Candidate for
Sheriff-Coroner; County of Orange

Institute a Sheriff`s Total Accountability Reform (STAR) program; Make Orange County safer by implementing my Zero Tolerance Crime Program; Enhance and provide local Homeland Security solutions; Address the illegal immigration problem; Institute my Officers Investment Program;

Continued from the main page: Position Papers 4 and 5

Address the illegal immigration problem

Comprehensive Illegal Immigration Enforcement Policy

There is mounting pressure on local law enforcement leaders to take action in what is a federal law enforcement responsibility. Law enforcement leaders have been reluctant to enforce illegal immigration law because of a very real fear that it will alienate the police from immigrant communities, which will drive up crime and tax the already thin resources to take on the additional responsibilities of illegal immigration enforcement.

FIRST THINGS FIRST: Mismanagement has created a staffing crisis where we can no longer fulfill our primary responsibly of protecting our homes, schools, businesses and communities. We are unable to provide staffing paid for by the 12 cities, the harbors the airport and OCTA that contract law enforcement services with the department. Taking on the additional role of enforcing federal immigration law will prevent us from fulfilling our primary responsibility and taking gang members, drug dealers, sex offenders and career criminals off the streets and out of our communities.

REGIONAL PROBLEMS REQUIRE REGIONAL SOLUTIONS: The Sheriff`s Department is only responsible for patrolling about 30 percent of the county. The remaining 70 percent is patrolled by cities with their own police departments. Unlike many of the communities in central and northern Orange County, the areas patrolled by the Sheriff`s Department do not have large immigrant populations. Without a comprehensive, coordinated plan supported by all local law, enforcement, any plan is a failure.

HUNT PLAN: I will develop a comprehensive illegal immigration enforcement plan that clarifies the jurisdictional responsibilities for illegal immigration enforcement, identifies the specific role of county and local law enforcement, and creates a comprehensive plan that will make a difference to our residents.

LEADERSHIP: As your Sheriff, I will a leader and form a commission of experts, from law enforcement officials to activists groups on both sides of the debate, to develop a comprehensive plan that will be embraced and implemented countywide. The Sheriff must use his influence to further the public safety. I will not play politics with public safety!

TEAMWORK: I will create an Illegal Immigration Enforcement Policy Commission comprised of members of all of our public safety partners including, the chiefs of police, the courts, probation and state parole, the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol, along with community activists on both sides of the issue to:

Identify and articulate the role of county and local law enforcement concerning illegal immigration enforcement.

Develop a long-term comprehensive plan for illegal immigration enforcement that protects and enhances relationships with our immigrant communities while targeting the removal of criminal illegal aliens from the communities

End the don`t ask don`t tell working relationship with the Department of Homeland Security, ICE and Border Patrol. Collaborate with them to help accomplish their immigration function of identification and apprehension of criminal illegal aliens such as gang members, drug dealers, sex offenders and career criminals. Accomplish this goal by sharing intelligence, forming partnerships and establishing a countywide task force to identify criminal illegal aliens and remove them from the community.

Task the commission to construct policy, as well as legislation that focuses on removing gang members, drug dealers, sex offenders and violent career criminals preying on our communities.

Restore the policy of screening everyone that passes through our jails to identify criminal illegal aliens in the jail system and report them to ICE and the Border Patrol. The information will also be used / shared to surface informants on the whereabouts of some 3,000-homicide suspects who murder Americans, particularly Mexican-Americans, then flee to Mexico.

Lobby Orange County`s Congressional delegation for the Federal Government to reimburse the taxpayers for the estimated $18 Million dollars in annual costs to house illegal criminal aliens in our jails.

Require transparency to the public and the media. Allow the grand jury, state and federal agencies to perform oversight to assure all residents that we are within compliance and strictly conforming to the agreed-upon mission of exclusively removing CRIMINAL ILLEGAL ALIENS.

Institute my Officers Investment Program

I am proud of the men and women of the Sheriff`s Department, who I have spent my career working with keeping our jails and communities safe. They deserve the best pay, training and equipment possible. I will recruit and retain the best personnel by investing in our officers to ensure we have the best-compensated, trained and equipped men and women, and will promote those men and women who commit to a higher ethical standard. Eliminate cronyism as a means of promotion.

