Time Serves D.A., Sheriff

Change at the top of Orange County’s law enforcement echelon has been rare. Mike Capizzi was district attorney for nine years before leaving office at the new year. Brad Gates was sheriff for 24 years before his departure 10 days ago.

Both Capizzi and Gates also were designated heirs of their predecessors, so the changeovers were quiet, mannered affairs. True, both had to face the voters every four years, but for incumbent law-and-order professionals, that was never much of a problem.

This time the changes at the top were different. The man Capizzi wanted to succeed him lost to Anthony J. Rackauckas, a former deputy district attorney and sitting Superior Court judge who left the bench to become the county’s top prosecutor. Brad Gates’ choice to inherit his office dropped out of the election race last year, leaving the door open to the winner, then-County Marshal Mike Carona, whom Gates most definitely did not favor.

One thing all four men have in common is good timing. Capizzi and Gates depart and Rackauckas and Carona enter office at a time when crime rates have dropped steadily in the county. There’s no need for major overhauls of either department, no demands for quick fixes.

The absence of major problems that demand instant solutions allows Rackauckas and Carona to take their time in scrutinizing their agencies from the inside. Change should be expected, and welcomed. Fresh perspectives bring fresh ideas. New bosses run things differently, bring in new trusted aides, upgrade some programs and pay less attention to others. Both offices can benefit from new looks at their operations.

A major reason for the drop in Orange County’s crime rate in recent years has been the plunge in gang violence. The sources of that decline are several, but a good deal of credit belongs to county department heads who cooperated in identifying the problem and devising solutions. Capizzi especially was helpful in joining with the Probation Department and other law enforcement agencies in forming special teams to track gang members and ensure that if they violated the terms of their parole they would be sent back to prison.

Gates’ deputies helped in the gang-suppression effort and will investigate crimes under Carona as they did under his predecessor. One welcome aspect of the transition in the Sheriff’s Department was Carona’s willingness to meet with the deputies after the election, in which their union endorsed his opponent. A sign that talent and experience count was the new sheriff’s decision to keep most of Gates’ top staff in their positions. In the district attorney’s office, politics regrettably has taken precedence over whatever benefit may lie in experience. Brent F. Romney and Wallace J. Wade, two top assistants to Capizzi, are out. They were put quickly on paid administrative leave, as was Karen Davis, Capizzi’s director of administrative services.

Carona has promised a full-scale audit of the Sheriff’s Department. That’s overdue.

The department gets a good chunk of the county’s budget, taking an estimated $240 million this fiscal year. Residents should be told clearly how the money is spent. Carona also has promised to cut the budget at least 5%. That too would be welcome.

A major problem facing Carona will be jail overcrowding. He has proposed a solution involving getting drug addicts into treatment at secure, locked facilities other than jails. If an addict can be weaned from drugs, his chances of returning to jail again and again go down dramatically. That’s certainly an option worth exploring.

The county’s population keeps increasing, so even with declining crime rates, the jails are likely to be hard-pressed to house all inmates and still comply with federal directives against overcrowding. Of course, the drop in violent crime to the lowest levels in 30 years in Orange County is a development worth celebrating. Police credit tougher prison sentences, community policing and a good economy.

Carona and Rackauckas have the luxury of time. They both have had months since their election in June to study their new departments from the outside. They can take more time to see how things work from the inside. They can decide what needs to be done to keep the crime rate decreasing and making Orange County residents feel safer.