Recently we have all been reading about problems within the Sheriff’s Department. Although the majority of these issues are not major problems some of them are.
When a person becomes a Peace Officer they take an oath which is known as the “Law Enforcement Code of Ethics”. In that code is a line that states “Honest in thought and deed in both my personnel and official life, I will be exemplary in obeying the laws of the land and the regulations of my Department”.
It seems that most police officers adhere to this oath but some do not. And for some reason or another the department seems to always pick and choose what officers are going to suffer for not following this oath and which officers are not.
Take for instance the issue involving the POST scandal. Last September the news broke within the department that there were several, the rumor was 26, people involved in falsifying classes that they did not take so that they could receive credit towards different levels of POST certificates. Each level earned would mean a 2 to 5 percent increase in pay over officers that do not have higher POST level certificates. Now we all know rumors are rumors but in this department when you hear a number you can just about bet a paycheck that the number is very close to being true.
Over a period of time officers received pay that they were not entitled to. When one of the Deputies were caught an investigation was started and it was learned that a Captains wife who worked at the academy was responsible for signing these people into classes that they were not taking, including her husband. It was learned that this Captain earned approximately $17,000.00 in pay that he was not entitled to. He was allowed to pay the money back and retire. Now that is a decision that was made by the powers to be and they have that right to make those type of decisions.
The problem here is that everyone is not treated fairly. The wife who profited due to the increase in her husband’s salary kept her job and was demoted and sent back to the jail. The deputy was demoted and sent back to the jail. And the others, well they just do not exist. The department for months deny that anyone else is involved in this issue which everyone knows is crap. It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that the department allowed the two people to keep their jobs because they did not want them to talk about the other high ranking officials involved in this scandal. Some of them have even been promoted to higher ranks because they are in the “Good Ole Boys Club”. Why else would you keep employed people that you know are dishonest and steal from you. A regular employer would not keep anyone they knew stole from them so why does the Sheriff’s Department. And the members of the Board of Supervisors know this to be true and are doing nothing about this issue. Well why should they it’s your tax dollars that was taken and they are making a good wage in their positions so do they really care. I guess not.
When it came to election time Deputy Averbeck raised a big stink about why charges were not filed against these individuals. The Sheriff’s Office claimed in March that the report was sent to the District Attorney’s office for review. Now, 5 months later we are still waiting for that review. And what’s Deputy Averbeck now doing about this issue being that he lost the election, nothing. I guess that maybe it is not that important to him anymore even though he also pays tax’s and the money that was taken was the taxpayers money. He has just licked his wounds and mounted his horse and rode off into the sunset. Another example of I will say whatever sounds good at the time but when push comes to shove I’ll just do what I want.
It seems that a detective was arrested for abusing his girlfriend at the end of July. Well the District Attorney’s Office has already reviewed that case and has rejected charges and claimed that it was “Mutual Combat”. Didn’t take them 10 months to figure that one out now did it. And so what if it was Mutual Combat, file on both of them and let the chips fall where they fall.
Now that detective is back working his job in narcotics with his county take home car and benefits. I guess the department does not see a problem with allowing this detective to continue to work in this position being around women that take and do drugs after he has already dated one that does and found drugs on her and that is what started the fight. And I wonder if charges were filed on her for possession of narcotics or under the influence. No sorry never happened.
Approximately two years ago a deputy assigned to the Victorville Station was arrested for theft of personnel property and money. The total amount involved was under $500.00. Yet they arrested him, filed charges on him and would not back down from a felony conviction. Yes the guy was fired and was convicted of a felony.
Can anyone explain why the difference in treatment between this individual and the people involved in the POST issue.
Take a look at the number of officers arrested for Driving Under the Influence recently. Well as sad as it is that is going to happen. They are no different than the average man on the streets who has problems and decide that drinking may be a way around those problems. But when stopped for those charges why don’t they act like they expect the general public to act when they arrest them? And when they don’t act according why is it that the department does not take the necessary action. These are not people that you want working in the streets. They definitely are not people you want working patrol or in special assignments.
Sometimes you can say, as many have, that these problems were not created by the current Sheriff. That is an easy way to get around the problem. But when you are made aware of the problem and you do nothing to correct it then you are no better than the prior person who did nothing to correct the issue.
Internal Affairs is a division that nobody likes. If you do like it your bubble may be a little off the center line. Most people are handpicked to go there and almost all of them will get promoted to the next rank when they leave. It is a division where truthfulness is everything. They have always told you never lie it only means that you will not have a job at the end of the problem. Yet there is a Sgt in the division that was caught lying, was written up for lying and is still conducting internal investigations. Now what happens to the officer under investigation that lies to him and gets fired? Is that right or should the current Sheriff take the necessary action and send this individual to another position on the department? Yes we know he is really busy right now after the election and does not have time to make the call and sign the transfer forms.
The Sgt that allows deputies to work even after they produce an off work order and are placed on 4850 time. Come on get serious she does not know that this cannot happen. And the officers and Sgt involved in this issue are in charge of the Explorer Scout program. Yes future police officers of this County. One of the officers is the officer arrested for DUI and fled from the Highway Patrol. I wonder if she gives the ethics classes to the Explorer Scouts. All of the officers involved in this issue should at least be removed from this program and also should be sent back to the jail until such a time as they can display responsibility. If one of those officers had to use deadly force on someone while they were working and should not have been the taxpayers would be faced with a high settlement. But I guess the Sgt did not know that as it is not common sense.
And the Board of Supervisors don’t really care. As long as they are making their 6 figure salaries why should they.
Sorry but the last laugh is on the public. Why because things are not going to change. Every election is handed to someone within the department that is handpicked by another. Things are going to continue as they always have for years until an officer done wrong takes them on and wins, or a DUI officer hurts someone, or an officer with a temper gets out of control and does something stupid or a officer makes a dumb decision like allows someone to work when they are not suppose to and they injury themselves or someone else and it costs the taxpayers tons of money for a settlement.
Meanwhile all of you officers read your SEBA magazine and take heed. Remember do not lie to Sgt Onadero when internal affairs is doing an investigation on you because they cannot help you at that point. A real union that is behind there people would demand that he is not allowed to conduct investigations on their members.
Maybe later we will be able to show several cases where people have been treated different because they were never excepted in the “Good Ole Boys Club”.