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

Guilty on all counts.

Count 1: We find you guilty of having a dynamic personality and the professionalism that's second to none...

Click the image to read all five counts:

A message from Acting Sheriff Jack Anderson to the troops: 

For the past twenty weeks I have had the opportunity to lead some of the finest men and women in law enforcement in the 5th largest Sheriff’s Department in the nation. During this time we have confronted many crucial issues, including the release of the Special Grand Jury transcripts and the cultural anomalies that were brought to light from within our agency. Serving our community during this historic transition and working to ensure that public safety remained uninterrupted has truly been a great honor.

We have faced many challenges in the last five months, and many more await our next Sheriff.  I am sure that our next Sheriff will have the support that you so graciously gave to me to achieve the successes we have accomplished as a team.
 
I want to thank the Board of Supervisors for their diligence during this selection process. I remain confident that their hearts are in doing what’s best for the residents of Orange County and for the men and women of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.
 
Finally, I want to thank all of you for your unwavering commitment to providing quality law enforcement services. I have no doubt that with your dedication and passion our new Sheriff will join the department with the knowledge that our future holds much promise.

Dear Acting Sheriff Anderson:

My name is Rebecca Olivieri and I am a Senior Deputy District Attorney assigned to the Special Prosecutions Unit in the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.  My purpose in writing to you is to let you know what an outstanding employee you have in Deputy Jason Pitts.

Deputy Pitts proved invaluable recently when he provided crucial interpretation in a kidnap for ransom case which was investigated by the Costa Mesa Police Department.  The victims in our case were Brazilian citizens who spoke only Portuguese.  Due to the unavailability of a Portuguese interpreter during the original investigation, the victims, now living in Florida, were flown out to testify at the preliminary hearing.  Significant issues developed during the hearing, however, when it was discovered that the court assigned interpreter, who was from Portugal, was having difficulty interpreting for the Brazilian witnesses.  Given those issues, we were forced to abort the preliminary hearing midstream. More...

Dear Lieutenant Trujillo,

It is a pleasure having Deputy Scott Montoya at Walter School as we implement the Gang Reduction Intervention Program (G.R.I.P.).  He has been a regular presence since February 18th.  Already, he has been able to build rapport with students, staff and parents.  His ability to counsel students as he focuses them on making good choices has resulted in less behavior problems in the classroom.  With the increased accountability as students know that Deputy Montoya will be checking up on them on a regular basis has made many of our students become more reflective.

You could not have selected a better deputy to work with our various stakeholders.  Our teachers have commented that Scott has had a positive impact on the most troubled students.  Our teachers have appreciated Scott’s presence during parent meetings in which the focus has been on implementing positive reinforcements at home to help with discipline.  Our parents have commented on how much safer the campus feels due to Scott’s presence, especially during the morning hours and dismissal time.  During parent meetings such as ELAC and Coffee with the Principal, parents have thanked me for making school safety a priority by having Deputy Montoya on campus.

As principal, I appreciate the opportunity to be able to count on Scott as we confront issues of gang-like behavior on campus.  Even if he is at other schools, he is only a phone call away.  Just recently, we conducted the truancy sweeps.  Deputy District Attorney, Tracy Rinauro shared with me how instrumental Scott had been to help a parent de-escalate during the truancy sweep.  The parent recognized Scott as the deputy on campus at his son’s school.  Due to the rapport he had built with the student, the parent was willing to cooperate.

I wanted to thank you for your commitment to ensure we have safe schools even before the G.R.I.P. grant was awarded.

Sincerely,
Elizabeth Nordyke, principal

The Board of Supervisors conducted interviews this week for the position of Sheriff. Understandably, there was a lot of discussion about the problems we are facing in our department. Over the last few months we have acknowledged the many areas we need to fix, but we also realize that these issues are not systemic, but isolated and individual in nature. The negative will undoubtedly garner headlines, but we also need to make sure we’re taking inventory of what’s right with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.

Among the numerous awards and recognition we’ve received, we continue to provide law enforcement services to one of the safest areas to live, work and play in the nation. Our Coroner’s facility serves as a statewide training facility and is a model for the state. An assessment conducted by the National Institute of Corrections last year noted that we operate one of the most professional jails while maintaining low assault rates; and our LA HIDTA Joint Drug Intelligence Group received the Outstanding Investigative Support Center Award of the year.

A commitment to excellence continues to thrive within our department, even as we work to correct shortcomings of the past.  With your great work and dedication, we will continue to have the opportunity to accentuate the positive while we eliminate the negative as we move toward a promising future.

Thank you for all you continue to do to lead our department in our mission to serve.

