To the men and women of the Orange County Sheriff's Department:

As it is no secret that I am retiring from this outstanding profession on other than my own terms, it is with a degree of melancholy that I have never experienced that I write this memo.  However, over the past several weeks, this predicament I have found myself in has caused me to deeply reflect upon my life, family, career, and what the future holds.  I have also been forced to accept what I have long preached. That is, that all things happen for a reason and according to a plan, and that all will work out for the best.  I have concluded that life beyond the Sheriff’s Department will occur and that everything will be alright. 

Over the past 28+ years, I have held assignments that I never could have anticipated (others may agree) and I had the honor to serve at ranks that I never would have thought possible (again, others may agree). I have had the pleasure of working in a vast majority of the department’s divisions, thus confirming my early belief that joining a department of this size would hold many benefits over a smaller and more confining agency.  But the most valued commodity I will take with me is the friendships forged over nearly three decades, many of which will undoubtedly become lifelong relationships. Such is the case with the most incredible meeting-of-chance of my life:  I met my wife when we were working South Operations as patrol deputies. We have two incredible children (don’t tell them I said that) and we will celebrate our 20th anniversary next year. 

In this profession, it is a fool who tries to go it alone or who thinks accomplishments are solely theirs to celebrate. This is a job where reliance on others is essential and, in some cases, necessary to survival.  Therefore, I want to take this opportunity to thank every person who I have ever worked with, for or around for anything and everything you did to influence my career and for any part you played in any successes that befell me. You were a worthy partner whether you were a patrol or investigative partner who went through a door with me without knowing what was on the other side; a dispatcher who sent me the help I desperately needed; an investigative assistant who looked at me sideways when I discussed a new (stupid) idea; a secretary who knew when I was having a bad day (and put up with me anyway); a deputy assigned to the jail who made me proud to be your captain; a supervisor who showed me how to (or not to) lead; or, a CST who taught me an easier way to do something when I was a naïve (and cocky) young deputy. Thanks to everyone for being there when I needed you and for watching my back, especially when I did not even know you were there.    

This department is in flux.  Many changes have occurred and many more are on the horizon.  The economy is bad. Public perception is not at its highest.  Pensions are under siege.  As I leave here, I do so with the knowledge that the men and women who are the Orange County Sheriff’s Department possess the fortitude, integrity, intelligence, and sheer will to meet any challenge and to succeed no matter what forces may attempt to work against them.  Remember, if you always do what is right, you will have nothing to worry about.  I wish you the best and pray for your continued success and safety. 

From the press release:

Sheriff opens recruitment for first class of newest jail personnel

In a move that’s likely to save the Orange County Sheriff’s Department $10 million a year, Sheriff Hutchens announced the recruitment for the position of Sheriff’s Correctional Services Assistant Trainee. The Correctional Services Assistant will assist sworn personnel with monitoring inmate movement, maintaining order and controlling entry and exit to jail facilities.

“The Correctional Services Assistant is an extremely important addition to the Orange County Jail system.  This new classification of department personnel will not only assist us in our mandate to provide for the safety and well being of our inmates, but it will provide a significant savings to our operating budget,” said Sheriff Sandra Hutchens. “Just this year we have been required to reduce our budget by $28 million and next year we’re looking at a $60 million reduction. Any savings we can obtain is of great benefit to Orange County taxpayers.”

The initial recruitment is open to current Orange County Sheriff’s personnel; however, we anticipate opening this position to individuals outside the department in the next few months.

The first class of fifty Correctional Service Assistants will attend nine weeks of training and should begin working in our jails in January 2010.

Additional information on the Correctional Services Assistant can be found at http://tinyurl.com/mektxe  or by contacting the Media Relations Department at (714) 647-7042.

###

The meeting begins at 0930 hrs and can be viewed at www.oc.ca.gov.

Here's the PowerPoint presentation the Sheriff will use at the meeting (Adobe required)

Dear Department Personnel:

This afternoon, prior to their final vote on the 2009-10 budget, I addressed the Board of Supervisors to again express my concerns on the recommended budget for the Sheriff-Coroner Department. We cannot absorb a $30.7 million dollar budget cut without it having an impact on public safety services.