As your Sheriff, I will institute fair and objective promotional criteria based on experience and ability for all levels up to and including the rank of captain. The process will ensure equal opportunity for everyone qualified to participate in the process. The promotion process will be subject to an annual review by stakeholders to ensure it is effective and meeting the goals of promoting the most qualified and experienced personnel. The process will ensure that lateral hires are not given unfair advantages over in-house personnel. I will raise standards for promotion emphasizing professional experience and encouraging continuing professional training and formal education to ensure we promote the best people for the job. I will require a minimum of a bachelor`s degree for promotion or advancement into management. Leadership is a privilege not a right, only those with the experience and qualifications will serve as leaders.

I will raise standards: I will institute in-house leadership and ethics training for all management personnel. I will ensure all managers understand and embrace the oath of office and the ethics of the law enforcement profession. I will create a career-mentoring program at all levels. I will institute a mandatory leadership-training program for all supervisors and managers. Leadership is a vocation that must be taught. I will instill the value of leadership and the values, goals and mission of the department will become part of the organizational culture.

Increased Compensation: As your Sheriff, I will make sure Deputies on the front lines get the best pay, training and equipment possible. The department has the widest range of law enforcement responsibility in the County. As such, the personnel should be the highest paid and I will fight to ensure they are. It is imperative for recruitment and retention because Deputy Sheriffs are required to spend a good portion of their careers in the jail system. The plan will include increased incentive pay for higher education, professional training for line staff, leadership training for supervisors and advanced leadership training and POST pay for managers.

Less Jail Duty: Currently, a deputy spends 7 to 9 years in jails before being assigned to patrol. I will reduce Deputy jail time to 3 - 6 years before being assigned to patrol. Additionally, I will reinstate the jail rotation program that was eliminated. This will allow deputies to leave the jail for 30 to 60 day rotations to help boost morale.

I will establish an Internal Leadership Committee: Nothing is more detrimental to the health of an organization than a leader who becomes isolated from the men and women he leads. The Internal Leadership Committee will be comprised of personnel from throughout the department that meet quarterly to assess our performance and provide advice on matters concerning the department.

Crisis Intervention Training: Much of the use of force in and out of custody is the result of Deputies confronted by mentally deranged suspects. Our leadership has failed to provide training and equipment that personnel need to recognize the indicators associated with mental illness. This failure has resulted in the deaths of two people because Deputy Sheriffs had no option available to them other than physical force. I will institute crisis intervention training for all front line personnel in jails, courts and operations to help recognize potential mental instability to de-escalate violent encounters.

I will establish a Critical Incident Response Team in the Court Services Division: The men and women assigned to protect the County courthouses will have the same training, weapons, equipment and ability to respond to tactical emergencies as the jail and patrol divisions.

I will correct the unfair advantage afforded lateral transfers for promotion: Until addressed, we will continue to have problems retaining quality employees. As your Sheriff, I will ensure that everyone has an equal opportunity for promotion and transfer but department experience will not take a backseat to outside law enforcement experience. I will give qualified non-sworn personnel seeking a change in job classification the first opportunity for advancement. We must stop losing quality employees to other agencies by refusing to provide career advancement opportunities for our own employees.

Reward loyalty to the department: I will insist on loyalty objectively quantified by tenure, work experience, professional training and development, and advanced formal education. These factors will become the basis for promotion and transfers in the department.

State-of-the-Art-Equipment: There is no excuse for the largest law enforcement agency in Orange County to be the last to receive and benefit from technological advancements. I will ensure that we are on the cutting edge of technology. I will provide front line personnel with the best tools and equipment. I will institute crime analysis and crime mapping programs in operations and investigations to provide timely and accurate information on crime trends. I will meet regularly with managers to identify specific goals for reducing crime and lowering use of force in jails and hold people accountable. As your Sheriff, the department will become the example for law enforcement rather than the exception.

I will reform the Reserve Program: I will ensure that all reserve Deputy Sheriffs meet state mandated hiring and training standards; are committed to public service and meet their service commitments to the division. I appreciate the sacrifice that unpaid reserve officers make to the department and the community. As your Sheriff, professional and committed reserve Deputy Sheriffs will no longer be treated as second-class citizens in their own division.

Code of Ethics: As your Sheriff, I will set the example and ensure that all of the men and women of the Sheriffs Department conduct themselves in a manner worthy of their oath of office and the law enforcement code of ethics. Law enforcement subscribes to a code of ethics impressed upon us from the earliest days of the police academy. There will be no exceptions!