Gullixson: Santa Rosa beats county to the punch in hiring police auditor

Two years, four months and 15 days have passed since a 13-year-old boy named Andy Lopez was shot and killed amid an island of county homes bordering southwest Santa Rosa. That tragedy, which unfolded in a mere six seconds, centered on a toy gun that a sheriff's deputy believed was real.

But what really pulled the trigger on the public outrage that erupted then - and in multiple officer-involved cases across the nation since - was a perceived lack of accountability and trust. The public lacked confidence that anyone would be held accountable and, moreover, that anything would change.

But something significant has now changed - probably the most promising change to date, although it comes with a caveat that I'll explain later.

Both Santa Rosa and the county, in recent days, have announced the hiring of independent auditors who will provide oversight of the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office and the Santa Rosa Police Department.

The hiring of someone to oversee the new Independent Office of Law Enforcement Review and Outreach for Sonoma County was no secret. Creation of this office was the cornerstone recommendation of the Lopez Task Force that was organized in the aftermath of the shooting to help build community trust.

The new person, Sebastopol resident Jerry Threet, 55, a deputy city attorney in San Francisco for the past 11 years, is expected to be formally hired on March 15. He will be paid an annual salary of $254,402 and will oversee an office with a budget of $827,000 that will provide oversight of deputy-involved shootings and other incidents. It's a much-needed position. No question.

But, in the meantime, Santa Rosa has quietly gone out and hired its own independent police auditor, one who will serve a much different role.

This is someone who will work on a contract basis - earning a flat fee of $6,000 per month with a cap of $60,000 per year - providing periodic evaluations of internal operations and individual incidents.

“It's just good governance,” said City Manager Sean McGlynn, who said the hiring emerged from ongoing discussions with police Chief Hank Schreeder about how, like the county, the city can offer more transparency and “have a new way of presenting ourselves.”

Schreeder said the auditor will be working closely with the community and the Police Department but ultimately will be reporting to the city manager.

“We are pretty much an open book,” said Schreeder. “And I believe that's the model … He is going to be free in the process.”

The auditor will take complaints and then forward them to the police department for review. He also will be going over internal investigations by officers themselves.

So who is this individual? His name is Bob Aaronson, 61, an attorney in Menlo Park, and whatever image comes to mind when someone says “police auditor,” chances are Aaronson is not it. During a conversation over coffee recently, he came across as someone who would be more comfortable hanging out at a book store or reminiscing with friends about a Doobie Brothers concert than filling out long reports about police conduct.

A self-described product of the '60s, Aaronson went to high school in Manhattan and, following the Kent State shootings in 1970, was among students who marched on Wall Street. “Somewhere there is a photograph of me of when I climbed up the Sub-treasury steps (Federal Hall) with a ConEdison red flag and put it in George Washington's fist on the stairs,” Aaronson said with a smile. “So I'm sure somewhere there is a file on that.”

But it's clear he's also eager and comfortable talking about the law and the importance of police departments being responsive and accountable to the community.

Aaronson, who also serves as the police auditor for the cities of Davis and Santa Cruz, says his goal is to build familiarity - and the only way to do that is by spending time with individuals.

“I want every member of each (police) department to know me, to have a sense of what my values are and where I'm coming from,” he said. “No one likes to see red and blue lights in their rear-view mirror. Cops don't like it either. And on some level, from their perspective, they see me that way. I don't see me that way, but they do. So one way to diffuse that is to spend time with them.”

He also seeks to do outreach to the communities. “I very much buy into the concept that what it means to be a public servant,” he said. “So my job is to serve the community and all the members of the community.”

If people have complaints about a department, they are encouraged to call him.

“I have been known to spend as much as an hour on the phone with people,” he said. “I will make sure they know what all of their legal recourses are.

But he said his goal is to show the importance of his job to all stakeholders, including the police union. He notes that his first report when hired by the Fresno Police Department was to document the poor working conditions at the police substations, “which was not well-received by police administrators,” he said.

Aaronson, who received his undergraduate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his law degree from Stanford University, also teaches courses statewide in law enforcement discipline, internal affairs investigations and ethics topics.

His role at Santa Cruz and Davis has been to audit personnel investigations and investigations of officer-involved shootings. He also does ride-alongs on a regular basis. “One of the ways you really see how a department functions with the community … is by sitting in patrol cars,” he said.

In his role, he has not been without controversy. In Santa Cruz, Aaronson was at the center of a heated investigation into an incident in which the Police Department placed undercover officers in public meetings held prior to a New Year's Eve celebration downtown. When the public found out about it, anger erupted. When the chief said he didn't know what happened, Aaronson did an internal audit and found that the decision had come from a deputy chief. The chief was not happy with the report, but, with the help of the city manager, it was completed and eventually made public. That deputy chief is now chief of the Santa Cruz Police Department, and Aaronson says they have a good working relationship.

“Santa Cruz to me is an example of a place where, given enough time, I think this (the auditing function) has made that department as progressive as it is,” he said.

In Davis, Aaronson was at the center of a dispute over an audit he did concerning alleged bias and coercion among fire officials, although he says he prefers not to audit fire departments. The report, which found evidence of problems, created friction surrounding the chief, and every budget cycle since, he said, “the firefighters union has attempted to get the council in Davis not to renew my contract.” “I still am paying the price for that (audit), which I didn't want to do.”

What saved his job, he said, were the community activists who stood up in defense of his independent report. “They filled the city manager's office, and that's what made the difference,” he said.

Aaronson said he tries to pay attention to all the stakeholders in the community, although that is often a challenge.

“If I am doing my job right, everyone is equally unhappy with me, but from different directions,” he said. (I told him he sounded like an editorial writer.)

So did he apply for the county watchdog position? He pauses. “Here is the bottom line for me,” he says. “I have worked with a lot of departments. I would probably not agree to be an auditor for any sheriff's department for one simple reason. The sheriff is an elected official. The only control that the Board of Supervisors has over an elected sheriff is through the budget,” he says.

He said he was once encouraged to apply for an oversight position in Sacramento but he declined. “When a new sheriff is elected, where am I then?”

So here's the caveat that I mentioned earlier. The creation of these new oversight roles in the county and the city is a game-changer. No question about it. But their success will hinge on the relationships they develop internally - especially the relationship between Sonoma County Sheriff Steve Freitas and the new director of the new oversight office. I plan to explore that more in a future column.

But for now, Aaronson's phone number is 707-543-4179. You can also reach him at aaronson@sonic.net. This is what is different.

Paul Gullixson is editorial director for The Press Democrat. Email him at paul.gullixson@pressdemocrat.com.