Over the last year, we eliminated 67 vacant positions in the department and cut 150 extra help positions. We reduced overtime usage by 18 percent, cutting 6,000 hours of overtime from each two-week pay period as compared to the previous year. We eliminated hospital security for outside agency arrestees, we limited annual leave pay-downs, ended gunshot residue testing, reduced helicopter flight time, and we closed 360 jail beds at the James A. Musick Facility.

We’ve also deferred equipment purchases, reduced the utilization of take-home vehicles, and deferred capital projects. Unfortunately, these reductions do not close the budget gap we’re facing. This is why I asked the board for $7 million to fund us for the next six months, while we continue to move forward with Immigration and Customs Enforcement on a deal to house their detainees.

The board voted unanimously for the budget that the CEO’s office recommended, which means that we must begin the process of laying off and/or eliminating a total of 30-50 positions. I shared with the board that I do not have the option of not staffing a jail or a patrol car so we would have to look at investigators, dispatchers, Forensic Scientists and crime lab services. These positions have a direct impact on our contract cities, our unincorporated communities, and the entire county.

Each member of this department is important to us and integral to our operation and we will do our best to find positions for those affected as we move forward to ensure we are working within the limitations of our budget.

Sincerely,

Sandra Hutchens
Sheriff-Coroner

Assistant Sheriff Mike James updated the Board of Supervisors yesterday on the ongoing changes and reforms in our Custody Operations Command. The Orange County Register's Norberto Santana attended the meeting and interviewed Sheriff Hutchens after the report.

...Deputy overtime – mostly at the jail — has been trimmed by 13 percent during each pay period, meaning that more than 4,000 hours have been cut, Hutchens said. And a new, cheaper, class of civilian jail worker should be arriving by December to Orange County jails – the second largest jail system in the state.

[...]

Capt. Mike James gave a morning presentation at the weekly board meeting, noting that a cultural change has taken place at the jails that has lowered costs as well as violence and incidents of unprofessional behavior by deputies.

"Chamberlain was so shocking," Hutchens said after the meeting, referring to the cover ups over the 2006 beating death of inmate John Derek Chamberlain.

The shock, Hutchens said, came from the fact that there was lack of accountability under the former administration of Sheriff Mike Carona – who was indicted by federal prosecutors just as the Chamberlain grand jury took form.

Jail reforms were also discussed in an article on the county's offer to settle a lawsuit on a jail beating that occurred in 2006:

...The update on the reforms in our jails is also discussed in an article on a settlement the county is offering in a jail beating which took place in 2006.

At issue in both cases was the fact that sheriff's deputies weren't always walking the floors of the jail and in many cases left inmates to manage each other.

"We are under the understanding that changes were in progress but regretfully didn't get implemented before Chamberlain," said Supervisor John Moorlach, who voted for the settlement offer. "But they are definitely in place now."

Supervisor Bill Campbell, who also approved the settlement, said he had questions for the Sheriff's Department to ensure that such cases are a thing of the past.

"The question the board was most concerned about was, 'have we changed how we are doing things?' " he said.

At an update on jail issues Tuesday, Capt. Mike James – now in charge of jail operations – said there has been a sea change in culture at the three jails operated by the department in Orange County.

James told supervisors that the department has instituted ethics training using the Chamberlain case as an example. He also added that numerous structural modifications – such as cameras and recording devices – have been introduced into the jails.

Also, James said, he has deputies walking the floors of the jail much more often.

[...]

Moorlach said the update offered this week makes him confident because "we learned a lot from the Chamberlain case and the investigative work done by the district attorney released last year. There was a culture that needed to be changed," he said.

The goal today is simple, Moorlach added.

"We should not have inmates being brutally attacked by other inmates."

Sheriff Hutchens announces the new S.A.F.E. Division:

Beginning this week, and when availability permits, Sheriff Hutchens will be issuing a video message instead of the standard bulletin letter. Here's the youtube version. A transcript follows.

