PD Editorial: Putting some bite in watchdog agency

Sonoma County’s deal with law enforcement unions clears some large obstacles from the path of effective civilian oversight of the Sheriff’s Office.

The agreement, announced Thursday, will allow key provisions of voter-approved Measure P to take effect.

Most notably, the Independent Office of Law Enforcement Review and Outreach can for the first time conduct its own investigations when it determines that the Sheriff’s Office’s handling of a complaint against a deputy or correctional officer is incomplete. The agency also can initiate an investigation any time someone dies in custody or as a result of a shooting or other action by a sheriff’s employee.

IOLERO, as the watchdog agency is known, will have greater access to internal sheriff’s investigations, and when conducting its own inquiries, the director can recommend disciplinary action.

Until now, the six-year-old oversight agency was restricted to assessing the adequacy of internal investigations conducted by the Sheriff’s Office.

With last week’s agreement, Sonoma County moves closer to the oversight model endorsed by voters in November 2020, when Measure P passed by a 64.7% landslide. (Unlike this month’s disappointing turnout, 90% of local voters cast ballots in that election.)

The goal of IOLERO and Measure P is to increase public confidence in the Sheriff’s Office, remove problem deputies and, ultimately, save lives.

The biggest obstacle to enhanced public oversight came from the unions representing sheriff’s deputies and correctional officers.

They spent close to $90,000 in a failed bid to defeat Measure P, and they filed a challenge with the state Public Employment Relations Board, contending that civilian oversight is subject to collective bargaining. The board concurred, but a state appellate court unanimously overturned that decision, coincidentally acting on the same day that the deal was announced in Sonoma County.

Given their efforts to undercut Measure P, skeptics — including some members of the editorial board — doubted the unions were serious about a deal with the county. By reaching an agreement, and publicly endorsing it, the deputies and correctional officers demonstrated a commitment to oversight and reform.

In doing so, they remove a potential stumbling block for incoming Sheriff Eddie Engram, who was endorsed by the unions but also promised to work collaboratively with IOLERO “to ensure appropriate reforms are implemented and transparency is enhanced.”

Resolving the Measure P dispute also could make it easier for the county to recruit a new permanent IOLERO director to succeed Karlene Navarro, who is now a Superior Court judge.

A national push for accountability, transparency and oversight of law enforcement gained steam after George Floyd was killed in 2020 by a Minneapolis police officer who knelt on Floyd’s neck for eight excruciating minutes.

Here in Sonoma County, law enforcement reform efforts started in earnest after a sheriff’s deputy shot 13-year-old Andy Lopez to death in 2013, eventually costing the county $3 million to settle a wrongful-death lawsuit. The Board of Supervisors created IOLERO in 2016, adopting the recommendations of a community task force.

It soon became clear that the office was understaffed and underfunded and its purview was too narrow. Measure P provided a larger budget and allowed investigations of excessive force, sexual harassment or assault, bias in policing or corrections and violations of constitutional rights.

Under the new agreement, IOLERO can investigate if it isn’t satisfied with the sheriff’s handling of those issues. The agency has greater access to records and, under Measure P and state law, authority to subpoena witnesses. Taken together, that puts some real teeth in Sonoma County’s law enforcement watchdog agency.

You can send letters to the editor to letters@pressdemocrat.com.