Live chat with Sheriff Hutchens

[cazador]

Sheriff Sandra Hutchens will answer questions in live chat session.

Have a question for Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens? The sheriff will answer questions in an hour-long online chat beginning at 2 p.m. Friday. To join the chat and see her answers, go to ocregister.com on Friday.

Sheriff Sandra Hutchens will take part in an online chat at 2 p.m. July 10. Topics will include concealed weapons permits, changes in the jails and questions from readers.

Join online at ocregister.com and ask your questions live.

The Orange County Register

[libertarian]

I'd avoid bringing up the CCW issue with her. Instead I'd ask her some questions about why she thinks spending money on overtime to do uniform inspections for contract cities is a good use of funds, or why they're spending money like crazy on the SWAT team (who were only called out 3 times in the year before she took over) during a budget crisis so severe she's threatening to lay off patrol officers.

[G36 Steve]

It's still on.
If nothing else hit the poll.
45% say CCW is THE issue.
Some good comments too.

[cazador]

Here is some of the commentary as it pertains to CCW . . .

2:01[Comment From Boomstick]:
Dear Ms. Hutchens. I understand your intent to follow the law regarding CCW permits; however, why must the burden of proof of necessity be so overwhelmingly difficult? Surely someone who is sane, well trained, and responsible, be allowed to protect themselves with a firearm? Why must the justification be so difficult? It works in most of the rest of the nation, and there isn't anything in CA law that explicitly states that it need be immensely difficult for someone to apply. why is protecting myself on a hike, or a day trip with my family not reason enough? Thank you for answering my question.

2:25 [OC Sheriff]:
With respect to the issuance of concealed weapons permits, I encourage anyone who feels they have "good cause" to apply for a permit. I have only revoked a total of 8% of the permits and have issued many new permits. My intent is not to restrict the issuance, but to comply with the portion of the law that deals with "good cause".


------------------------------------


2:42[Comment From Ludwig]
Sheriff Hutchens, with regards to CCW, could you define "good cause" please.

2:47[Comment From OC Sheriff ]
A very common sense definition of good cause is anything that places you at greater risk than anyone else in the population by virtue of your profession or individual circumstances. When you think about it, you are being given a privilege that others don’t have and need a reason for it. The law in the State of California makes it a misdemeanor to carry a concealed weapon. The only exception to that is the issuance of a concealed weapons permit by a police chief or sheriff for “good cause”. This does not prohibit you from having guns in your home or business for your protection.

2:57[OC Sheriff]:
With regard to "good cause" ....While the 1977 Attorney General opinion is the only place that offered guidance on what good cause is, I do not rely solely on that. As I explained earlier, I take a common sense approach to the intent of the law. If the intent was that everyone who applied would be give a concealed weapon permit, there would not have been a statement about “good cause” and their probably would not have been a law against carrying a concealed weapon. As the Sheriff of Orange County, it is my duty to follow the law as it currently exists. My policy is a mainstream policy and one that can be compared to most in the State.

[PirateQueen]

This is what I got.

Kimberly Edds:
Welcome to a Town Hall Meeting with Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens.

I’m Kimberly Edds, a reporter for the Orange County Register. I cover law enforcement and fire department issues for the Register. I am pleased to announce Sheriff Hutchens will be with us for the next hour taking your questions about her first year in office and her plans for the future.

We are just setting up. The chat will begin officially at 2 p.m.
1:56


2:00 Producer: We can start right now, David.

2:00 [Comment From David]
When does this start?
2:01 Kimberly Edds:
I’m now opening the chat to questions. Please submit questions right away, even while Sheriff Hutchens is discussing other topics. We welcome all opinions, but please keep it civil. Profanity, personal attacks, and vulgarity will not be tolerated.

I get to ask the first question, but readers are welcome to add their comments. Topic #1 is the changes Sheriff Hutchens has made in the first year of her term. What is she most proud of? What would she have done differently?

