S.D. Sheriff: Roache, Review Panel Winners

In a repudiation of John Duffy and the department he has managed for 20 years, reform candidate Jim Roache scored a resounding victory Tuesday as the San Diego County’s next sheriff, and voters approved a citizens review panel with broad power to investigate a variety of possible Sheriff’s Department abuses.

Voters rejected another proposition that would have given the County Board of Supervisors the option of forming a separate, county corrections department that would have operated the jails with civilian employees.

Roache, 45, a sheriff’s captain and board member of the San Diego Unified School District, had announced that he was running to put an end to Duffy’s management style, and to sweep clean the sheriff’s entrenched upper administration and replace it with new faces. Roache has been with the department 19 years.

“We are looking at a new era,” Roache said Tuesday night. “An era when the department lives within its budget, economizes and is open, truthful and candid with the public and the Board of Supervisors.”

“I really believe the era of the sheriff who believes he has all the answers and that nobody else knows what is best for the public has to be put aside,” he said. “I don’t have all the answers, but I’m sure going to work with others to find out what the answers are.”

His opponent, Assistant Sheriff Jack Drown, 45, who served in upper management with Duffy for four years and in the department for 21, sought for nearly a year to separate himself from his boss’ controversial activities, gaining virtually every law enforcement endorsement imaginable along the way. Sheriff’s deputies overwhelmingly supported Drown.

“John Duffy was my hurdle to overcome,” Drown said Tuesday night. “I think there were more anti-Duffy votes out there than either anti-Drown votes or pro-Roache votes.”

Roache said he probably will ask Drown to leave the department when he takes office Jan. 7.

“I do not believe you can make major philosophical and organizational changes in a department if you retain the same staff,” he said. “The odds are very high that I would not ask Mr. Drown to remain with the department.”

Proposition A won by a comfortable margin. It will establish a citizens review panel appointed by supervisors and empowered to investigate citizen complaints of brutality, false arrest, illegal searches, criminal misconduct and other potential problems.

Proposition B, a measure that would have allowed supervisors to appoint a corrections director and staff the six county jails with civilian corrections officers rather than sworn deputies, lost by a wide margin.

The sheriff’s race and both propositions were seen as a referendum on Duffy and his management of a department that has tripled in size over two decades and serves a population of 740,000, but which has been plagued by problems of jail crowding, inmate abuse and Duffy’s reputation as an abrasive and vindictive law enforcement official.

While Duffy shaped the department’s growth and established the agency as one of the few in the nation to be nationally accredited, he created a wellspring of bad publicity in the past several years, from the questionable way he spent public money to his constant bickering with the Board of Supervisors.

Most recently, he outraged supervisors by creating a secret bank account for funds seized in drug raids, in order to bypass their spending approval.

A year ago, it appeared inconceivable that Duffy would not run for a sixth term. But, in December, in the midst of a media barrage and facing three challengers for his job, a bitter and teary Duffy stunned a packed press conference by announcing he would not seek reelection.

At the same press conference, Duffy endorsed Drown, but he took no active role in his campaign.

With Duffy out of the race, Roache, Escondido Police Chief Vince Jimno, former San Diego Police Chief Ray Hoobler and Carlsbad senior Police Officer James Messenger, who entered after Duffy’s announcement, began to portray Drown as a Duffy puppet who would maintain the status quo by keeping the department hierarchy intact.

Drown fought back, maintaining his independence from Duffy while trying hard not to criticize his boss or the political contributors who had financed Duffy over the years.

In the June primary, Roache got 32% of the vote and Drown 28%, eliminating the other hopefuls. Many political observers had predicted that Drown and Jimno would make the runoff.

While Roache continued to draw parallels between Drown and Duffy, Drown amassed law enforcement endorsements and painted himself as the choice of his peers.

Two endorsements were especially surprising: Jimno, out of the race, said he supported Drown just months after he had chided the assistant sheriff, and Dist. Atty. Edwin Miller, who had made only one local political endorsement in 20 years, backed Drown last Friday.

Although careful not to criticize Duffy directly, Drown said he would work more diplomatically with the Board of Supervisors and said he is not a professional politician. Both references applied to Duffy.

Although he worked nearly two decades in the Sheriff’s Department, Roache campaigned hard as an outsider and a reform candidate. He strengthened that perception even before he entered the race by suing Duffy to become a candidate. Duffy said he would have changed the policy if only Roache had asked, but Roache made political hay nevertheless.

Neither Roache nor Drown backed down from a debate, facing off in more than 60 forums, from women’s club audiences of half a dozen or so to joint appearances on TV broadcasts.

For all of their dozens of speeches, the two men’s positions varied only slightly. Both favor the citizens review panel and both oppose a separate corrections department.

They agreed that jail crowding could not be solved by the new sheriff alone but needs help from county supervisors and new money sources. They said the physical abuse of inmates will stop altogether only when a new sheriff establishes stricter hiring practices, including better screening methods.

Roache, endorsed by the National Rifle Assn., was more pro-gun than Drown. Roache dislikes government interference of any sort in regard to gun control, although he said he would uphold any state or national law that calls for a waiting period for handgun purchases.

Times staff writer Amy Wallace contributed to this story.