Hutchens cites improvements in O.C. jails, defends decreased gun permits

[DVSmith]

Go add comments to the LA Times Article:

Hutchens cites improvements in O.C. jails, defends decreased gun permits | L.A. Now | Los Angeles Times

[Poogsdad]

Just commented.

[X-ffdo]

Man...That woman looks like a Mac truck run over her!!

[Poogsdad]

Originally Posted by X-ffdo

Man...That woman looks like a Mac truck run over her!!

She has had a ROUGH YEAR man!!!

Hopefully things will only get worse for her.

Thanks,

Poogsdad

[protectmine]

Oops. I thought at the BOS meetings Sheriff Hutchens said she did NOT review the permits personally but had her staff take care of it and they brought her questions anonomously. Is this YET ANOTHER lie she got caught in? Also are they saying that only 181 permits of around 900 have restrictions - I think not

Monday, June 22, 2009
Sheriff Hutchens says she's made progress revamping department
After 1 year in office, she details changes to improve accountability, transparency in troubled agency.
By KIMBERLY EDDS and SALVADOR HERNANDEZ
The Orange County Register


SANTA ANA – Marking one year since she was appointed, Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens said today that her administration has made “significant progress” toward overhauling a department marred by scandals of accusations of corruption, violence in the jails and allegations of a “code of silence” among its ranks.

Appointed the county’s 12th sheriff by a divided Board of Supervisors, Hutchens described herself then as a “change agent” and promised to change the culture of the Sheriff's Department.

Today, surrounded by her command staff and a group of reporters, Hutchens in a matter-of-fact fashion laid out her promises of increased accountability, improved community relations and transparency, and the steps she and her 3,600-member department have taken to turn those promises into reality.

The effort to improve, she said, will continue, despite significant budget concerns that could result in laying off investigators and 911 call takers, and eliminating some county crime lab services.

A retired division chief with the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department with more than 30 years of law enforcement experience under her belt, Hutchens inherited a department reeling from a former sheriff under investigation for corruption charges and the death of jail inmate John Chamberlain. In the Chamberlain death, a District Attorney’s Office investigation found that deputies skirted their responsibilities and used inmates, termed "shot callers," to control other inmates.

In just a year, Hutchens revamped the county jail system, replacing less experienced leaders with more experienced ones, installing digital cameras to document inmate and staff behavior, and replacing paper jail logs with electronic ones that cannot be altered once an entry is made.

Supervisors and deputies assigned to the jail are now getting ethics training, running through workplace scenarios based on lessons learned from several recent inmate deaths. Non-work-related Internet access, televisions and cell phones have been banned from the county’s five jails, and the jail work schedule has been reworked to help supervisors keep closer tabs on deputies.

Deputies are also being required to identify “shot callers” and to transfer inmates they believe are intimidating others. Deputies are also disciplined if they lend legitimacy to the role of inmate leaders in the jails.

An Orange County grand jury report released last week applauded Hutchens’ efforts to change the culture of the jails.

The overriding conclusion reached by the grand jury is that the "Orange County jail system is well run and in good overall condition,” according to the report. “The delivery of service continues to improve under new leadership and the morale of the jail staff is improving.”

But Hutchens' first year in office has not been without its own controversies.

Soon after taking office, Hutchens announced that the department would be reviewing concealed weapon permits issued under then-Sheriff Mike Carona, igniting criticism that she was hampering gun rights.

And during an excessive-force trial of Deputy Christopher Hibbs, a spokeswoman for the District Attorney’s Office said a "code of silence" within the department prevented prosecutors from getting a conviction. Hibbs was accused of using a Taser on a handcuffed man in custody after the man gave him a wrong name. The jury deadlocked in the trial and prosecutors moved for dismissal in the case.

In keeping her pledge of accountability, Hutchens created Strategy, Accountability, Focus and Evaluation, a new department division to address concerns of accountability within the department, including allegations of excessive force and a code of silence.

The department’s one paragraph use of force policy has been expanded to six pages, including instructions, guidelines and expectations and a tracking system. All witnesses of use of force, including use of a stun gun or a pepper ball gun, are now required to report what they saw to a supervisor as soon as possible.

The department worked with the American Civil Liberties Union to develop a new policy on electronic control devices, including Tasers. Changes to the policy were made as a result of ACLU suggestions, Hutchens said. A new vehicle pursuit policy has been written and the department’s rules and regulations manual has been overhauled.

The ability of inmates to complain about treatment has been expanded, including putting complaint forms online. Some inmates have even called Assistant Sheriff Mike James, who runs the county’s jails, to complain to him directly.

