Candidates for Sonoma County sheriff to participate in virtual community forum Tuesday

A neighborhood group in southeast Santa Rosa will host an online forum Tuesday evening for community members to hear from three candidates in the June election for Sonoma County sheriff.

Each of the candidates will have 30 minutes to give a short presentation over Zoom and take questions from attendees, according to Annette Arnold with the South Park Coalition, which is organizing the event.

Retired Sonoma County Sheriff’s Capt. Dave Edmonds will begin at 6:30 p.m., followed at 7 p.m., by Carl Tennenbaum, a former San Francisco police sergeant. Retired Healdsburg Police Chief Kevin Burke will present last at 7:30 p.m.

All are welcome to the virtual forum, Arnold said.

After the three present, the neighborhood group will convene to discuss and potentially decide an endorsement.

“The three of them seem like capable candidates,” Arnold said.

Assistant Sheriff Eddie Engram, who also is running to succeed Sheriff Mark Essick, is not on the roster for Tuesday night.

“It’s unfortunate that this event is being held without all the candidates being there,” Engram told The Press Democrat Monday. “Essentially, I had no knowledge of the event and would have attended had I known.”

Arnold said only those who asked to be included will be present.

She expects the candidates will be asked how they plan to improve the Sheriff’s Office’s relations with the South Park community.

“How are they going to deal with the racial divide in our community? A lot of the people in this neighborhood are afraid of police and the Sheriff’s Office,” Arnold said.

How the next sheriff plans to work with the county’s Independent Office for Law Enforcement Review and Outreach also will be a likely topic, Arnold added.

More information about the event, including the Zoom link, can be found here.

You can reach Staff Writer Emily Wilder at 707-521-5337 or emily.wilder@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @vv1lder.