Kevin Kelley
Hello, I’m Kevin Kelley. I am the owner and sole operator of Kelley Investigations.
My law enforcement career started in January of 1977 at the Vallejo Police Department,
where I worked for 31 years. I had the fairly atypical law enforcement career, including
narcotics, criminal investigations, task force and patrol assignments. My education
includes the University of California at Davis (undergraduate) and the University of
Southern California (graduate work). In my heart I have always considered myself a
first responder.
The last seventeen years of my career I was a lieutenant assigned to operations. My primary role was, as a watch commander, to oversee the delivery of police services to the entire community of Vallejo. I was the only command staff there in the evenings. In that role I fielded as many as five calls an evening regarding police conduct. In addition to this role, I had collateral duties involving internal-affairs-related investigations. During my tenure as both a field supervisor and commander I had over 300 officers rotate through my oversight; trainees, field training officers, and senior patrol staff.
Following my retirement I was hired by Preferred Investigations, a well-known and highly respected background investigation firm founded by Harold Furtado. Mr. Furtado taught background investigations for over 27 years, and I was very fortunate to have evolved as a product of his mentorship. At our peak we had well over 30 agencies for whom we performed backgrounds. During its 15+ years of operation our firm conducted over 10,000 backgrounds. In addition to the extensive institutional knowledge base I have acquired, I continue to attend POST background update courses.
The last seventeen years of my career I was a lieutenant assigned to operations. My primary role was, as a watch commander, to oversee the delivery of police services to the entire community of Vallejo. I was the only command staff there in the evenings. In that role I fielded as many as five calls an evening regarding police conduct. In addition to this role, I had collateral duties involving internal-affairs-related investigations. During my tenure as both a field supervisor and commander I had over 300 officers rotate through my oversight; trainees, field training officers, and senior patrol staff.
Following my retirement I was hired by Preferred Investigations, a well-known and highly respected background investigation firm founded by Harold Furtado. Mr. Furtado taught background investigations for over 27 years, and I was very fortunate to have evolved as a product of his mentorship. At our peak we had well over 30 agencies for whom we performed backgrounds. During its 15+ years of operation our firm conducted over 10,000 backgrounds. In addition to the extensive institutional knowledge base I have acquired, I continue to attend POST background update courses.
In 2012 I was appointed by the Mayor and City Council of Vallejo to serve on a Public
Safety Advisory Committee to evaluate the need for a Citizens’ Review Board for public
safety. This came at the heels of strained relations between the community and the police
and questions as to whether the agency had adequate transparency. My years of serving as a
watch commander where I fielded complaints from the community and responded to all critical
incidents (including all officer-involved shootings) led to my appointment. From that
experience I gained an even deeper understanding of how communities feel towards public
safety and how their conduct impacts trust in the community.Suffice to say, my depth of experience and knowledge in public safety conduct is extensive. Thank you for visiting my page.