Dear Acting Sheriff-Coroner Anderson:

I am writing to thank you for the contributions your agency has made to the “DNA Field Experiment,” which has turned out to be an historic and groundbreaking project.  It has revealed important ways law enforcement can use DNA to identify burglary suspects.  Many of the burglars arrested during the field test had long, serious arrest histories.  Other jurisdictions are likely to find similarly serious offenders.  You and your agency’s willingness to participate has been highly valued and will be even more so when law enforcement across the United States learns what we have accomplished together.

I wanted to give you advance notice that the Department of Justice expects to announce the results soon…Your team led by Dean Gialamas, has already reviewed the researchers’ report and given us valuable comments.  Their comments will be reflected in the final document released to the public.

I would like to especially thank the key members of your staff:  Elizabeth Thompson, Tom Nasser, Bob Blackburn, Mike Gavin and Paul Fuzzard.

Your partnership with researchers has been extremely valuable to your colleagues in law enforcement and is greatly appreciated by the Department of Justice.

Sincerely,
David W. Hagy
Director
U.S. Department of Justice

Deputy Mark Lange received a letter of commendation from the grandmother of a defendant.  The defendant appeared in his courtroom for a drug charge case that lasted nearly three years.  The grandmother was always present.  She wrote:

“You probably think we forgot about you and you probably think we were ungrateful….
 
Please accept this as a very small token of our appreciation.  We have thought of you often. 

You were the one that remained strong and kept control of the courtroom and did it in a very professional manner.

You were the one that when things seemed a bit tuff on us that you were sensitive and compassionate.

We will forever be grateful for your kind and compassionate words to our family and the young man in custody.

You have been a great example of what a Law Enforcement Officer should be and I know there were others but

You stood out the most because of the constant contact in the courtroom.

Once again Thank You so very much for being a decent human being… …God Bless,”

Five family members found dead in San Clemente: Sheriff's Lt. Erin Giudice said the bodies were discovered by a relative who  went to check on the family this afternoon. The person called 911 at about 3:50 p.m. Anderson, holding a news conference outside the neighborhood's gates, described the victims as an elderly woman, a man and woman ages 40-50, and two women in their early 20s, all related. No names were released. [Photo by Eugene Garcia, Orange County Register]

Sheriff says he's ready to put mattresses on jail floor: Acting Sheriff Jack Anderson on Friday said he may be forced to come up with unpalatable alternatives to ease jail crowding during an expected spike in arrests over Memorial Day Weekend. "I'll put mattresses on the floor if I have to," Anderson said after he and two high-ranking members of his command staff met behind closed doors with Assistant Presiding Judge Kim Dunning.The meeting was arranged by Orange County Counsel Benjamin DeMayo less than a day after Superior Court Judge Thomas Borris, the presiding judge of the court's criminal division, rejected Anderson's request for authority to release some inmates from their sentences early to relieve crowding.

Am I Going To Die?: Oksana Grishuk, 36, an Olympic gold-medal skater from Aliso Viejo believed a business dinner with an aquaintance last month at the St. Regis Monarch Beach resort was for all the right reasons. Instead, she found her head swirling, her stomach aching and wondering "Am I going to die?"

Secret cameras found in former Sheriff's office: Evidence of cameras that fed video to computers spirited away in a "secret compartment" in a "clandestine" room within former Sheriff Mike Carona’s old office have been turned over to federal prosecutors. Acting Sheriff Jack Anderson made the discovery recently and notified the five members of the Board of Supervisors in a confidential memo The Orange County Register obtained through a public records request.

Suspects ID'd in Marine Shooting Death: Two fellow Marines, including an Iraq veteran, are believed to be responsible in the shooting of another Marine who was found shot dead in a San Clemente ditch last week, authorities said. One suspect is in custody and another is being sought by authorities, said John McDonald, spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff's Department.

The Orange County Emergency Operations Center is currently monitoring the situation. 

The Register reports:

Torrential rain falling in the canyon areas this afternoon has created mud and debris flows with unconfirmed reports that people are trapped in homes and at a park.

Modjeska, Williams, Live Oak and Trabuco canyons are under mandatory evacuation order as rain continues to fall. About 1,000 people are reportedly affected in these areas. Large animals are to be moved to the Orange County fairgrounds.

"The first reports of mud flows in Modjeska Canyon began at 12:25 p.m.," Orange County Fire authority Capt. Mike Blawn said.

"Williams Canyon is unpassable," Blawn said, "with reports of residents trapped in their homes. Debris is reported to spread from canyon wall-to-canyon wall, but people will be fine if we can get a grader in there."

