ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : In Search of Better Deputy Training

The Orange County district attorney’s office at last has released evidence in the fatal shooting of a sheriff’s deputy by a fellow deputy during an impromptu training session on Christmas Day.

When the Orange County Grand Jury recently decided to go against the district attorney’s advice to indict in the case, questions were left unanswered. The district attorney’s release of the information is, of course, better late than never. Although the public still does not know why the grand jury refused to indict, at least it now has its clearest portrait yet of the shooting.

That said, some of the information suggests why training exercises need to be conducted in a calm and emotion-free environment. An interview with Sheriff’s Deputy Brian P. Scanlan, the field training officer who fatally shot Deputy Darryn L. Robins, revealed that he had been agitated earlier over what he considered a botched California Highway Patrol stop of car theft suspects in which sheriff’s deputies acted as backup. And then there was that loaded weapon, an appalling and still unexplained breach of department policy.

Sheriff Brad Gates says a department review of training procedures has recommended the “reinforcement” of regulations. Clearly, the evidence shows that is needed. Scanlan remains on paid administrative leave pending a departmental inquiry, and his future remains to be decided. But whoever is conducting training for the department in the future needs to do so in a measured environment where department standards are adhered to.