PRESS RELEASE # 7
Time:  2045
NOVEMBER MODJESKA CANYON RAIN EVENT UPDATE

"The mandatory evacuation order for Modjeska Canyon was lifted at 2030 hours (8:30 pm) but voluntary evacuation status remains in effect. Modjeska Canyon is open only to residents. Voluntary evacuation status is also in effect for Silverado Canyon. There are no restrictions remaining in effect for Williams or Trabuco Canyons. Residents are cautioned to drive carefully due to fog, darkness, wet roads and mud and debris on the roadway. 

The Orange County Fairgrounds was deactivated at 1830 hours as a care center for livestock evacuated from mudslide danger areas.

The Red Cross emergency shelter at El Modena High School, 3920 East Spring Street, Orange, remains open for residents."

PRESS RELEASE # 6
Time:  1800 
EVACUATION STATUS UPDATE

"The mandatory evacuation order for Modjeska Canyon remains in place until further notice.  Williams Canyon has been downgraded to a voluntary evacuation status.  Silverado Canyon remains under voluntary evacuation status and Trabuco Canyon remains under heightened awareness.  Residents returning to homes in the canyon areas are advised to drive carefully due to fog, darkness, and muddy conditions on the roads. The Red Cross emergency shelter at El Modena High School, 3920 East Spring Street, Orange, remains open for evacuated residents."

PRESS RELEASE # 5
Time:  1700
SILVERADO BRANCH LIBRARY CLOSURE    

"The Silverado Branch Library located at 28192 Silverado Canyon Road, Silverado, will be closed on Saturday, December 1.  The Public Information Hotline is 714-628-7085. Unless there is a life-threatening emergency, do not call 911."

MANDATORY EVACUATIONS have been ordered for Williams and Modjeska Canyons ONLY.

For more information on this event, please click here.

PRESS RELEASE # 4 
Time:  1350
MANDATORY EVACUATIONS ORDERED FOR MODJESKA AND WILLIAMS CANYONS

"The Orange County Operational Area Emergency Operations Center has ordered an immediate mandatory evacuation of Modjeska and Williams Canyons.  Silverado Canyon has been upgraded to voluntary evacuation status.  We are closely monitoring the situation for all other canyon areas. The Red Cross has established an emergency shelter at El Modena High School, 3920 East Spring Street, Orange, 92869."

PRESS RELEASE # 3
Time:  1330
TEMPORARY SHELTERS AVAILABLE FOR ANIMALS EVACUATED FROM THE CANYONS

Temporary shelters are available for domestic animals and livestock for residents who are evacuating from the canyon areas.  Orange County Animal Care Services (ACS) is accepting domestic animals at 561 The City Drive in Orange. Animal owners are asked to bring identification, vet information, and any special foods or medicines along with their animals in order to ensure their animals receive appropriate care and they can be reunited with their animals when the evacuation is over. 

ACS staff will also be available at the Care and Reception site at El Modena High School, 3920 East Spring Street, Orange, 92869.  Provisions, crates and food for domestic animals will be available at the El Modena location. 

ACS will not be transporting animals from the evacuation areas at this time. 

The Orange County Fairgrounds has the capacity for up to 100 head of livestock.  Residents who need to evacuate large animals and livestock are directed to go to Gate 5 at the Orange County Fairgrounds.    

General information about Orange County Animal Care Services is available on their website at http://www.ocpetinfo.com/ or by calling (714) 935-6848.

PRESS RELEASE # 1
Time: 1200
ORANGE COUNTY EMERGENCY OPERATIONS CENTER AND PUBLIC INFORMATION HOTLINES ACTIVATED

"The County of Orange activated and staffed the Emergency Operations Center with County agency representatives at 1100 hours on November 30, 2007. The Public Information Hotline has been staffed and is ready to accept calls of inquiry in regard to evacuations in the Canyon communities of Orange County.

The Public Information Hotline phone number is (714) 628-7085. All resources and support personnel have been identified and are on standby ready to mobilize other areas of the Emergency Operations Center when needed."

PRESS RELEASE # 2 
Time:  1210
EVACUATION STATUS CLARIFICATION

"To clarify evacuation status in the canyon areas of Orange County, there are voluntary evacuations in place for Modjeska and Williams Canyons.  All other canyon areas in Eastern Orange County, including Silverado and Trabuco Canyons, are on heightened awareness. A Care and Reception Center has been established at El Modena High School, 3920 East Spring Street, Orange, 92869." 