Read the story and updates here.

The Orange County Peace Officers' Memorial Ceremony was held this morning at the Plaza of the Flags in Santa Ana. The Orange County Register's Doug Irving and Denisse Salazar attended:

Colleen Sowma said a quick prayer Wednesday at the bronze plaque that bears the name of her husband. She always does during Orange County's annual Peace Officers' Memorial Ceremony.

He was a Cypress police officer, but she remembers him as the great father who always took the kids to Little League and Cub Scouts. He was shot during a burglary investigation in 1976, one of 48 officers and deputies killed in the line of duty in Orange County history.

On Wednesday, hundreds of law-enforcement officials gathered at the county's Peace Officers' Memorial Monument in Santa Ana to pay tribute to the fallen. They watched in silence as a riderless horse clopped past, and sat in silence as each of the 48 names was read out loud.

This year, Anaheim Police Chief John Welter provided the keynote address, as he is currently serving as the President of the Orange County Chiefs’ and Sheriff’s Association. His address follows: 

Good Morning.  It is a true honor and a privilege for me to speak today on behalf of the Orange County Chiefs’ and Sheriff’s Association.  It is customary for the President of the Association to speak, unless an Orange County peace officer has fallen in the previous year.  When that occurs, the honor is bestowed on the Chief Officer of the agency in which the fallen officer served.  I’m grateful that this is the third year that the President of our Association is speaking.   We have gone three years without losing a peace officer in Orange County.   We all pray that we continue that trend for years to come. More...

Topics include the use of overtime, early release of inmates and personnel transfers. Here's a rough transcript:

Good Morning Chairman Moorlach and Honorable Supervisors,

I’m here this morning so that I can keep you informed of transitional changes in our jails and provide updates on other media stories.

I’ll begin today on the familiar subject of Jail Operations

As many of you know, last Friday, we announced the Promotions and/or Transfers of 36 department personnel – 17 of whom will be rotating from their current position in the jails.

The Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriff’s (AOCDS) opposed my previous rotation of 23 personnel assigned to the jails in April, resulting in their filing for a court injunction to stop the transfers which was ultimately denied by the court.

In working with the County CEO Human Resources team and County Counsel’s Labor Relations Team, I am departing from long held departmental practices, and following through as appropriate with the issuance of necessary policy changes in the transfer/rotation of personnel in our jails to rectify serious and ongoing problems of the past.

I believe these transfers will create positive and lasting changes in our operation and that they will positively impact department culture – and I continue to invite the Board of Directors of AOCDS to work with me and be part of the solution.
Our Jail Operations made other news last week as well:

Although I have no plans at this time to release inmates early from our jails, On May 6, we filed a request to obtain a temporary court order authorizing the department to release inmates up to 5 days early.

We previously had a federally ordered legal authority to manage inmate population through a system of early releases resulting from the Stuart v. Gates decision. That authority was eliminated when the court order was vacated. Therefore, we sought the order to allow us the flexibility to manage inmate population as circumstances beyond our control dictate.

Jail overcrowding has been an issue here in Orange County for the past 20 years and we routinely utilize Early Release to ensure we are in the confines of the law

In fact, last year we released 1491 inmates (124 per month on average) and during the first four months of this year we released 47.

This afternoon, I am meeting with the County’s District Attorney office, CoCo, Probation and a representative of the California Department of Corrections and Reabilitation to ensure we have measures in place to ensure we can continue to handle jail overcrowding.

In other news indirectly related to Jail Operations, the Los Angeles Times recently ran a story about the department’s use of Overtime pay

I want to assure the Board that we are saving money – even as we utilize OT to fill shifts

1. The average cost of overtime for March and April is 9% less than the average for Dec, Jan, and Feb.
2. From FY 03-04 through FY 06-07, overtime exceeded budget by an average of $6.5 million while the other Salary and Employee Benefit line items was under budget by an average of $22.6 million.  This represents an annual average savings of $16.1 million for total Salaries and Employee Benefits.

I have begun implementing accountability procedures to ensure OT is tracked to each user and utilized in accordance with existing department guidelines

And, because of the tight economy and the fiscal challenges we all face, I have asked that each Division Commander find ways to decrease the amount of OT costs.

Since January 15, when I took over as Acting Sheriff,

• We have cut OT by 9%

The Acting Sheriff ended his remarks with a presentation and update on the Musick Correctional facility expansion.

Friday, May 16:

It is sometimes necessary for many of you to work overtime in order to fulfill our obligations in accordance with mandates and in compliance with our commitments to contract cities and agencies.

