I was out of town last week on a trip with my family. I should have known better. As always happens when I step away from my beat, there was major news.
This time, it’s the city of Chula Vista embroiled in a sudden, public and very unexpected feud with its own police chief.
The origins of the feud have been ably covered by the Union-Tribune and TV news, so I don’t need to go into detail. The gist is that, at a police union holiday party late last year, Chula Vista Police Chief Roxana Kennedy stuffed dollar bills into the pants of a shirtless male police officer while he was performing a Chippendales-style dance as part of a mock dance competition.
A few days later, during a weekly meeting with City Manager Tiffany Allen, Allen told Kennedy her behavior at the party was inappropriate and ordered her to rectify the situation and address the issue with rank-and-file police staff.
Kennedy then requested a medical leave of absence, which Allen granted. Shortly after, Kennedy hired a lawyer.
Now, that lawyer, Cory Briggs, says he’s laying the groundwork to file what he called “a federal discrimination lawsuit against the city.” In an interview with Voice of San Diego this week, Briggs alleged the city discriminated against Kennedy, who is White, by seeking to force her out in order to replace her with a Latino.
“The city concocted bogus reasons for getting rid of the chief and in the process completely sullied her reputation,” Briggs said. “The chief loves her job but she shouldn’t have to work with a cloud over her head, especially one she didn’t create.”
Briggs said he’s gathering evidence and would decide whether to file a suit based on what he hears from city officials.
“We have to sit down and hear from the city what they’re offering,” Briggs said.
For their part, city officials categorically denied Kennedy’s allegations.
In a statement, a city spokesperson said, “The suggestion that there is a conspiracy to replace the chief is entirely false. Moreover, the assertion that ‘a majority of the City Council,’ which consists of four councilmembers of Latino descent, seeks to ‘replace her with a Latino’ is offensive and rooted in a racist assumption that Latino leaders cannot act with professionalism and integrity.”
Believe it or not, that’s only the start of where things get wild.
Just a couple months ago, Briggs and Kennedy were adversaries.
For the past several years, Briggs was squaring off against Kennedy in a different lawsuit he filed against Chula Vista seeking copies of police drone video footage. In that suit, Briggs represented Art Castañares, a former high-ranking San Diego County Democratic official who now runs a news website called La Prensa.
Castañares won that suit, forcing the city to disclose several police drone videos. The case dragged on for years because the city filed multiple appeals. Briggs racked up roughly $530,000 in legal bills, which a court ordered the city to pay.
The city paid Briggs over the Christmas holiday, he said. A few weeks later, Kennedy hired Briggs to represent her. Briggs is now preparing to sue the city a second time on behalf of a client he just defeated in court.
Briggs declined to detail the evidence he’s gathered to support Kennedy’s discrimination claim, beyond saying, “Two people told that to La Prensa.” Briggs added that Kennedy’s medical leave has nothing to do with her attendance at the police union party. The leave, he said, is related to a separate health issue.
Last week, Briggs sent the city a letter ordering it to preserve any evidence that could be relevant to a possible lawsuit. And he has filed a series of public records requests that cast a wide net at both City Hall and the Chula Vista Police Department.
Meanwhile, city officials, including the Latino City Councilmembers supposedly at the heart of the plot to oust Kennedy, are scratching their heads in bewilderment at why a police chief with whom they worked amicably for years suddenly is threatening to sue them.
Just a few months ago, councilmembers were falling all over themselves at a City Council meeting praising the chief when they voted unanimously to make her department the first in San Diego County to use artificial intelligence tools to help police officers write police reports.
More recently, they also voted unanimously to adjust police department salaries to make it easier to recruit new officers.
All of the councilmembers contacted by Voice of San Diego for this story categorically denied seeking to replace Kennedy. Two sent statements expressing their dismay at what they characterized as Kennedy’s racially charged allegations.
“This is desperate, amateur race-baiting,” said Councilmember Michael Inzunza. “It is deeply disheartening to see race used as a tool to divide and polarize our community. As leaders, we have a duty to rise above division and ensure that every decision reflects the values of fairness, dignity and respect that define Chula Vista.”
Inzunza and other councilmembers pointed out that, within the past year, the City Council voted to hire both a White city manager and a White fire chief.
And it was widely known in City Hall that, as long ago as 2024, Kennedy had spoken of her eventual retirement and identified at least one officer as a potential replacement.
At the April, 2024 funeral of Chula Vista Assistant Police Chief Phillip Collum, who died after a battle with cancer, Kennedy said that she had hired Collum “as assistant chief with hopes that one day he would take my spot.” In a later interview with the Union-Tribune, Kennedy said she had been training Collum to succeed her and now was helping other senior department staff advance in rank.
Councilmember Cesar Fernandez said he, too, was surprised and disheartened by Kennedy’s discrimination allegations.
“I’m disappointed because I believed the chief and I had a relationship built on trust and professionalism,” Fernandez said in a statement. “To see these accusations framed in a way that appears rooted in ethnicity rather than facts is deeply concerning and a low point in an otherwise strong career.”
“There is nothing wrong about the city manager addressing an admitted error in judgment and requesting a corrective plan,” Fernandez said. “That’s basic accountability. Our city deserves leadership grounded in transparency and facts, not division.”
More than a dozen supporters of the chief spoke on her behalf at Tuesday’s City Council meeting, praising her generosity, deep community ties and successful record fighting crime in Chula Vista. Kennedy has worked for the department for nearly 33 years and became chief in 2016.
Among her supporters is Mayor John McCann, who praised Kennedy’s record at the city and sided with her claims that there is an effort to oust her. McCann vowed to defend Kennedy’s job and restore her reputation.
“Chula Vista is one of the safest cities in California,” McCann said in a statement. “The safe streets and low crime we enjoy are due to the hard work of our police officers and the outstanding leadership of our chief of police.”
“Now, sadly, [Chief Kennedy] is under attack,” McCann said. “There is now an effort among politicians to drive Chief Kennedy from her position.”
McCann did not specify which politicians he was referring to. But he said he would “oppose this underhanded maneuver. The safety of Chula Vista is my highest priority. I know that Chief Kennedy joins me in that conviction. And I’m confident that residents in Chula Vista agree.”
It’s not clear where all of this is going. Until recently, Chula Vista City Hall had appeared to be running fairly smoothly, especially compared to the city’s larger neighbor to the north, San Diego.
Now there is division over a fundamental issue – public safety – both on the City Council and in the upper ranks of city management. I’ll be watching closely to see how officials resolve what is shaping up to be a very thorny issue.