Rancho Soñado serves as the headquarters for Inside the Outdoors®, an environmental education facility located off Silverado Canyon. The Santiago Fires surrounded the Ranch but didn't harm any of the buildings.

From their website:

"Surrounded by preserves and national forest, Rancho Soñado gives your students a chance to explore local ecology in a pristine environment. Ecosystems represented include a pond, a riparian area, oak woodland, and chaparral."

And, true to their mission, they're already turning burned chapparal into chapparal-ade: (click over for great pictures)

"Rancho Soñado is surrounded by the chapparal ecosystem.  Historically, fire swept through chaparral areas approximately every 20 to 30 years. Not only are most of the chaparral plants well adapted to resisting fire, but some of the species, such as laurel sumac (Rhus laurina), rely on fire for their persistence or rejuvenation. Some of the plants, such as toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia), chamise (Adenstoma fasciculatum), and laurel sumac (Rhus laurina), have basal burls or root crowns from which branches resprout after a fire.  Other chaparral plants have a seed bank underground in which seeds are deposited during non-fire years. After a fire, the parent plant is burned which results in the seeds receiving the water, space, light, and nutrients that they need in order to germinate and grow. Laurel sumac (Rhus laurina) seeds are thought to germinate only after being exposed to the heat from a fire (Vogl 1998)."

      Long-standing tradition was carried out in a new place Tuesday when Recruit Class 181 became the first class to graduate from the new Orange County Sheriff’s Department Regional Training Academy on the grounds of the former Tustin Marine Air Station.   

The class was made up of 29 men and six women, 23 new Orange County deputy sheriffs and 12 who will go to outside law enforcement agencies. 

 A bugler sounded the call to attention and drums rolled as the new law enforcement officers marched sharply into the hall to graduate and take the oath of sworn officers.  More than 1000 family members, colleagues and well-wishers attended the ceremony.   

Sheriff’s Lt. Mark Billings, the academy commander, gave a brief synopsis of what the recruits had faced.  The graduates began their training at the department’s old facility in Garden Grove. The class reported for duty on June 4.  More...

The Orange County Sheriff’s Regional Training Academy announces the graduation of Class #181 tonight, November, 27th 2007 at 6:30 p.m.. Class #181 is the first to graduate from the Sheriff’s new state of the art training facility located at 15991 Armstrong Ave. in Tustin.

Out of an original class of 44, 35 recruits - 29 men and 6 women - will graduate. Twenty-two of these graduates will begin their careers with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. The remainder will join other law enforcement agencies.

Scheduled to address the graduates is Brigadier General James P. Combs, Commanding General, Post Commander of the Joint Forces Training Base in Los Alamitos.

Director Dean Gialamas talked with KUCI's Mari Frank last week. The interview's below. For more information on DNA and Forensic Services, click right here.

This evening, ABC's World News with Charlie Gibson is planning to run part one of a two-part series entitled, Officer Down. From their website:

"The year 2007 is turning out to be an especially deadly year for police.

To date, 170 law enforcement officers have died in the line of duty -- that's nearly a third more than at the same point last year. It's also 17 percent higher than in all of 2006, and there is more than a month remaining in the year.

In fact, this year is on pace to be the worst year for police in decades. And many of the deaths involve cold-blooded murder.

Watch Pierre Thomas' full report tonight on "World News with Charles Gibson" at 6:30 p.m. ET. This is part one of the two-part series 'Officer Down.'"

 The baggage carousel area at John Wayne Airport was nearly deserted at 5:30 a.m., except for the mustachioed John Reichardt with his big smile, hearty handshake and warm greeting.

"This level will be packed around 10:30 am when the first flights from the East Coast arrive,” he told a visitor. He then took the visitor up to the ticketing level where the line for the security screening stations grew longer by the minute.

If they see a person looking lost, they offer help. “We give out a lot of directions. The first question we usually get is, ‘where is the restroom?  Not everybody is a frequent flyer.” 
Reichardt is 68, a retired postal worker and sign painter.  He is one of more than 30 Professional Services Responders who help staff John Wayne Airport. They wear black polo shirts with an embroidered PSR logo on the left side and they carry a distinctive PSR badge, which says “Civilian Responder.” New uniforms are on order and will include a windbreaker.    