2:01 [Comment From Boomstick]
Dear Ms. Hutchens. I understand your intent to follow the law regarding CCW permits; however, why must the burden of proof of necessity be so overwhelmingly difficult? Surely someone who is sane, well trained, and responsible, be allowed to protect themselves with a firearm? Why must the justification be so difficult? It works in most of the rest of the nation, and there isn't anything in CA law that explicitly states that it need be immensely difficult for someone to apply. why is protecting myself on a hike, or a day trip with my family not reason enough? Thank you for answering my question.
2:03 In Your Face: We're dealing with some technical problems. Please be patient.
2:11 Producer: We're working out a technical glitch yet. Thank you for your patience. We'll get to as many questions as we can once we're up and running.
2:18 [Comment From OC Sheriff]
I'm using a separate system to convey messages to the chat.
2:24 [Comment From OC Sheriff ]
It has been a very busy year for me and my command staff. When I was appointed, virtually the entire top of the department was gone and morale was low. The Chamberlain grand jury investigation was still being discussed as well as the incidents related to the former Sheriff. My first order of business was to restore the public trust in the Orange County Sheriff's Department. I felt that I must take swift and decisive action and set the tone that this would be an ethical Department which would always follow the law and treat all the residents of Orange County equally. I quickly reorganized the Department, commissioned an audit of the jails, and began an internal and external assessment of the Department. I am proud of what we have all accomplished in a short year, but there is still much work to be done.
2:25 OC Sheriff: With respect to the issuance of concealed weapons permits, I encourage anyone who feels they have "good cause" to apply for a permit. I have only revoked a total of 8% of the permits and have issued many new permits. My intent is not to restrict the issuance, but to comply with the portion of the law that deals with "good cause".
2:25 [Comment From Guest]
Sheriff: how would you describe your relationship with reservists?
2:27 OC Sheriff: We have a very strong, robust Reserve program. They provide countless hours of service to the Sheriff's Department and to the community. Recently, I conducted a command inspection of all of our Reserves and I had the opportunity to meet most of them and talk with them individually and thank them for their service to us. This is a program that I would like to expand. Our Reserves, along with our Professional Service Responders and our Explorers save Orange County over 7 million dollars a year through their volunteer service.
2:27 [Comment From Russ Albright]
Mrs. Hutchens with the budget cuts that your dept is currently experiencing what does that mean for the county jail inmates. Also if you have a low level offender that has been sentenced by the courts are there any programs that would allow them to pay the dept for early release which would in turn reduce your current deficit or do you have programs that would allow them to be released early, lessening the financial burden on your dept? I am referring to misdemeanors not felony crimes.

2:31 [Comment From Tiffany ]
As a citizen of Orange County, I think you are doing a wonderful job. You have all of our respect and it is my feeling that you turned around the OC Sheriff Dept. Great job! I applaud you, your command staff and the entire organization for your efforts.
2:35
2:36 OC Sheriff: As you know, it is very expensive to house inmates in our jails. I am working with the Probation Department on expanding the number of low-level, non-violent offenders who could be placed on electronic monitoring. Electronic monitoring programs in other areas of the country have a 93% compliance rate. Under this system, these individuals could continue to work and not take up valuable (and expensive) bed space in our jails. We are also expanding the County's community worker program where inmates, in lieu of a jail sentence, do work for the county such as public works and clearing brush for the fire authority.
2:37 [Comment From mrsc5inla]
Sheriff Hutchens what are the greatest obstacles you have found since taking this job and what can the public at large due to help?
2:39 OC Sheriff: One of the obstacles was the challenge creating change in a law enforcement agency particularly after the events that occurred prior to my arrival. I believe it was helpful that I could look at the organization with a fresh perspective and essentially re-evaluate everything we do and how we do it. The other obstacle was low morale, again based on the events that had occurred and the focus on this Department. I am happy to report that the morale has improved and the men and women of this Department are focused on providing quality law enforcement services to the community.
2:40 [Comment From Barbie ]
kimberly- that was 2 questions.
2:40 [Comment From Ocobserver]
Sheriff. Hutchens, we often hear that police officers are held to a 'higher standard'. Your harbormaster was recently arrested for driving under the influence with a BAC of .14 and struck another motorist from behind at a stoplight. I understand that she is still on the county payroll. Speaking as a citizen in the real world, if one of us committed such an offense while driving a company car our job would be history. So apparently I don't fully understand the 'higher standard' concept. Could you explain? Thank you.
2:42 OC Sheriff: I strongly believe that law enforcement personnel should and are held to a higher standard. It has to be that way based on the authority they are given to perform their duties and what they represent to the communities they serve. They should be role models. Anyone who violates the law or performs inappropriately will be dealt with—no question about it. I cannot speak about any specific cases, however I can assure the public that I take inappropriate and unlawful behavior very seriously and will hold my personnel accountability.
2:42 [Comment From Ludwig]
Sheriff Hutchens, with regards to CCW, could you define "good cause" please.
2:47 [Comment From Katherine]
As a lifelong Orange County resident, I'm pleased to see a level of competence and dignity restored to our sheriff's department. Here is my question for Sheriff Hutchens: Aside from the obvious behavior of not committing crimes, what can we, as citizens, do to help you and the officers of the sheriff's department? We all want safe communities, fewer criminals on the streets, and swift, fair justice. You need all the help you can get, and there are thousands of us out here who want to do whatever it takes to achieve those things. Please use this forum to let us know what you would like to see us doing to aide in your efforts.
2:47 [Comment From OC Sheriff ]
A very common sense definition of good cause is anything that places you at greater risk than anyone else in the population by virtue of your profession or individual circumstances. When you think about it, you are being given a privilege that others don’t have and need a reason for it. The law in the State of California makes it a misdemeanor to carry a concealed weapon. The only exception to that is the issuance of a concealed weapons permit by a police chief or sheriff for “good cause”. This does not prohibit you from having guns in your home or business for your protection.


