Block, Kolts Propose Conduct Review Panel : Law enforcement: Compromise plan would have a group of retired judges look into citizen complaints of excessive use of force by deputies.

In a compromise proposed Monday, Sheriff Sherman Block and James G. Kolts asked the county Board of Supervisors to authorize a panel of retired judges to review the Sheriff’s Department’s handling of citizen complaints alleging use of excessive force by deputies.

The compromise between Block and Kolts, the retired judge who investigated the Sheriff’s Department, also included a recommendation that the committee Kolts headed remain in existence to monitor reforms suggested by the panel.

Supervisors Chairman Ed Edelman said Monday that he favors the compromise and will introduce a motion today to adopt it.

But a coalition that includes minority groups and the American Civil Liberties Union objected to the compromise as an inadequate substitute for the full citizen review commission they want established.

The coalition released statistics showing that of 87 retired Superior Court and appellate judges in the county, 96.5% are male and 94.2% are Anglo.

“Retired judges selected would find themselves ill-equipped to understand the issues of race and gender among both deputies accused of misconduct and among the public at large,” the coalition said in a report.

Representatives of the coalition have recently pressed their views in meetings with two of the five supervisors, Yvonne Brathwaite Burke and Edelman. But Gloria Molina, a third supervisor they had hoped would be sympathetic to their position, pleaded that she was too busy to meet with them, coalition members said.

Merrick Bobb, the Kolts committee’s general counsel, said Monday that retired federal, municipal and administrative law judges might also be included in the review panel, and expressed confidence that the group would be diverse enough to be representative.

He also said that the Kolts staff is in the best position to monitor compliance with its own recommendations.

The Block-Kolts compromise comes three weeks after Kolts had urged creation of a standing citizen commission to monitor the reforms. On Dec. 29, County Counsel De Witt W. Clinton issued a legal opinion contending that under state law the supervisors have no authority to establish a civilian review board over Block’s objections.

This opinion appeared to give the sheriff the advantage in the final compromise talks with Kolts. But Bobb said he still felt the Kolts group had gained in the talks by winning Block’s acceptance of the panel monitoring its suggested reforms.

The ACLU-minority coalition disagreed with the county counsel’s opinion, although a spokesman conceded that when San Diego County established a more comprehensive civilian review recently, it had its sheriff’s consent and voters’ approval of a charter amendment.

In any case, it appears doubtful that there are enough votes among the supervisors to approve a full civilian review board. Two supervisors, Mike Antonovich and Deane Dana, have stated their opposition, and Edelman has indicated he would only favor a compromise supported by Block.

The Kolts report, issued in July, found a “deeply disturbing” pattern of excessive force by sheriff’s deputies and said the department was lax in disciplining perpetrators.

In their joint statement Monday, Block and Kolts noted that the sheriff has already agreed to implement 156 of the 180 reforms recommended in the report. It also said that differences between Block and Kolts had been “resolved . . . with respect to other recommendations.”

For instance, the statement said Block has now agreed to require “that an announcement will be made in English and Spanish prior to release of police dogs (against suspects) in all instances.”

“The (Sheriff’s) Department will also reformulate its policy requiring that the dogs be ordered to release (a) bite as soon as it is determined that the suspect is not carrying a weapon.”

The joint statement also said the department has agreed to reduce jail assignments as Kolts recommended, setting a goal of reducing new deputies’ assignments to duty in the county’s jails to between 18 months and two years.

But, the statement added, the department “cannot reach this goal in the near term because of fiscal constraints.”

Block also agreed with Kolts to use his Internal Affairs Bureau to investigate more use-of-force cases, relieving individual sheriff’s stations of such investigations.

The joint statement was not explicit in describing where the two men may continue to disagree.