Chula Vista police chief alleging city trying to push her out

Chula Vista’s police chief is alleging that city officials are trying to force her out, accusations the city denies.

The attorney representing Chief Roxana Kennedy said an incident at a police union holiday party is apparently being used as a pretext to oust his client.

Attorney Cory Briggs sent the city of Chula Vista a letter Friday asking it to preserve all evidence regarding “allegations of improper discipline, retaliation, discrimination and/or a hostile work environment,” and alleged “adverse actions” used against Kennedy.

News of the turmoil was first reported by news outlet La Prensa.

On Monday, Briggs alleged to the Union-Tribune that a few city officials and City Council members, whom he did not identify, have been working for months to replace his client without her knowledge.

The city issued a statement Monday that it is “deeply concerned by these accusations,” and that it “categorically rejects all allegations” contained in the letter Briggs sent to the city asking it to preserve evidence, including emails. The city said the suggestion of a conspiracy to replace Kennedy “is entirely false.”

Mayor John McCann, who returned last week from deployment as a Navy reservist, said that the news surprised him.

“She has been an exceptional leader,” McCann said of Kennedy, “and I want to make sure that we can get back to having the city run in a good, positive way, because she has done an incredibly great job as the police chief.”

The Chula Vista police union’s 10-member board voted unanimously to support Kennedy in the wake of the turmoil, the union president, Chula Vista police Sgt. David Martinez, said Monday.

Kennedy has been with the department for more than 33 years and has led it since December 2016. She is the region’s longest-tenured police chief and leads the San Diego County Chiefs’ and Sheriff’s Association.

Briggs alleges the city is using an incident at the police union’s Dec. 13 holiday party as pretext to oust his client. According to Briggs, there was some sort of dance-off during a raffle at the party, and one of the participating officers reportedly removed his shirt in a Chippendale-style dance.

The attorney said he was told that as the crowd was cheering, the chief walked up and put two $1 bills in the officer’s pockets, turned around and bowed or curtsied, then headed back to her seat. Briggs said he was told the moment elicited laughs and cheers.

Martinez said, “No one thought anything much of it, I thought, at that point.”

Briggs said City Manager Tiffany Allen, who he said had been at the party, brought up the incident to Kennedy during their next regular meeting and reportedly told the chief that the city had received complaints about the incident. According to Briggs, the city wanted Kennedy to come up with a plan to address her conduct and wanted to audit the Police Department. Kennedy, he said, was “completely blindsided.”

“Something that was jovial and jocular and innocent among adults is now being twisted into something that wasn’t,” Briggs said.

The chief has been out on medical leave since about Jan. 23. News of the chief’s leave received wide attention following a Jan. 29 social media post from La Prensa stating Kennedy was out on administrative leave and not returning to work. The post cited unnamed sources in saying she would be announcing her retirement.

Kennedy issued a statement last week regarding what she said was “an inaccurate post” regarding her work status. “To be clear, I am currently on medical leave, not administrative leave. I have also made no plans for retirement,” she said. On Monday, she referred all questions to her attorney.

Briggs’ letter to the city alleges “adverse actions against (Kennedy) as subterfuge for the desire of a majority of the City Council to force the Chief into an early retirement and replace her with a Latino.”

Those adverse actions, he told the Union-Tribune, were “falsely claiming that there had been complaints about the chief’s conduct at the party, and the threat to perform a top-to-bottom audit of her department.”

In its statement Monday, the city said, “The suggestion that there is a conspiracy to replace the Chief is entirely false, and the implication that this is due to her ethnicity is inherently offensive. Such a claim rests on a racist assumption that Latino leaders cannot act with professionalism and integrity.”

Asked for clarification, the city noted that Briggs’ letter referred to a “majority of the City Council” and said the council members representing the city’s four districts are “of Latino descent.”

The city also cited “legal constraints” in saying it is “prohibited from commenting on specific actions related to the 2025 holiday party or any individual personnel matter.”

“However, City leaders are expected to adhere to all employment policies and foster a work environment that is professional, respectful, inclusive, and free of discrimination or harassment,” the city said.

Chula Vista officials said the chief is out on “approved personal leave.” Briggs said the chief’s medical leave runs six weeks and reaches into March, unless her doctor recommends something else.

On Monday, Briggs reached out to the city to offer that it pick up Kennedy’s department-issued vehicle for maintenance and safekeeping while she is out on medical leave and not using it.