OC Sheriff: Thank you, Katherine, for your offer of assistance. We have a strong volunteer, reserve and explorer program and are always seeking individuals to join us in our efforts to keep Orange County the safe community that it is. You can look at our volunteer opportunities at our website, OCSD.org. Because we live in a County with a relatively low crime rate, we sometimes (me included!) become complacent about our own safety. We need to make sure that our car doors are locked, garages closed, and our homes are secured. I would also encourage people to call us whenever they see anything unusual. I can’t tell you how many times I have heard from someone that they thought about calling us because of something unusual in their neighborhood, but didn’t want to bother us. Please call! You know your neighborhoods the best and what belongs or doesn’t belong there. The bottom line is this—Orange County enjoys a low crime rate because we have a strong sense of community and that community is engaged. Let’s keep it that way!
2:53 Producer: Because of technical problems at the start of this session, the sheriff has agreed to stay on past our agreed-upon time and will answer questions until 3:30 today. Again, thank you all for your patience.
2:53 [Comment From John L. Biard]
Just a comment. I believe that you are doing very well so far, and appear to be on track. Keep up the good work. There is alot of damage to repair in that very good LE organization. One situation in which you & your shop could have done much better. The B of S meeting in which the CCW issue was heard was not handled well; it was not thought out or handled very professionally. In fact, for your very experenced senior staff it was "bush league." Other then that, you're doing good and, if you do run for election in 2010 you have my vote. P.S., I am a retired law enforcement senior officer and tend to regard L.E. ops with an experienced and critical eye.
2:54 [Comment From Caroline]
Sheriff Hutchens, what is the plan to reduce the overtime bill for the sheriff's department? I have a friend who is a courts deputy who doubled his salary last year with overtime. Great for him, but terrifying for me as a taxpayer.
2:57 [Comment From Maria ]
Great Work Mrs. Sandra Hutchen
2:57 OC Sheriff: With regard to "good cause" ....While the 1977 Attorney General opinion is the only place that offered guidance on what good cause is, I do not rely solely on that. As I explained earlier, I take a common sense approach to the intent of the law. If the intent was that everyone who applied would be give a concealed weapon permit, there would not have been a statement about “good cause” and their probably would not have been a law against carrying a concealed weapon. As the Sheriff of Orange County, it is my duty to follow the law as it currently exists. My policy is a mainstream policy and one that can be compared to most in the State.
2:59 [Comment From Matt]
Sheriff Hutchens, thank you for taking the time to answer our questions. My question is in regards to regular Deputies providing corrections work inside the Jail. The county of San Diego currently has two positions, Deputy Sheriff-Law Enforcement and Deputy Sheriff-Detentions/Courts. They Deputy Sheriff on the detention/court side attends a shorter academy and is paid less. Why does your agency utilize dual role deputies? Wouldn't it be cheaper to split the roles?
3:00 OC Sheriff: As part of our jail audit, we identified 35% of our current jail positions that could be filled by a civilian. We are targeting January of 2010 to begin the introduction of this new classification. Once it is fully implemented, we will save the County approximately $10 million a year.
3:02
3:09 OC Sheriff: We have reduced our overtime hours by 18% and continue to look at ways to cut. The problem is we have positions that must be filled 24/7, such as the jail modules. We cannot just say—I’m not going to fill that module tonight because I don’t want to pay the overtime. The managers on the department are closely scrutinizing overtime usage, but it is a necessary part of law enforcement particularly when you are under the required number of personnel such as we are in the jail—we are over 400 positions short of what we need to efficiently run the jail without the use of overtime.
3:09 [Comment From Shannon ]
With all of the budget cuts, is there going to be a large amount of people released early from jail?
3:10 OC Sheriff: We are facing a large budget shortfall on the Sheriff’s Department, but I am not considering “early release” of our County jail population. The state has been talking about releasing some of their inmates early and I adamantly oppose that.
3:11 [Comment From Paula ]
I heard the county was going to lay off investigators based on county time as opposed to experience. If this is true wont the level of service for the county be at risk?