While addressing allegations of a code of silence, Hutchens has said all incidents would be investigated fully, but disputed the notion that such a culture existed departmentwide. Since June, seven department employees have been terminated for lying.

“I have fired people for lying,” Hutchens said. “The men and women of this department do not want them to be part of our family, part of what we do.”

Hutchens came under fire from the county Board of Supervisors and gun rights activists for her decision to review the concealed weapons permits handed out by Carona. Critics accused Carona of handing out weapons permits in exchange for political contributions.

Hutchens personally reviewed nearly 1,000 permits to see if they stood up to the new policy requires applicants show “good cause” to have one. Eight percent of the permits were revoked or expired early because the holder failed to show good cause.

Under Hutchens’ revisions, anyone with a felony or a misdemeanor conviction within the previous five years became ineligible. As of this month, there are 855 concealed weapon permits, a decrease from the 1,069 permits in July 2008. During that time period, 59 new permits have also been issued.

Hutchens argued that despite critic’s disputes that she was hampering Second Amendment rights, nearly half of the permits that were reviewed, asking the applicant to show “good cause” to retain the permit, where approved.

According to numbers provided by the Sheriff’s Department, of the 423 applicants whose permits came into question, 223 were approved – 181 with restrictions and 42 without.

Despite warnings of inadequate jails, increased response times and impacted investigations, the Board of Supervisors appears ready to cut nearly $28 million from the Orange County Sheriff's Department budget.

It's the largest cut to services that supervisors are expected to make as they figure out how to slash more than $1 billion from next year's spending plan.

Hutchens said the department may soon get a financial break through a contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to house federal immigration detainees, called Beds for Feds. The sheriff asked for $7.3 million to delay layoffs for six months – allowing time for the federal contract to take effect. That contract, which would house as many as 700 federal detainees, could bring in more than $18 million.

But supervisors rejected the idea, saying it was a gamble without an official offer from ICE. The Sheriff’s Department has been working ICE officials, and is expected to hear something by the middle of this week, said Assistant Sheriff James.

The department is also looking to replace 35 percent of its deputies assigned to the jails with civilian jail workers, beginning in January 2010. The change could save millions, Hutchens said.

Contact the writer: shernandez@ocregister.com or 949-454-7361

[Ken_In_Colo]

Her statements regarding Carona's [alleged] policy of issuing CCW's for contributions seems to be gaining traction; the press always brings it up & many of the commentors [in the OC Register] mention it. The press never mentions that less than 100 CCW holders are in this category.

But, on the other hand, why can't I, as a citizen, donate to a candidate who has implemented policies with which I agree?

I don't think it's a good idea to allow the public to think that CCWs for Contributions was as rampant as Hutch & the press make it sound.

[Poogsdad]

Originally Posted by Poogsdad

Just commented.

I posted the same comment on both the LA Times and the OC Register.

I was quite surprised to find that the LA Times published my comment but the OC Register did not.

Thanks,

Poogsdad

[PirateQueen]

Originally Posted by X-ffdo

Man...That woman looks like a Mac truck run over her!!

And that's on a good day!

[akulahawk]

I just posted this and hopefully it'll make it past moderation (I didn't flame anyone too badly, I hope):

Let me begin with this: as my name indicates, I am a Sacramento County resident. Up here, CCW issuance is very much driven by local politics and less about someone's individual need for a license.

I have been following the events in Orange County as I fear that given enough time, under Sheriff Hutchens, that County could become very much like Sacramento County or Los Angeles County in this particular area.

When she took office, Sheriff Hutchens had a lot of different things she had to take care of... and instead of tackling some of those issues, she went after the CCW License issue. At the time, there were about 1100 Licenses issued. Of those, about 40 were almost certainly politically issued. Instead of reviewing those and revoking them, she instead decided (with several fits and starts) to revoke about half of those Licenses, on the claim that those Licenses already issued and active did not meet her new Good Cause criteria. The then went about sending letters out threatening revocation or allowing an early expiration of the license. That took a while.

That process is now nearly complete. In one year, Orange County has "lost" about 300 CCW Licenses and the holders of those licenses did nothing wrong to lose them, simply a policy change occurred.

Now here's what scares me. In Sacramento, generally those with political connections will get a CCW issued. There's only about 250 licenses issued here.Their Good Cause is basically nothing more than "I want one" and "I know the Sheriff". I have heard of people with fairly compelling Good Cause being denied up here. There are non-politically connected CCW Licenses that have been issued, but that's not the norm and very few new applicants have been approved in the last couple years. I don't want Orange County to become like Sacramento.

Sheriff Hutches certainly has a LOT on her plate these days. Law Abiding Citizens carrying weapons who bear the full brunt of liability for their use (not the Sheriff or her Department) should be the least of her worries.