The Antioch Police Department is no longer under federal oversight. Chief Joe Vigil announced Friday, Oct. 9, that the U.S. Department of Justice has found the department in "substantial compliance" with the memorandum of agreement it signed in 2025, and notified the city on Sept. 30 that it was being released.
Why Antioch was under an agreement
The agreement grew out of one of the East Bay's biggest police scandals. Dozens of discriminatory text messages circulated among Antioch officers between September 2019 and January 2022, Bay City News reported. The fallout led to federal, state and county investigations into alleged misuse of weapons and a police dog, civil rights violations, falsified records, wire fraud, obstruction of justice, turned-off body cameras, steroid sales and paying people to take college classes for officers. A civil rights lawsuit against the city was resolved with a $4.6 million settlement that also required reforms.
The agreement committed the department to constitutional, bias-free and community-oriented policing. According to the Antioch Herald, its text allowed early termination only if the department complied with every provision and held that compliance for at least 12 months.
What changed
"Throughout this process, we've strengthened our policies and training, enhanced accountability and misconduct investigations, improved safeguards against biased policing and expanded our community engagement efforts," Vigil said in a video posted to the department's Facebook page. He said the department will keep working under the separate Allen Agreement and maintain independent oversight.
The department said its policies were rewritten with input from its own staff, outside experts and the Antioch Police Oversight Commission before the Justice Department approved them, and that it created a Compliance and Professional Standards Division to handle training, supervision and auditing.
City leaders react
"This is good news for Antioch and an accomplishment our community can be proud of," Mayor Ron Bernal said, crediting Vigil and officers for 21 months of work. District 2 Councilmember Louie Rocha said the reforms could become "a model for other law enforcement agencies to follow."
The department itself cautioned that the finding "does not mean the work of maintaining these standards or earning community trust is complete."
The news comes weeks after a federal judge released the Oakland Police Department from 23 years of federal monitoring tied to the "Riders" case, Bay City News noted.