Chosen Successor Called Honest, Respected

The man hand-picked to succeed Sheriff Larry Carpenter said he wants to balance aggressive law enforcement with a sense of compassion for the public and ease the Sheriff’s Department into the 21st century with long-range planning and new high-tech tools.

Chief Deputy Robert Brooks of Thousand Oaks said he has never sought the job of sheriff as he has risen through the ranks over the past 23 years. But he is willing to take the reins if it benefits the department.

“I’m a cop, not a politician,” the 46-year-old chief deputy said Thursday. “A cop is what I’ve always wanted to be. I want to finish out my career and leave the department a better place.”

In addition to selecting Brooks as his replacement, Carpenter has been lining up support for his chief deputy. The sheriff wants Brooks in position to win election in 1998 so Carpenter can retire knowing the department will be in good hands.

“I think you want an honest person in this job,” Carpenter said. “Bob is honest above all else. He is respected by everyone who has been around him.”

Brooks moved to Thousand Oaks as an 11-year-old boy in 1961, a few years before the city was incorporated. With the exception of a short stint in the San Fernando Valley, he has lived in Thousand Oaks ever since.

He married his high school sweetheart, Debbie, who works part time as children’s ministry director at Sonrise Christian Fellowship, an evangelical Christian Church in Simi Valley. He has two children, Jeff, 20, who manages a computer supply office in Costa Mesa, and Brian, a 16-year-old high school student.

Since joining the Sheriff’s Department at age 23, Brooks has attended extension courses at night to earn a bachelor’s degree in public administration from the University of Redlands and a master’s degree in management from Regent University.

He has worked at a variety of positions in the department, gaining experience in most of its operations. He now runs the sheriff’s east county operations, overseeing 212 people and about half of the county’s street patrols.

County sheriffs have always made a point of grooming their top commanders to eventually take over the department by assigning them various tasks, said longtime Ventura Police Chief Richard Thomas.

“Usually one ends up bubbling to the top, and that seems to have happened with Bob Brooks,” Thomas said.

Brooks said that former Sheriff Al Jalaty brought the department a sense of compassion and common sense, that former Sheriff John Gillespie brought intelligence to the department and that Carpenter has built on the best of both his predecessors.

He said he hopes to continue their tradition.

“One of the reasons that I accept the role,” Brooks said, “is that I believe in the same core values as the sheriff: taking the traditional law enforcement role and adding care and concern and accountability to the public.”

Brooks said one area he would like to improve would be long-range planning.

“We are a very good reactive agency,” Brooks said. “But we don’t strategically plan as well as we could. We could give the department a little more direction than we have had.”

He said he would also like to see all patrol cars carrying portable computer terminals to provide deputies with thorough information.

“It is a healthy organization,” Brooks said. “No matter who the next sheriff is, he will have a great team to work with.”

Times correspondent Scott Hadly contributed to this report.