It is understood that all of you who work overtime do so in good faith, in the spirit of helping our department fulfill those obligations. Our current staffing level makes overtime the most viable solution to discharging our duties as a department.

That said, the Los Angeles Times has cast a critical light on the department's overtime practices and that has prompted an audit by the county. Of concern are any deputies working overtime in far excess of department guidelines. Those guidelines are in place for good reason and they must be followed. There will be times when the guidelines have to be set aside due to emergencies or special circumstances but any breaching of the guidelines must be authorized by a supervisor.

Overtime will likely always be a consideration. We rely on it to staff such events as the Orange County Fair and emergencies like the Santiago Fire. The unexpected will always challenge our efforts to remain within the established guidelines and budgetary limits.

I want to thank all of you who answer the call for overtime and put aside personal and family concerns to help the department meet its obligations . Our review of the overtime practices and the county audit will likely enable us to create a system that serves the department and the communities we serve effectively. This can be done without compromising services or public safety which is now, and always will be our primary concern.

The Acting Sheriff's request for court authority to release Orange County inmates up to five days early appeared to take many by surprise. What has become a routine procedure to manage our nearly constant jail overcrowding caught many individuals off guard, if only because of the current approach we are being forced to pursue -- that of obtaining a temporary court order authorizing the department to release inmates early.

There are several issues related to jail overcrowding that affect us and we believe it is important for all to understand these challenges in the context of jail operations:

·We previously had a federally ordered legal authority to manage inmate population through a system of early releases resulting from the Stuart v. Gates decision. That authority was eliminated when the court order was vacated.

·The Sheriff has no immediate plans to release inmates early from our jails.

·We are seeking this order to allow us the flexibility to manage inmate population as circumstances beyond our control dictate.

·Failure to properly manage inmate population could lead to another federal mandate that could have a more significant negative impact on the community than the early release of certain inmates.

·The Cross Designation Program adds to our overcrowding problem. The ICE agents do not pick up detainees on weekends and this can add an additional 50 inmates to our population on the weekend until they are picked up Monday morning.

·Many events, both planned and unplanned lead to an increase of arrests resulting in spikes to the jail population such as concerts, the OC Fair, demonstrations, civil unrest, natural disasters, etc.

·Title 15 of the California Code of Regulations regulates adult correctional facilities, but does not address issues such as overcrowding.  It does, however,  require attention to safety, security, basic human needs, etc. which can be affected by overcrowding.

·Jail overcrowding leads to increased jail violence as more inmates are housed in smaller spaces.

·Jail overcrowding places an unreasonable burden on our classification system. An alarmingly increasing number of inmates require special handling (separation, protective custody, etc). The additional inmates reduce the number of available single person cells available to house special handling inmates.

·Jail overcrowding creates health and sanitation problems. When the system exceeds 90% capacity we are unable to move inmates out of housing areas to complete routine maintenance.

·Housing juveniles at the Theo Lacy Facility reduces available housing for adult arrestees.

Although we missed the printing deadline for the Orange County Register, the Acting Sheriff spoke to the Register's Tony Saavedra yesterday afternoon -- the online version of his story is here and it is probably significantly different from the story in print. Here's a cut of what's online:

Members of the Orange County Board of Supervisors – the panel that will appoint a new sheriff – said Acting Sheriff Jack Anderson erred by not telling them that he was seeking to release inmates early to ease crowding, but it was unclear how it would affect his candidacy.

Supervisors were diplomatic in their criticism, but stressed that the sheriff needs to keep the board and county prosecutors apprised of such actions.

"He does have the authority, but it's best that all of us know what's going on, especially under the circumstances," said Supervisor Chris Norby. "We all want to be kept in the loop."

Anderson is one of nine finalists vying for the two-year, unfilled term vacated by former Sheriff Mike Carona, who resigned in January under federal indictment on corruption charges. The finalists will be interviewed publicly by the board on May 27.

Supervisor Bill Campbell said he didn't know about Anderson's early-release plan until he read it in the newspaper.

"I was surprised…especially since I met with him on another subject," Campbell said. "Sheriff Anderson has got a lot of balls in the air and made a miscue."

Campbell added that being acting sheriff "can be a plus, but it can also be a minus (for his candidacy). But he has done some good things."

Anderson explained Wednesday that he is not asking to do something new. The department has released thousands of inmates over the last 20 years, under a court order that recently expired. Anderson said he is asking for a new, temporary court order.

"To us, it's just routine stuff," said Anderson, who will now make regular reports to the board and other county officials on the jail crowding problem.

Additionally, the Acting Sheriff explained our early release process to the Board of Supervisors in a memo last evening. Here's the contents: More...