Sheriff Sandra Hutches was the featured speaker last week at the Orange County Forum, a non-profit, non-partisan educational current affairs forum for leaders and headline makers in Orange County. More than 200 attended the luncheon on Wednesday at the Hilton across from John Wayne Airport.
Here is some of what she told them:
Sheriff Hutchens began with some facts about the Department.
It is the second largest Sheriff’s Department in California.
It is the fifth largest Sheriff’s Department in the United States.
The Department has a $700 million annual budget and 4,000 employees. We serve 12 contract cities, the Orange County Transportation Authority, Superior Court, John Wayne Airport and three harbors.
Our jail system is the second largest in the state, the eighth largest in the nation. Of the inmates we hold, 80 percent are charged with felonies and held in facilities designed for county misdemeanors.
We have a cross designation program with Immigration Customs Enforcement that enables our Deputies to screen for illegal immigrants in our jail. To date, 7,000 have to detained for action by ICE. The program is a success. We are not able to track once they go to ICE. Of the 7,000, 4,400 are felons. We have been successful.
Our crime lab is one of the leading facilities in the country for DNA.
The Department has 230 reserves and 430 Professional Service Responders.
“The PSR’s volunteered 20,000 hours in fiscal year 07-08. That is a 100 percent increase over a 3-year period,” Sheriff Hutchens said. “You’ve heard about badges. Our PSRs are a wonderful group of people. They are doctors, lawyers, college professors. I decided to take the badges not because I do not value their service, I took them because of an attorney general’s opinion. The people of Orange County want their Sheriff to follow the law. “
She then described some of the community programs that help keep the crime rates low in our contract cities.
“ It’s about programs. We keep the children off the streets. We have a lower crime rate.”
Sheriff Hutchens said she has been busy in her first three months in office. More...