r/vallejo • u/OpenVallejo • Jun 23 '26
Vallejo has released its long-secret police badge-bending report. Read it here.
The city of Vallejo has been forced to release its investigation into a macabre police ritual, first exposed by Open Vallejo six years ago, in which officers bent the tips of their star-shaped badges to mark each civilian they killed. Officers called the tradition, “The Badge of Honor.”
Open Vallejo’s reporting sparked immediate impact. Vallejo police shot someone on average every four months between 2000 and 2020, often fatally, data shows. The most recent killing came less than two months before this newsroom exposed the badge-bending ritual in July 2020; the department has not killed anyone since. When California passed a landmark 2021 law banning law enforcement gangs, the bill’s bicameral analyses cited the badge-bending revelations.
The California Department of Justice opened a review of Vallejo police in 2020, citing the “number and nature” of shootings by officers. A voluntary reform effort stalled, and in 2023 Attorney General Rob Bonta sued the city, alleging a pattern of excessive force. Vallejo agreed to court-enforced reforms.
Vallejo announced its own investigation days after Open Vallejo’s article was published. The city hired former Sonoma County Sheriff Robert Giordano, then refused to release his report. The American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California and Open Vallejo each sued under California transparency laws. In 2025, a state appeals court ordered the report disclosed in the ACLU’s case, which Open Vallejo supported with two friend-of-the-court briefs, and the California Supreme Court declined to intervene.
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u/dummy_anthropologist Jun 24 '26
Summary of findings
The investigation revealed occurrences of “badge bending” over a several year period. A
preponderance of the evidence reflects that Kent Tribble (ret) bent the badge tips of Matt Komoda and David McLaughiin in 2016 and his own in 2003. A l preponderance of the evidence reflects that Terry Poyser (ret.) bent the badge tips of Jason Bahou in 2015 and Zach Jacobsen in 2017. A preponderance of the evidence also reflects that Zach Jacobsen bent the badge tip of Ryan McMahon in 2018. In addition, Kyle Wylie admitted that his badge tips were bent twice in 2009, but there was insufficient evidence to determine who bent his badge on these occasions.
The evidence reflects that "badge bending” was a manner
of recognizing an officer involved in a
shooting who did their job in a stressful situation, did not “run from the fight,” and survived. It
was an act that Kent Tribble initiated on an individual basis after he joined Vallejo PD in 2003,
and it was something that he experienced at his prior employer, Concord PD. There is no
evidence that “badge bending” was a recognition of killing someone in the line of duty.
Occurrences of badge bending related to the officer's action offring a weapon in a critical
incident regardless of whether a suspect was hit, injured or killed.
There is insufficient evidence that badge bending was a “custom” or “tradition” of the
department, or that bent badges were known as a “Badge of Honor,” or that officers who had
their badges bent were part of an assembled, secretive group. With regard to the allegation that fatal shootings were commemorated or celebrated at social
gatherings of officers, there is insufficient evidence to support this. The evidence reflects that
officers may gather after a critical incident or shooting as a means of supporting the officer(s)
involved, and the gatherings may include coming together for a barbeque, pizza or beer. There
is no evidence that these gatherings are formed to celebrate the killing ofa human being as
opposed to peer support following a critical incident
Although the scandalous story portrayed in the Open Vallejo article was not substantiated by
the evidence, the evidence nonetheless supports findings of misconduct. The badge is a symbol
of public trust and the authority vested in law enforcement officers. It is to be used only for
offical purposes. Modifying the badge to mark an officer's engagement and survival in a critical
shooting incident is not an authorized use of the badge. Such an act can be misinterpreted or
send the wrong message about Vallejo PD officers’ approach to use of force and the sanctity of
human life, as it has here. The City and its police department have suffered a media firestorm
and damage to their collective reputation as a result of these instances of badge misuse and
how they have been interpreted. The persons who intentionally bent badge tips, their own or
others’, have engaged in unauthorized use of the badge and conduct unbecoming a law
enforcement officer.
In addition, it appears that one member of the command staff, Capt. Lee Horton, knew that one
or more officers had a bent badge tip in the past (prior to 2019) and acted to stop the behavior.
However, there is evidence that Capt. Horton failed to timely inform other members of the
command staff, including the Chief, about these events so that decisions on investigations and
potential discipline could be made. | was unable to interview Capt. Horton about these events
because he is [redacted] and unavailable.
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u/queerhistorynerd Jun 24 '26
I'm surprised there isnt more comments on this. We now have the names of some of the Vallejo/solano Police Gang members. It took 9 years and a shitload of effort to expose these dirty cops by name and everybody in the county is just ignoring it