Board to Change Rule on Sheriff’s Review Panel

A controversial clause in a new ordinance establishing a review board for the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department will be altered to make sure that the department does not interfere with the review board’s investigations, the Board of Supervisors decided Tuesday.

The ordinance had been drafted to make sure the review board does not “obstruct the investigative and prosecutorial functions” of the Sheriff’s Department, district attorney’s office and grand jury.

But representatives of civic groups argued Tuesday that those groups are just as likely to hinder the review board’s investigations.

Supervisors agreed and said language in the ordinance would be changed to make certain that neither side is obstructing the other.

Six civic activists testified before county supervisors Tuesday about the ordinance, all of whom suggested that the proposed number of members should be increased to 15 from the recommended 11 to obtain a more diverse ethnic cross-section.

Roberto Martinez, a leading Latino activist, also argued that legal residents should be considered for membership. The ordinance now calls for members who are qualified voters.

“For the past 15 years, legal residents have suffered mistreatment in this county at the hands of law enforcement officers,” he said. “They should be represented on the board, rather than waiting until they can become U.S. citizens.”

Board members did not say whether they would incorporate the two changes when they make a final decision on the ordinance in two weeks.

The review board was authorized by supervisors last month to look into allegations of excessive force, illegal search and seizure, criminal conduct, false arrest, false reporting and other problems.

Meanwhile, members of the Deputy Sheriff’s Assn., the collective bargaining unit that represents most of the department’s 1,349 deputies, have challenged the review board in the courts.

In one lawsuit, to be heard Friday in Superior Court, the DSA said the county was wrong not to negotiate the particulars of the new review board and potential impact it would have on deputies.

A second lawsuit, filed by DSA President Randy Dibb, contends that the county is improperly spending public money on a county review board, even though elected supervisors, who choose its members, cannot legally oversee the investigation of a fellow elected officer--the sheriff--and his department.

“It would be like the sheriff investigating supervisor Brian Bilbray for his bulldozing” a portion of the sewage-infested Tijuana River in November, attorney Jim Gattey said. “That would be an inappropriate function. The supervisors and the sheriff are equally appointed. Taxpayer money should not be wasted in establishing something that neither the county constitution nor statutes permit.”

Many questions about the review board’s operation have yet to be resolved, Gattey said. It is unclear, for example, whether the Sheriff’s Department or the review board takes precedence when both want to investigate an allegation of abuse.