Chula Vista Police Chief Roxana Kennedy is accusing some of the city's power brokers of trying to push her out of the job while she recovers on medical leave, her attorney told reporters this week. He says a dust-up over a December union holiday party is being stretched into an excuse to replace her, while city officials flatly deny any plot. The standoff has prompted a rare public show of support from the police union and an equally firm rebuttal from City Hall.
In a letter demanding that the city preserve potential evidence, attorney Cory Briggs wrote that "a few city officials and city council members" have been working for months to remove Kennedy and that the Dec. 13 party incident is being used as a pretext, according to the San Diego Union‑Tribune. Briggs also told reporters that Kennedy's medical leave is expected to last roughly six weeks and urged the city to secure her department vehicle while she is out, the paper reports.
About the chief
Kennedy has led the Chula Vista Police Department since December 2016 and has more than three decades with the agency, according to the city's biography. She also serves as president of the San Diego County Chiefs' and Sheriff's Association, a role that gives her a regional profile beyond Chula Vista. The City of Chula Vista and the San Diego County Chiefs' and Sheriff's Association both list her tenure and leadership roles.
Holiday party and union reaction
At the center of Briggs' account is a Dec. 13 police union holiday party. He says Kennedy put a couple of dollars into an off‑duty officer's pocket and then bowed or curtsied, characterizing it as a minor lapse that is now being inflated into a disciplinary excuse. Union president Sgt. David Martinez told reporters that "no one thought anything much of it," and said the union's 10‑member board voted unanimously to support the chief, according to the San Diego Union‑Tribune. Briggs says the gap between how officers saw the incident and how some city officials are treating it is what triggered his preservation letter.
City response and what's next
The city has called the idea of a coordinated effort to oust Kennedy "entirely false" and said that any suggestion the matter is tied to her ethnicity is "inherently offensive," according to local coverage that republished reporting from KGTV. Officials say Kennedy is on approved personal leave and point to legal limits on what they can say about personnel issues. Yahoo News republished the local TV report and noted that Briggs told the station the chief was blindsided by what he described as an effort to remove her.
Legal outlook
Briggs' preservation letter is a standard early step when an attorney believes a client may face improper discipline. It puts the city on formal notice that it must retain documents and communications that could become evidence. If the conflict escalates, it could lead to administrative proceedings or to a lawsuit alleging retaliation or discrimination, either of which would draw public scrutiny to how Chula Vista handles personnel disputes. For now, both City Hall and Kennedy's camp say confidentiality rules around employment matters limit what they can reveal while the situation plays out.