Transcript:

As protectors of the public we are always faced with new challenges. When called upon to enforce the law, even unpopular laws, we rely on our training, our skills, our integrity and best judgment to act without bias and in a fair and honorable way.  It’s not an easy task but it is one we are well prepared to carry out.

Protecting the public is far more than enforcing the law. We are often asked to be problem solvers.For instance, our deputies are called to respond to a myriad of issues: a car broken down on the road, a runaway child, a noisy neighbor or, all too often, a circumstance that defies easy explanation or obvious solution.

Even today, our Department must act to help solve a problem that is also confronting local governments across the entire state. The dire financial crisis is having a dramatic impact on the revenues that fuel the operations of our Department and the county as a whole. 

For several months we have been working with the county to balance public protection within current budget constraints. In January, we eliminated the hospital security we were providing to City Police Departments – this saved our department over a million dollars annually.

Earlier This week we announced that we are closing the tents at the James A. Musick Correctional Facility. This move will save our department 1.2 million dollars annually.We also announced that we would be returning to a part-time SWAT team.

Last year, we assigned 7 Deputies to work full-time on the SWAT team. The goal was to provide improved protection for the county and to increase officer safety in responding to known high risk situations.However, due to financial concerns, we are reassigning these personnel. This decision would make absolutely no sense if the financial picture were better, but I believe it is necessary in this time of economic crisis.

Over the next year we will need to make additional sacrifices and reductions in services – and this will continue until the economy improves. Now, more than ever, we have to focus on our core mission and look for cost effective methods to ensure the safety of those we serve.

I ask all of you to continue to find ways to reduce our costs with a minimum impact on public safety and I Thank you all for your unwavering commitment to our mission and to the residents of Orange County.

From the Orange County Register:

On the night of Dec. 4, Gutierrez, 17, was doing homework in his San Clemente home when he heard loud screams coming from the building next door. He rounded up his 15-year-old sister, Carla, and 16-year-old cousin, Jenni Hernandez, and grabbed a fire extinguisher from his apartment building.

The trio rushed outside and saw smoke pouring from the three-story apartment building next to theirs, Gutierrez said.

Orange County sheriff's deputies were already on scene breaking windows and assisting with evacuations at one end of the building, near where the fire started, Gutierrez said.

But at the other end of the building was a panic-stricken elderly couple waiting for help at their open front door.

Their second-story windows had become blackened by smoke, and the woman was in a wheelchair crying and screaming for someone to please help her, Gutierrez recalled.

[...]

Q. You're a cadet in the Orange County Sheriff's Explorer program, which teaches you about law enforcement and emergency first response. How did those experiences help you?

A. Firefighters take care of the fire, but if you're the first one on the scene, you make sure everyone is OK and make sure no one is inside the house. You break windows and open doors. That's what came to my mind when I was helping out. I don't think I was doing anything special.

Read it all right here.

The Los Angeles Times' Tami Abdollah reports on yesterday's Board meeting. Here are the key graphs:

...Sheriff Sandra Hutchens said she discovered the camera had zoomed in on Norby's notes and Supervisor Janet Nguyen's BlackBerry.

Hutchens, hired last year after her predecessor was indicted, said she alerted both supervisors, launched an internal investigation and informed Stephen Connolly at the Orange County Office of Independent Review so that he could monitor the investigation.

Here's the entire story:

Orange County Supervisor Chris Norby wants to bar the Sheriff's Department from handling security in the Hall of Administration after an investigator used a security camera to zoom in on Norby's notes and a colleague's BlackBerry messages during a board meeting.

On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors asserted control over security in the board chambers and weighed whether to hire a private firm or a local police department to provide security in the Hall of Administration.

The issue stems from a Jan. 13 board meeting when the Sheriff's Department stepped up security because of community tensions over layoffs and the sheriff's highly publicized decision to revoke concealed weapons permits. The boardroom's security camera, typically operated by security guards, was handled by an investigator during the roughly four-hour meeting and primarily used to pan the audience for suspicious or unusual activity.