The program began in May and the responsibility of the PSR is to act as an extra set of eyes and ears for the deputies working security at the airport. They help out travelers when they can, finding wheelchair attendants and even carrying luggage for parents flying with more youngsters and baggage than they can manage on their own.

PSRs work with sheriff’s deputies and sheriff’s special officers looking for suspicious luggage and parcels and inspecting truck deliveries bound for shops and restaurants on the secure side of the terminal to guard against bombs and contraband.  They help with traffic control and look for suspicious persons during security breaches. More...

From the Register:

Supervisors voted 5-0 to today to reinstate a standard that requires two years command experience before becoming an Orange County assistant sheriff.

[...]

After the morning vote, Assistant Sheriff Steve Bishop said the standard now in place goes back to 1985, but wondered whether the county should conduct a complete review of the qualifications set for command positions.

"What are the skill sets needed for the position? That's what we should be looking at," he said.

Bishop also questioned whether the change supervisors instituted today really had anything to do with Carona's current predicament.

"You can't legislate or mandate behavior," he said referring the ensuing actions of Haidl and Jaramillo which led to both being convicted of felonies and used as witnesses against Carona. "The issue still is, even if these people had experience, they committed a criminal act, that's their downfall."

Norberto's full story is right here.

The City of Mission Viejo, one of the Orange County Sheriff's Department twelve contract cities, was given the top ranking by Congressional Quarterly.

From Congressional Quarterly news release: 

"Washington, D.C., November 19, 2007: Mission Viejo, California—a top-ten safest city since the inception of the Safest City and Metropolitan Area Awards—reigns for the first time as the United States’ safest city.

[…]

Mission Viejo experienced no murders in 2006, had the nation’s lowest rape statistics, and boasted the third-lowest rates of aggravated assault, violent crime, and property crime among cities with populations of 75,000 or more. Joining Mission Viejo among the safest city ranks are Clarkston, New York; Brick Township, New Jersey; Amherst, New York; and Sugar Land, Texas."

Beyond crime stats, of course, is the perception of the residents, businesses and visitors we serve. "How do they feel," is usually what the media wants to know. Here are the results of our 2005 Resident Opinion Survey.

Deputy Matt Anderson was sure Noa was headed the wrong way in her search for training drugs hidden in the paperback book stand of the inmate library at the James Musick Facility.     

Anderson was still training Noa, a three-year old Belgium Malinois, to be his drug detecting K-9 team partner.

“Noa, to the left girl, the training package is to the left,” Anderson said he thought to himself as he watched the dog headed away from the paperback book stand. His human logic told him she ought to head toward the stand.

Noa looked back at Anderson momentarily and the deputy was sure she wanted to please him. Finding drugs is as much play as work for Noa. When she finds drugs Anderson gives her a reward to make her think it’s fun. It’s all a matter of high play drive for a K-9. Play is work and work is play.

And more than to just please him, Anderson felt Noa wanted to do her job. She was trained to go to the strongest odor of illegal drugs in her range. She kept heading to the right, away from the paperback book stand and toward the Reader’s Digest rack.

From January 19 to October 28, Orange County Sheriff’s Department Jail Deputies interviewed 5,382 foreign nationals booked into Orange County jails, detaining 3,766 individuals for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Among those detained, 226 were being held for aggravated felonies, 2,375 for felonies, 1,391 for misdemeanors and 231 affiliated with gangs.

From January 1 to October 28, a total of 56,876 individuals were booked into Orange County Jails.

This past Wednesday, Lt. Roland Chacon discussed our cross-designation program with KUCI 88.9's Mari Frank. Here's the interview:

This morning, department personnel joined together at the Orange County Emergency Operations Center to bake Thanksgiving pies for those less fortunate. This is the eighth year that Operations personnel have planned and organized this event.

Over a hundred apple pies were prepared for delivery to Eli Home and Mercy House. Each year Sheriff’s Department employees and other members of the community provide supplies and cash donations to make this event a success. More...

Orange County sheriff’s investigators arrested Deputy Richard Rodriguez, 43, a 21-year veteran of the department on Thursday. The arrest on sex assault charges was the result of an investigation that spanned eight months and took investigators as far away as Florida.  

The district attorney has filed five felony and four misdemeanor counts against Rodriquez for offenses that include sexual battery, false imprisonment and prostitution.    

