Sheriff's Special Officer Class 36 graduated Tuesday night and 18 new law enforcement officers were sworn in for duty with a wide range of responsibilities throughout the Department.

"They have become a significant and important force for the Department,” Sgt. Jim McLain told the hundreds of family, friends and colleagues gathered to celebrate the peace officers. The class successfully completed 580 hours  of training that included arrest tactics, firearms training, academic, physical fitness and even terrorism response.  The 18 graduates started 15 weeks ago in a class of 36. The 18 made it through the stress and discipline regime of the program.

The new peace officers will be given assignments in virtually all of the Department’s jails and court facilities staffed by the Department. Some will go to the Security and Transportation Bureaus or John Wayne Airport Police Services.

Special Officer Oliver Didio said the class is the first to graduate under a new curriculum that puts less emphasis on corrections and more on general duties that many of the Special Officers will be called on to perform.  Those assigned to the jails will return to the academy for a two-week training course on working in Corrections. Those assigned to John Wayne Airport will be given a one-week course by the FAA.

Class Sergeant Eric Madrigal told the audience they started Oct. 22, known in the class as Black Monday. More...

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:

Our response to the Orange County Grand Jury report can be found here.

We were asked to respond specifically to two findings and two recommendations:

Finding F-1: The OCSD is currently preparing a coordinated plan to provide information to OC communities about the MOA and to gather information about community concerns with the MOA.

Finding F-2: OCSD does not identify on their web site or their public viewable arrest log those booked prisoners who have an immigration detainer placed on them.  

Recommendation R-1: The OCSD should complete the plan to gather community information and opinions about the OCSD ICE program and include a strategy to inform the community about SCC’s role in the program.

Recommendation R-2: OCSD should consider adding to their website and their public viewable arrest log a notation if a booked prisoner has an immigration detainer.

Most notable is the list of participants involved in the Sheriff's Community Coalition. These groups continue to provide input and feedback on our Cross-Designation program. In fact, Sheriff Carona and Undersheriff Galisky recently attended a Los Amigos meeting to discuss our ongoing efforts.

Here's a partial list of our Sheriff's Community Coalition: 100 Black Men of OC, 100 Black Women of OC, ACLU, Alliance for the Mentally Ill, Anaheim Veterans Center, Anti-Defamation League, Armenian Community, Black Chamber of Commerce OC,
Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, Christ Our Redeemer AME Church, Church of Jesus Christ of LDS, Community Action Partnership of OC, Council on American-Islamic Relations, Department on Aging, Elections Committee of OC, Episcopal Churches, Grand Jurors’ Association of OC, Hispanic Bar Association, Hispanic Chamber of OC, Hispanic Methodist Church, Iranian-American Council, Los Amigos of OC, National Conference for Community & Justice, OC Bail Agents Association, OC Human Relations Commission, OC Human Relations Council, OC Japanese American Association, OC NAAC, POC Sheriff’s Advisory Council, OC Southern Baptist Association, Presbyterian Church, Roman Catholic Diocese, SE California Conference of 7^th Day Adventists, So California Indian Center, South Asian Network, US Middle East Alliance, Women’s Transitional Living Center

Last Wednesday, August 1, Sheriff Carona and Undersheriff Galisky attended the Los Amigos meeting. Sheriff Carona was asked to discuss our cross-designation program, operating in our jails since January 19.

Red County's "Jubal" was in attendance and has the video.

For the record, from January 19 to July 29, Orange County Sheriff’s Department Jail Deputies interviewed 4,135 foreign nationals booked into Orange County jails, detaining 2,778 individuals for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Among those detained, 180 were being held for aggravated felonies, 1,762 for felonies, 1,016 for misdemeanors and 174 affiliated with gangs.

Many Southern Californians stopping to fill their cars with gas have, undoubtedly, seen Sheriff Carona on the fuel pump recruiting for the OC Sheriff's Department.  As the Grand Jury reported earlier this year, "In 2006, 4,414 people applied to the OCSD for a deputy sheriff position, 1,146 passed the written exam, and 118 completed the background process and were hired. Of these 118, 19 were lateral transfers from another law enforcement agency and the rest were sent to the OCSD Academy. Of the 99 sent to the OCSD Academy, 49 graduated." 

PumpTop TV was brought to us by a generous member of the Sheriff's Advisory Council. Recruiting isn't getting any easier and we are always looking for new ideas to get our message out.