When a concealed weapons advocacy group filed a records request for the security tapes last week, Sheriff Sandra Hutchens said she discovered the camera had zoomed in on Norby's notes and Supervisor Janet Nguyen's BlackBerry.

Hutchens, hired last year after her predecessor was indicted, said she alerted both supervisors, launched an internal investigation and informed Stephen Connolly at the Orange County Office of Independent Review so that he could monitor the investigation.

Norby and Nguyen were granted a chance to view the tapes, but expressed outrage when they were not given copies of the entire recording. Releasing the recordings would jeopardize the safety of undercover deputies at the meeting as well as pose other security risks to ongoing investigations, sheriff's spokesman John McDonald said.

"The sheriff was upset about the taping of what was on their desks," McDonald said. "We've offered all five members of the supervisors copies of those portions of the tapes that were upsetting to the sheriff. And that was accepted by some members of the supervisors and declined by some others."

At Tuesday's Board of Supervisors meeting, the supervisors unanimously approved additions to its rules and procedures that formally established its power over security measures within the board's chambers and affirmed its ownership of security recordings. According to the rule changes, these security recordings are "confidential and are not public," but can be made available to any board member upon request as long as it does not violate state law.

Norby also requested that the county examine contracting out the security for the Hall of Administration to a private firm or the Santa Ana Police Department. The county Civic Center is in Santa Ana.

County Chief Executive Officer Thomas Mauk said the building's security costs are about $800,000 a year. Mauk told the board he will report the full costs, possible savings and existing options for such a change.

"There's a price issue and there's a control issue," Norby said. "I'm sure we could save money and we'd also have more control.

"Right now," he said, "the sheriff has essentially said 'I'll do what I want, and what the board wants doesn't matter. And these security tapes are my property and I'm not going to give them to you'. Yet we know these security tapes include improper looking at the board, but we don't know what's on them because we can't see them. It's an odd confrontational tack to take. . . . I thought we'd be on the same side."

From the Board of Supervisors hearing Tuesday, October 7, 2008:

Here's video of the ceremony:

Sheriff Sandra Hutchens will be sworn in as the 12th Sheriff of the County of Orange today, June 24th  at 9 a.m. The ceremony will take place on the steps in front of the Old County Court House, located at 211 W. Santa Ana Blvd, in Santa Ana. 

The Honorable Carolyn Kirkwood, Presiding Judge of the Juvenile Panel of the Superior Court of California, County of Orange will administer the oath of office.

Members of the Board of Supervisors, dignitaries, along with city and county officials will be in attendance to witness this historic event.

Stuart Pfeifer and Christine Hanley write:

With her tailored suits and thoughtful, confident demeanor, new Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens appears more like a polished corporate executive than a peace officer.

But make no mistake about it: There's a lot of street cop in the new leader of California's second-largest sheriff's department.

Hutchens spent the early years of her career patrolling violent inner-city neighborhoods south of downtown Los Angeles, arresting gang members, racing to assist deputies in danger and, in one defining moment, shooting and killing a man carrying a handgun.

[...]

Hutchens rose through the ranks of the Sheriff's Department, working as a sergeant, lieutenant and eventually captain in charge of the Norwalk station, where she was responsible for dozens of deputies. When her deputies were involved in shootings, she said, she knew what they were going through.

"I always just ask them, 'Are you OK?' " she said. "I always make sure they have someone with them and they're not put in a room alone.

"You can't assume cops are so tough that if they're involved in a shooting they'll be OK. Some are. Some aren't," she said.

She understands that patrol work can be gritty. She wants deputies who are proactive, as she was.

Read it all here.

Peggy Lowe writes:

The moment passes quickly and Hutchens repeats what she told her new staff on June 10, the day she was appointed sheriff by the Board of Supervisors.

"'This is the day we take a step away from that. Carona and everyone else just becomes another court case, disassociated from this department,'" she remembered. "That's where I'm at. And everybody in this agency is ready to do that."