3:12
[Comment From Guest ]
whats the point of having an open discussion if th equestions you have dont get answered?? this is rigged not fair
3:14 Producer: Guest, we're trying to allow the sheriff to answer as much a variety of questions as she can. Too many questions would make this a free-for-all and waste her valuable time. As you can see, we're not lobbing softballs while trying to limit repetition as much as we can.
3:16 [Comment From Sushmita Rai ]
There has been a lot of scrunity of the people from your department attending the Jackson Funeral, what is your opinion of that?
3:16 OC Sheriff: I directed some of my personnel to attend the event at the Staples center as part of our mutual aid responsibility and as a learning tool. This is not unusual—during the recent fires in Orange County, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s personnel responded to this county to assist. There is a mutual aid structure in this state that is very effective. I sent key emergency response personnel from this Department to assist and observe this large scale event. They will bring lessons learned back to this County so that we are prepared for any large scale event and/or response. This was done as part of their duties.

3:21 OC Sheriff: WIth regard to investigators ... We are facing some very difficult budget times and are not alone, as you know. I am doing everything I can to not impact the delivery of public safety services in this County. I take this very seriously. I am faced with making some difficult decisions, but you cannot absorb a 56 million dollar shortfall without making some cuts. We will follow all of the pertinent personnel rules if we get to that point. Again, these are difficult times for all of us, but we will get through it.
3:23 [Comment From jane]
But Sheriff, didn't you close the womens jail?
3:23 OC Sheriff: Yes, I did close the women’s jail but those inmates were transferred to our other facilities. No one was released early. The closure of our women’s jail will save us $6 million. We have been able to do that because our jail population is down right now.
3:23
3:24 [Comment From Jack Anderson]
Sheriff, in your BLOG you refuse to take commentary. In this forum, the questions are filtered. Do you really believe you have an open and transparent policy as you serve the citizens of Orange County, or do you think that somehow you know better or are above the law because you wear the badge?
3:26 Producer: For those who have asked and are concerned, because of technical problems, questions are being emailed to the sheriff and she and her staff are responding to them by email and we are adding them verbatim to the chat. If things look funny, that is why. But we are working through it as much as possible and trying to provide as many questions and answers as we can despite the need for a workaround.
3:28 [Comment From pepsi2451 ]
So her staff is responding for her? These aren't even her words?
3:29 Producer: These are her words. 100 percent. Her staff is helping her transmit them to us for the purpose of the chat.
3:29 Producer: These are her words. 100 percent. Her staff is helping her transmit them to us for the purpose of the chat.
3:30 [Comment From Concerned Citizen ]
I think it's an eye opener for the appointed Sheriff to get a behind the scenes look at how many people really do care about the concealed weapons issue. She will not respond to these issues with us online but rest assured she will weave them into her campain.
3:31 Kimberly Edds: We are waiting for answers for two more questions. We are not accepting any more questions at this time. Thank you.
3:31 Producer: Concerned, I think if you read the entire chat, she has addressed the CCW issue in a couple of her answers.
3:32 [Comment From R Jones]
Are you still finding diffcult for you and your organization to gain the publics trust again, considering the past several years? What steps are you doing to try to gain our confidence and trust back?
3:33 OC Sheriff: We restore and maintain our public trust by what we do each and every day. We hold our people accountable who do not live up to the faith and trust put in them by the people of this County. Both I and my command staff must set the example by the actions we take. Leadership starts at the top and must be ethical and consistent. I have spent a great deal of time in the community and have been told many residents they are confident in the Orange County Sheriff’s Department and are happy with the direction we are going. The men and women of this organization amaze me every day by their commitment, their professionalism, and their sense of duty.
3:34 [Comment From Shannon ]
Thank you for answering my question. I feel confident that the sheriffs department is in good hands.
3:34 [Comment From Brian ]
Nice try with the chat thing. I've attended others on other venue's with great response & participation. I hope you can get the technical issues worked out. Past chat's I've participated in did not screen questions and it allowed all to see the character of the individual by how they chose to address or not address the questions.
3:35 Kimberly Edds:
That was the final question that Sheriff Hutchens was able to answer before she had to leave to attend a judge swearing-in ceremony.
3:35 Kimberly Edds:
Thank you Sheriff Hutchens for joining us today. Hopefully this was a useful forum for open discussion. We look forward to doing this again soon.
3:35 Producer: Thanks for your input, Brian. Tech issues definitely made this difficult. We'd like to try it again. Any suggestions on who you'd like to hear from?

