We call on the Riverside County Board of Supervisors to fulfill its responsibility to demand public accountability by the Riverside County Sheriff’s department.
The Sheriff’s Department is one of the leading expenses within Riverside County’s $1.12 billion budget. The Board of Supervisors directly controls and contributes $382 million to the department. The elected sheriff implements the budget in department operations and personnel. Residents and businesses in this fast-growing county of 2.46 million people have long counted on and financially invested in credible, steady and strong law enforcement.
The Board of Supervisors must act as an ethical check on the way that law enforcement works.
A critical feature of credible law enforcement, and government, is public accountability.
We are alarmed by recent arrests of sheriff’s deputies, allegations of cover-ups made against county officials and mismanagement of county jails:
• One deputy was charged with sexually assaulting and extorting several women in a home detention program.
• The women were seen by an Internal Affairs investigator and an outside lawyer for the county, identified as the wife of a high-ranking official in Sheriff Chad Bianco’s administration, and offered $1,000 to $2,000 without their attorneys present. The county says this is compensation, not buying their silence.
• Two other deputies were caught with narcotics, including one in the San Gorgonio Pass area with $5 million of fentanyl.
• Failure to report deputy-involved shootings of unarmed individuals as required by law.
• A record number of inmate deaths in 2022 and 2023 and the refusal of the department to release information related to the deaths to facilitate discussion on how to improve conditions.
The recent arrests, allegations and long-standing public concerns about the operations of our county jails are indications of problems that must be addressed to maintain credible law enforcement. So far there has been no meaningful response to these red flags from the sheriff or Board of Supervisors. This is an avoidable erosion of credibility for both entities and loss of community trust.
Related: Riverside County needs a sheriff’s oversight commission, now
Law enforcement has the power to change — or end — people’s lives. Oversight is thus a commonsense kind of ethical supervision and responsibility. Oversight can take a range of forms, from independent investigating agencies to auditing or monitoring bodies that review law enforcement internal investigations to independent review boards or commissions that have the authority to conduct investigations or wield subpoenas.
Studies have shown that civilian oversight boards with broad authority have led to higher levels of trust between the community and local law enforcement and are correlated with reductions in violent crime rates and the number of officers killed in violent encounters.
It is often claimed that oversight of law enforcement is inherently biased. We view it as simply good government. Oversight is a key means to build trust and better relationships between law enforcement agencies and their communities they serve.
It is beyond time for Riverside County to establish independent oversight of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department.
That responsibility lies squarely within the jurisdiction of the Board of Supervisors. As such, it is incumbent on the Board of Supervisors to fulfill its ethical responsibility to provide a means for public accountability of the sheriff’s department, restoring this vital check and balance of power.
The number and qualifications for the members of this accountability body should be proposed and discussed in public by the board right away. We look for consideration of a diverse accountability board to include law enforcement and managerial experts, dedicated civic volunteers, local businesspeople and representation from communities hardest hit by crime and poverty to provide much needed oversight of the Sheriff’s Department.
As James Madison pointed out in The Federalist Papers, “In framing a government … the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.”
Bob Buster is a former Riverside County supervisor and Riverside City Council member. Chani Beeman is a former Community Police Review commissioner for the city of Riverside. Deborah Wong is the interim chair of the UCR Department of Ethnic Studies and the co-chair of the Riverside Coalition for Police Accountability.
