O.C. Sheriff Lobbying for Volunteers’ Badges

Orange County Sheriff Michael S. Carona has been quietly championing an effort to change a state law to give sheriffs and police chiefs more leeway in giving badges to civilian volunteers who have no police powers.

Over the last six months, Carona has asked several state lawmakers and key legislative staffers to consider pushing legislation to amend laws governing who gets to carry a badge.

But the effort has been fruitless so far, and several lawmakers have balked because of negative publicity generated by instances of badges being misused, including several cases in the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.

On Thursday, the California State Sheriffs’ Assn., which represents the state’s 58 sheriffs, voted down Carona’s proposed amendment. The legislative director of the association began to explore potential support for the proposed legislation in May.

Carona declined to comment.

His lobbying effort, revealed in records released this week by the Sheriff’s Department under a Public Records Act request, was prompted in part by debate in the law enforcement community about whether it is legal to give badges to volunteers who have no peace officer powers.

The legal question is particularly germane to the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. Carona created a special category of reserves -- including chaplains, search-and-rescue volunteers and professionals who lend their expertise -- who are issued badges but have no police powers.

Over the years, there have been several instances of civilian Orange County sheriff’s reserve deputies who have gotten into trouble for misusing their badges. In a recent case, the owner of a Newport Beach restaurant resigned after he flashed his badge in a parking lot dispute on the Fourth of July. Carona has been accused of passing out badges to political allies, which he denies.

Legal opinions are mixed as to whether a civilian badge, even if it clearly identifies the holder as a civilian, violates a state law that makes it a crime to give out a badge that might “deceive an ordinary reasonable person into believing that” the individual carrying it is a police officer.

In a draft opinion last year, the general counsel for the state sheriff’s association, Martin J. Mayer, concluded that law enforcement agencies should not issue badges to non-peace officers that in any way could be reasonably determined to resemble a regular police shield.

Attorneys for the county went further in an informal opinion, finding that the sheriff had no authority to give badges to volunteers if they did not have peace officer powers.

Research by Carona’s department found that no other law enforcement agency in Orange County issues metal badges to its volunteers. The same survey found that citizens are typically given cloth patches that resemble badges.

Carona’s position, however, is “that a badge clearly marked with the non-police office status would not cause a reasonable person to believe that the holder is a police officer,” according to records released by his department.

In an effort to “clarify this issue and prevent problems in the future,” Carona recommended the law be changed to allow police chiefs and sheriffs to issue badges to civilian employees or volunteers if they are clearly marked to reflect the holder’s status, the records show.

Nick Warner, the legislative director of the sheriffs association, in May began to solicit support from lawmakers and key legislative staffers of both houses, department records show. Among them were Assemblyman Tom Umberg (D-Anaheim) and state Sens. Joe Dunn (D-Santa Ana) and Dick Ackerman (R-Irvine). None agreed to endorse the idea.

Warner tried unsuccessfully to get the amendment attached to other bills. Several lawmakers he contacted sent him newspaper clippings that raised red flags about badge misuse.

“I have had no less than 20 conversations with top staff and members in both houses and both parties, but all I keep getting is e-mailed copies of articles ... to remind me how controversial this issue is,” Warner wrote in a May 11 memo to Carona.

Umberg said Thursday he did not know Carona was behind the amendment and that he would never “carry a bill that would provide those who aren’t qualified with a badge representing qualifications that weren’t earned.”