VanderKolk Promises No Deputy Cuts

In a speech before graduates of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Academy, Supervisor Maria VanderKolk promised cadets that she will not allow the county’s budget woes to cut into staffing at the Sheriff’s Department.

“I want to state unequivocally and categorically that I refuse to support deputies being laid off,” VanderKolk told a capacity crowd at the Camarillo Community Center Auditorium.

“Please be assured by me that you will have jobs,” she said as the audience applauded loudly. “You will have jobs.”

VanderKolk’s comments came a week after she voted with the four other supervisors to support a preliminary budget that calls for 5% cuts in each department to help erase a $13.6-million deficit for the fiscal year that began July 1.

The preliminary budget provides $7 million in contingency funds to spare some departments from the 5% cuts, she explained.

The proposed budget, which was based on the recommendations of each department head, would require the elimination of 123 positions countywide. Most are vacant.

At the Sheriff’s Department, a 5% cut would mean eliminating 49 positions, including 23 sworn officers, and closing the Rose Valley Work Camp, officials say.

During budget hearings scheduled for early August, the supervisors will review the cuts proposed for each department before adopting the final budget.

Supervisors John K. Flynn and Susan K. Lacey have warned department heads that they should be prepared to live with the cuts they have recommended. Supervisors Maggie Erickson Kildee and Vicky Howard could not be reached Friday.

The sheriff’s academy class of 35 recruits included 19 cadets who will fill vacancies at the County Jail, which is run by the Sheriff’s Department. The other graduates will work at police departments in Carpinteria, Port Hueneme, Santa Barbara, Simi Valley, Berkeley and Ventura.

VanderKolk’s comments provided comfort to some cadets who said there was a lot of worried talk in the academy about budget cuts.

Graduate Mark Englander of Woodland Hills said he and other cadets had read about the proposed budget cuts and were nervous about their prospects.

Englander said he was thankful for VanderKolk’s comments.

VanderKolk, who took office in January, was also applauded by Sheriff John V. Gillespie. “Maria, in the relatively short time of seven months, has demonstrated her extreme support for quality law enforcement,” he said.

During the past few months, Gillespie has argued that reductions in law enforcement would jeopardize public safety.

During the ceremony, both VanderKolk and Gillespie addressed the controversy surrounding the police beating of Rodney G. King and the calls for Los Angeles Police Department Chief Daryl F. Gates to resign.

VanderKolk said that law enforcement officers are “under the microscope” as a result of the King beating.

“There will be a video camera behind every tree, trained at you,” she said.

But she added: “Don’t hesitate to do your jobs. So what if you are videotaped arresting a drug dealer at an elementary school or taking a drunk driver off the street. . . . We need your strength, we need your resolve and we need your courage.”

Gillespie told the graduates that they should be proud of their profession.

“I don’t care what is happening in Los Angeles,” he said. “ . . . I don’t care that they are videotaping cops in every major metropolitan area, almost hampering the job you are doing. You are still entering the finest profession in the world today.”

The cadets, who had marched into the auditorium to the theme of the television series “Hill Street Blues,” marched out to the theme of “L.A. Law.”