Rodriguez was accused of illegally detaining as many as 12 prostitutes who worked the area near Harbor Boulevard in Santa Ana and Garden Grove. Investigators said the offenses occurred while Rodriguez was on duty, in uniform and on patrol in a marked patrol car. He worked throughout the county as part of his assignment to the Orange County Transportation Authority, which contracts with the Sheriff’s Department for police services.      

The prostitutes were placed in the patrol car and driven to an isolated location. He touched the private parts some of the victims, ordered others to strip and touch themselves and others were photographed in the nude.      

The crime came to light when a victim came forward and reported the misconduct.      

The investigation was lengthy in part because of the difficulty in identifying victims from pictures seized from Rodriguez. Some victims had left the state, as is common with prostitutes who work in Orange County.  At least one was located in Florida. Several of the victims were reluctant to cooperate with the investigation.      

Rodriquez was placed on administrative leave after the investigation was launched in March.    

The suspect was arrested at Sheriff’s Department headquarters in Santa Ana.  

Anyone who believes they were a victim of the suspect or with information about the case is asked to call the sheriff’s department Sex Crimes Unit at (714)-647-7419 or the watch commander after hours at 714-628-7170.  

Sheriff's Special Officer Juan Villegas reports to the North Operations Security Bureau for his regular 9-5. When he's not at work, you might find him volunteering for Short Stop.

Short Stop is the Orange County Bar Foundation’s juvenile crime diversion program; it was developed in 1979 by a team of legal professionals, educators, family counselors and community leaders. Programa Short Stop is the Spanish version of Short Stop, was developed in 1989.  If a juvenile, between the ages of eleven and seventeen successfully completes the program, the original charges on him will be waived. If he or she does not successfully complete the program, those charges are then reinstated by the District Attorney. 

The Orange County Probation Department conducts recidivism studies on an annual basis. It has been determined that Shortstop has a 92% success rate where juvenile participants do not re-offend for at least one year after attending the program. 

Eight years ago, the Short Stop Program solicited volunteers from the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. The program was looking for Spanish speaking volunteers who wanted to work with troubled teens.  Juan’s life experience, occupation and Spanish speaking abilities made him the perfect candidate for the position.  Juan said he, “Wanted to give back to the community and help troubled youths.”  The Short Stop Program proved to be the perfect choice and everything he wanted.  Juan’s outstanding qualities of leadership, combined with his enthusiasm and devotion to the program, is responsible for the significant contributions he has made in furthering the mission of the Short Stop Program.  

As an instructor, his job is to make the parent and juvenile aware of the consequences of delinquent and criminal behavior.  He talks about the negative effects of peer pressure, drugs, and gangs and how to cope with them.  Juveniles are shown that they have the ability to change their negative behavior.  Juan encourages, motivates, and inspires juveniles to make better decisions, obtain more self confidence, set goals, and work towards a more fulfilling life.  He teaches parents about their rights and responsibilities, drug and gang awareness, and parenting skills. 

All classes are initially conducted in the evening at the Orange County Court House, in a real courtroom setting.  Parents and juveniles are escorted into a large holding cell behind the courtroom where Juan speaks to them about what a person can expect if they are incarcerated. At this point, 3-4 Parolees (escorted by the Parole Agent) come in and speak about their lives and the harsh realities of being in the system.  The class returns to the courtroom where the parolees are excused and the class continues with “Hot seat”.  Hot seat is a one-on-one discussion with Juan in front of the rest of the class. The juvenile talks about why he or she is in the program.   

Sheriff’s Special Officer Juan Villegas has changed the lives of hundreds of young men and women.  His energetic approach and intense loyalty to the program has made him a hero in the community. 

Last week, Undersheriff Galisky talked with Mari Frank on the role of Undersheriff and the ongoing operation:

From the Times:

Jim Amormino, an Orange County sheriff's spokesman, told reporters gathered Monday at a Laguna Hills condominium complex where a rape took place that authorities were looking a person of interest who drove a light-colored Ford Explorer.

Before answering the last of the journalists' questions, Amormino spotted a light-colored Explorer circling the complex's parking lot and excused himself to write down the license plate number. Deputies tracked the driver to his home: a condo in the same sprawling complex.

Here's the whole story.

We've been meaning to highlight the exceptional planning and execution of the evacuation of the Musick facility on Monday, October 22nd. The evacuation not only interested members of the national media, but we received calls from correctional facilities around the country interested in our planning, process, and after-action review. Sergeant James Bau contributed this report: More...

Finally, we have available Undersheriff Galisky's press conference from Tuesday, November 7th, regarding the Sheriff's 60-day leave of absence.