Meet Sandra Hutchens, a 27-year Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department veteran who was sworn during a private ceremony Thursday as the county's female sheriff.

[...]

"Firm and fair is a very good description of what she was," said Anna, who lives in Orange. "She ran a good, tight ship. But on the other hand, you enjoyed working for her."

That kind of leadership will be much different than Carona's style. Hutchens has yet to announce her command structure, instead meeting last week with, as she says, "captains and above" in an effort to find who she will surround herself with. Carona, in contrast, won special conditions from supervisors in 1999 when he brought in two assistant sheriffs who were not qualified and later contributed to his downfall.

When she is publicly sworn in on Tuesday, Hutchens will make another statement. Hutchens' uniforms won't include a dress coat, as Carona often wore. She will wear a long-sleeved shirt with a tie.

"I prefer to dress like the deputies," she said. "In terms of the day-to-day, I'm another deputy."

Read  it all right here.

Stuart Pfeifer and Christine Hanley sat down with Sheriff-designee Hutchens yesterday:

Newly appointed Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens said Tuesday that she intends to review all the concealed-weapons permits that her indicted predecessor issued and revoke those of gun owners who can't prove a legal need to carry the weapons.

When former Sheriff Michael S. Carona resigned in January to focus on his upcoming federal corruption trial, he had issued more than 1,100 active carry permits -- among the most issued by any sheriff or police chief in the state. Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, by contrast, has issued fewer than 400.

Many were issued to traditional holders: judges, prosecutors, jewelers or others whose occupation leaves them in fear for their safety.

But others included wealthy white-collar businessmen, doctors, dentists and financial contributors to Carona's political campaigns.

[...]

The department needs the reserves "if they are here for the right reasons. If you're here for personal gain, if you want a badge or a gun, we don't need you," Hutchens said. "It certainly shouldn't be a political favor."

Read it all right here.

Click the image for the details of the event

Nathan Wright of the Dana Point Times writes:

There was no question that whoever was appointed to fill out the remaining two years in Carona’s term would have their hands full, reviewing the department’s policies and procedures—and restoring the department’s reputation.

“It’s a tall order for what I see as an extremely capable, strong and committed individual who is dedicated to a great job,” said Supervisor Pat Bates, who voted for Hutchens along with Janet Nguyen and John Moorlach.

In the day following her appointment, Hutchens spoke on her goal of mending damaged relationships and restoring the faith of the staff—including 1,600 sworn officers—in its leadership. “For me, it’s a new day for the Sheriff’s Department,” said Hutchens. “It’s the first step forward in removing this department from scandal.”

Hutchens won’t officially take office until medical and psychological tests are completed but is already discussing plans for internal and external reviews for the entire department, including a jail shrouded in controversy.

“I think the vast majority of the folks are very good people and they work hard every day,” she said. “The expectations here will be very high, and I will certainly lead by example in that arena.”

Read it all right here.

As a resident of Dana Point for the past 13 years, I know that the Orange County Sheriff’s Department operates each and every day because of the 4,000 professional men and women who work to serve the residents of Orange County.

When I am sworn in on June 24th as your next Sheriff I will not only have the pleasure of living in one of the safest places in the nation, but I will have the distinct honor of working side-by-side with the men and women who work to create our extraordinary quality of life.

The next few weeks will give me the opportunity to talk with many of you as I visit our various divisions and share my vision to become one of the best sheriff’s departments in the nation and a model for the other law enforcement agencies. I begin this undertaking with the knowledge that we have the people and the skills to achieve this goal.

I will also be reaching out to our law enforcement partners, contract cities and labor management to ensure that we are working together to confront the challenging issues we face with budgets, jail overcrowding and an economic downturn. I believe it is essential that we pursue collaboration and teamwork in the solutions we are seeking.

Finally, I will begin my own internal and external assessment of our operation to address the cultural concerns and lack of leadership that were brought to light six months ago.

I’m sure we will all agree that these are very challenging times for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. But these are also very promising times. We have the opportunity to challenge old assumptions and unlearn outdated practices.
 
