit organization set up to help local law enforcement are outraged at how this situation with Rafferty and Rio has been addressed.

Marianne Aleck, who has been heavily involved with Friends of Rio Vista and had befriended Rafferty, stated that Rafferty said to her that, “the chief is trying to make me quit and is making my life miserable.” She also confided that she “was walking on eggshells.”

“I know Officer Rafferty would never lie on a police report,” said Aleck. “I know for a fact that there is a cover-up led by the chief for some of his pet officers that would result in their firing.”

She then demanded for the gag order placed on Rafferty to end now.

Rio Vista resident Braxton Fuller, formerly an anonymous donor that gave $30,000 to the department to develop a K9 program, including training and specialized equipment, spoke out against Dailey on Tue. He cited that Rio broke two teeth in May during training, and nothing was ever done to fix them. As of now, Rio’s teeth have still not been fixed, despite Rafferty going to UC Davis Veterinary Clinic to get a quote for $3,000.

“Right now I’m mad as hell,” said Fuller. “We have been disrespected by senior command structure at RVPD. They have been rude, dismissive and condescending to all of us… There would not be a K9 program without all of our support.”

Fuller went on to state that he has “zero confidence” in the current senior command structure at the department.

“The chief is supposed to be steering the ship,” said resident Natalie Burghardt. “I think he’s steered it into a toxic mess. Is this chief the right fit for our beloved city? I don’t think so.”

Citizens came to the defense of Rafferty, and let it be known that they hold Chief Dailey largely responsible for the turmoil that is occurring.

“How can law-abiding citizens feel secure about contact with the police department when it is under the leadership of this chief?” asked resident Jane Salley.

Salley feels that it will be nearly impossible to attract top-notch professionals to the department in the future with all of his turnover and scandal.

Following the meeting, Vice Mayor Don Roos recommended creating a police oversight committee to address many of these serious allegations.

“I find those comments to be very disturbing,” he said. “The information to me hit to heart, and it makes me want to take action of some sort to protect the integrity of our police department and our City.”

Roos called for a special meeting next week to discuss the matter.

“I think we owe it to the police department and we owe it to the citizens,” said Roos. “I personally want to have this item added to the agenda to create an oversight commission with city council members and members of the public together.”

He cited the commission serving two purposes: One to find out if things are wrong, and two to find out if things are “okay.”

“I think we should do something to show the citizens that we take this seriously,” said Roos.

The item will appear on the next council meeting agenda.

* CORRECTION: The federal lawsuit filed against Commander Tassone when he was a member of the Sacramento Sheriff Department in 2011 was dismissed and cannot be reopened.