Here it is, uncut and unedited, in all its glory:

(Note: Updates from Nov 8th included below) 

This blog was created to keep you and the community educated and informed on issues, activities and events related to our Department.  I was recently informed Supervisor John Moorlach is questioning not only the appropriateness of a county-paid trip in April 2007, but he is also questioning the integrity of those of us who went on the trip. Sheriff Carona, other key department members and I traveled to Lyon, France and London, England to view numerous law enforcement programs and systems in person.  The trip involved an aggressive schedule of meetings and conferences so that it would be as productive as possible.

This trip was never intended nor reported to be solely for the purpose of reviewing DNA laboratories.  We looked at numerous programs that had potential application to and could benefit the residents of Orange County.  In today’s post 9/11 world we face new challenges and risks never before imagined.  Criminals are not always local; neither are best practices.  We have always prided ourselves on being an organization that aggressively pursues new ideas and technology.

While in France we spent all of our time with officials from Interpol, sharing information and looking for opportunities to develop partnerships for the exchange of information and personnel. Numerous Federal agencies and the New York Police Department have staff temporarily assigned to Interpol and the educational and ultimate task force experience can be invaluable to an organization.   Furthermore, as a result of this trip we have continued to work with our contacts at Interpol to share information on Orange County arrestees.   

In London, our agenda was no less aggressive.  We met with numerous executive representatives from law enforcement to review programs that may have application to our department and benefit to our residents.  We met with Gary Pugh, the Director of Forensic Science Services at New Scotland Yard to discuss the pros and cons of maintaining an in house laboratory as compared to contracting DNA services to outside labs.  Issues of cost and quality control, turnaround times, evidentiary issues and contamination were all discussed.  Forensic Science Division Commander Dean Gialamas visited the FSS contract laboratory, which is some 120 miles away.   As a direct result of this trip we are currently in negotiations to obtain software that should significantly enhance our DNA database capability.   

Travel to other areas is always interesting and informative.  And, although at the time of this trip I had significant family and personal medical issues which needed my attention, I determined that the county and the department would significantly benefit from the information and experience we all would bring back. While on this trip I continued to respond to calls and e-mails from OCSD personnel and, because the travel involved considerable flight time I had plenty of time to work on Department business. I am including such details here because I understand the need for public employees to protect themselves from false allegations related to their activities.

However, what I do not understand is why Supervisor Moorlach couldn’t have called for information before insinuating that those of us who travelled lied to the Board regarding what was clearly a work related and beneficial trip.  To better explain we are providing to you the documents approving the trip, reporting the trip and in response to the questions raised. We invite you to read them and we believe any questions regarding the purpose and benefit of the trip will be answered. Finally, The Orange County District Attorney's office has also visited England for the purpose of evaluating potential benefits to Orange County law enforcement and the residents we serve. Anyone who continues to doubt the validity and importance of such trips may wish to contact the District Attorney's office for further justification.

Here's the Agenda Staff Report requesting approval from the Board of Supervisors for the Sheriff to travel.

Here's the itinerary of our trip.

Here's a letter to the County CEO we sent last week.

Here's an Interpol Press Release on the Sheriff's visit.

Update, November 8th: Here's one Supervisor's understanding of the visit to Europe. This comes from Supervisor Bates' newsletter and was written on March 23rd, after the Board approved the trip for the Sheriff (prior to the trip):

"At Tuesday’s meeting, the Board of Supervisors approved the Sheriff-Coroner to travel to Great Britain and France to meet with law enforcement, private sector and government officials on international terrorism and law enforcement issues. Sheriff Carona will travel to Lyon, France, to meet with Secretary General Ronald Noble of Interpol for a series of classified briefings on intelligence, drug and human trafficking, money laundering and terrorism. Establishing a direct relationship with Interpol will provide the Sheriff with direct access to timely intelligence. The Sheriff will also travel to London to meet with Great Britain’s top metropolitan police agency, Scotland Yard, to be briefed by its commissioners on security operations at London-Heathrow Airport and on the London Underground public transportation system. He will be given a briefing on the Closed Circuit Television system utilized for security in the greater London area. Upon his return, Sheriff Carona will provide the Board of Supervisors with a complete report on findings and public safety goals developed from the comprehensive briefings."
 

And here's Supervisor Bates' take on the trip after the Sheriff and Command Staff returned:

"Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona recently