Together, we will rebuild the confidence of the residents we serve by always being open, transparent, trustworthy and honest in everything we do.

I thank all of you for your passion and dedication and I look forward to meeting and working with you all.

From the Register's Peggy Lowe:

Q: You have said you see yourself as an agent of change. What do you see as the first concerns in that department?

A: Certainly, the jail operations has been in the news of late and so that is a place where I’m going to start to do an audit of that. The other area is the culture. There’s concerns about the culture in the department, that would allow something like that to occur and I’m certainly going to take a look at that. I also want to do a internal and external assessment of the department. The internal where I meet with every deputy, every employee and hear from them what the issues are and what they need to do their job better and to hear from me what my vision is. The external assessment is with the city managers, the community, the board of supervisors, the district attorney, the entire law enforcement community of Orange County because I want to work very closely with them. That has not occurred in the past. It will occur while I am sheriff.

Q: Any concerns that you were not the candidate of the union?

A: No, I’m confident that I’ll be able to work with the union. I recognize the union’s role. I’ve talked with (union president) Wayne Quint. They will have a seat at the table and we will work through our issues.

Q: What is your vision?

A: My vision is to make this the best sheriff’s department in the nation and a model for the other law enforcement agencies to look at. I think we have the people and the skills to do that and that is where I’m going.

Q: Is the department corrupt? (referring to Supervisor Janet Nguyen’s characterization during the debate that the department is corrupt from top to bottom) More...

Stuart Pfeifer of the LA Times wrote:

A divided Orange County Board of Supervisors chose an outsider today to lead its troubled Sheriff's Department, naming retired Los Angeles County Sheriff"s Department Division Chief Sandra Hutchens as the county's 12th sheriff.

Hutchens will replace Michael S. Carona as the leader of California's second-largest sheriff's department. Carona resigned in January to focus on his upcoming federal corruption trial.

[...]

Hutchens, a Dana Point resident and the only woman to interview for the job, had said she was equally qualified to take the reigns. She has downplayed the role her gender might play in any decision.

Hutchens will serve the remaining 2 1/2 years of Carona's term and have the option to run for a new four-year term in 2010.

Christine Hanley took a look at Sandra Hutchens in profile piece today:

Those who have worked closest with Hutchens say she has everything it takes to be sheriff, describing her as bright and a polished administrator who is trusted and respected by her troops and has the political savvy and street credibility for the job.

"She's very effective in getting people to do the right thing. She does that by example," said Los Angeles County Undersheriff Larry Waldie. "I think the world of her. I hated to lose her. I think she would be a great sheriff." More...

Sergeant Mike Wallace:

I would like to once again take the opportunity to offer continued praise and recognition for the outstanding job that Deputy [Kimberly] Stansfield performs in my courtroom.  Deputy Stansfield has worked with me in my courtroom for the last three plus years.  During that time, our assignments have varied.

During the past year, we worked in Department N-13 for six months handling the Felony trial calendar of Judge Prickett.  In that assignment, she exhibited professionalism with life sentence inmates, victims and victim’s families, defendant’s family/friends, jurors, attorneys, as well as all the many other tasks required to perform in felony trials.  She not only assisted in making sure things went timely, but more importantly dealt with the increased security concerns and potentially volatile situations that arise in this type of assignment.  Our next assignment was Department N-6 as an open trial courtroom and included Misdemeanor trials, Preliminary Hearings, Civil Harassments/Civil Trials, Felony and Misdemeanor sentencing’s and miscellaneous matters.  Our current assignment is Department N-9 where we handle private attorney pre-trials and back-up preliminary hearings.

Deputy Stansfield is always on time and has consistently demonstrated a very high level of professionalism and courtesy when dealing with me, court staff, attorneys, fellow deputies, prisoners, jurors and the public in the audience.  I find her to be an excellent deputy sheriff and courtroom bailiff and she is a true asset to the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.  Please don’t hesitate to contact me if I can provide you with any further information.

Sincerely,

Lance P. Jensen
Superior Court Judge