3:36

[G36 Steve]

To be fair, the OCR should post all the questions that were asked. The ones she responded to and the ones she didn't. My question never showed up on the town-hall, only in her e-mail so she only answered the part she had a canned reply for.
I'd still like to know if she really believes that over half of the Sheriffs in California are violating the law because they accept "self-defense" as good cause for a CCW.

BTW - The poll results were:
What do readers think is the biggest challenge facing the Sheriff's Department right now
Concealed weapons permits ( 60% )
Budget cuts ( 29% )
The sheriff's relationship with county supervisors ( 2% )
Restoring public trust in the agency ( 8% )
Safety and security in the jail ( 3% )

[naganthunter]

3:29 Producer: These are her words. 100 percent. Her staff is helping her transmit them to us for the purpose of the chat.

Translation: she had a gang of PR, legal, and campaign people in her office telling her what to say.

[Justaguy]

Originally Posted by naganthunter

Translation: she had a gang of PR, legal, and campaign people in her office telling her what to say.

Here's how it works:
Stack enough of your own people in the chat to ask enough questions to fil the allowed time.
Only answer the softball questions from "your" people.
Ignore the others and be "very apologetic" that you're out of time......

[Ken_In_Colo]

Originally Posted by G36 Steve

...I'd still like to know if she really believes that over half of the Sheriffs in California are violating the law because they accept "self-defense" as good cause for a CCW...

Yes. She must be asked that question, and in front of a large audience, preferably covered by TV (although the [anti-gun] media might not air that particular Q&A).

She will of course wiggle out of it with something like "Well, I'm the sheriff of Orange County & it wouldn't be appropriate for me to comment about what goes on in XYZ County." But at least the question will have been asked & avoided for everyone to see & hear.

She loses if she answer "yes" or "no" to that question.

[Justaguy]

Originally Posted by Ken_In_Colo

Yes. She must be asked that question, and in front of a large audience, preferably covered by TV (although the [anti-gun] media might not air that particular Q&A).

She will of course wiggle out of it with something like "Well, I'm the sheriff of Orange County...

And the follow-up is "Well, isn't Orange County still in California like the rest of the counties I mentioned?"

[Ken_In_Colo]

Originally Posted by Justaguy

And the follow-up is "Well, isn't Orange County still in California like the rest of the counties I mentioned?"

Good follow up.

[rhbanjo]

Originally Posted by Justaguy

And the follow-up is "Well, isn't Orange County still in California like the rest of the counties I mentioned?"

No- the Appointed Sheriff is going to rename us Orange County of Los Angeles.

[Barky]

What a joke. She probably wasn't even in the room.. I don't believe anything that comes from that office... holding deputies to a higher standard, like the ex harbor master? .14 2hours later. Give me a break... only a reassignment. How many others have there been we did not find out about. Political bs.

[Ken_In_Colo]

Originally Posted by Barky

What a joke. She probably wasn't even in the room.. I don't believe anything that comes from that office... holding deputies to a higher standard, like the ex harbor master? .14 2hours later. Give me a break... only a reassignment. How many others have there been we did not find out about. Political bs.

Higher standards indeed; that's just BS. Didn't the Harbor Master have an accident while DWI? What about the Assistant Sheriff & his remarks about SUP Nguyen & the OCCCWS members? What about spying on the BOS? What about Gestapo tactics at BOS meetings? Glaring mis-deeds and no visible punishment*. I ask you, is that transparency?

In my mind, a reassignment is not punishment, a reprimand is not punishment. Hiding weak punishment behind the POST Bill of Rights is not transparent. How can the public know that an officer's misconduct has been punished at all? We're supposed to take her word for it?

I know we talked about the Harbor Master's personal problem, but let's face it, a lot of people who get DWIs have personal problems & when they are convicted, they get a whole heck of a lot more than a job re-assignment.