Candidates for sheriff trade barbs.
SAN JOSE >> With just over a month before the Santa Clara County sheriff is chosen, incumbent Laurie Smith and challenger John Hirokawa sparred over reforming the county’s jails, particularly with eliminating the cycle of mentally ill and homeless inmates who end up there largely due to limited outside resources.
The two debated at a candidate forum Monday held by the Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits and sought to distinguish themselves from each other despite supervising the sheriff command staff together for several years, including the aftermath of the death of Michael Tyree, the mentally ill inmate whose 2015 murder by three jail deputies spurred the current reform movement.
Smith touted a host of improvements in correctional officer training, inmate classification, and the handling of inmate grievances in the ensuing years, brought in part by a blue-ribbon commission that made over
100 reform recommendations. She also described her challenger as mostly absent.
“When this happened, he ran and hid. He was nowhere around,” Smith said. “I had to step in and take charge of the operation.”
Hirokawa said with $350 million spent on jail reforms, not enough progress has been made to show for it. And he noted that same blue-ribbon commission called for the jails to be removed from Smith’s command.
He also noted how a 62-year-old inmate was allegedly beaten to death by another inmate last year, and cited recent reports about how mentally ill inmate Andy Hogan inflicted severe head injuries on himself last month while being transported between jail facilities, prompting his family to assert that he should have been treated more like a patient than a prisoner.
“Why are these things continuing to occur?” Hirokawa said.
As the discussion centered on accommodating growing numbers of mentally ill and homeless jail inmates, both stressed the importance of supporting services aimed at helping people once they’re released from jail to reduce the chances of them returning. Both voiced support for required mental health screening during the jail intake process, and argued over whether there is enough collaboration between the Sheriff’s Office and other police departments and community service providers.
Smith pointed to the imminent launch of countyemployed mobile mentalhealth teams who will respond to mental-health crises to either assist or act in lieu of police, and hopefully prevent arrests and jail time for what often turn out to be medical emergencies.
Hirokawa called for state and municipal bodies to change policies to decriminalize homelessness, saying such a move, besides being more just, would also relieve pressure on jail overcrowding.
“When did it become a crime to sleep in your car?” he said. “(Jail) cells are not the answer. They never have been.”
Smith made similar remarks about people jailed for minor offenses but stay in custody primarily because they are waiting for a bed at a county rehabilitation facility to open up.
“Let’s find solutions that are not the jail,” she said.
Hirokawa said he opposes the use of Tasers in a jail setting, citing dangers posed by using them in confined conditions. Smith supports the use of the devices in jail, saying they could prevent the use of lethal force, and that advancing technology has made them more viable in a custody setting.
Both candidates support the county’s current policy of not responding to civil detainer requests for inmates from Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, which called attention to instances in March where agents were allowed to interview inmates. Smith and her office called the entry of the agents a mistake that has been rectified with revamped procedures and training.
“We absolutely do not work with ICE in any capacity,” Smith said, adding that she has enjoined herself in county litigation against the Trump Administration’s proposals to punish sanctuary communities by withholding grants and other federal funding.
Meanwhile, Hirokawa, who has regularly cited his family’s experience in internment camps during World War II, professed his support for immigration paths for Dreamers, the group of residents who illegally entered the United States as children with their parents but who essentially grew up in the country, and against the controversial separation policies that has recently dominated the national immigration conversation.
“We need to stop the fact we’re tearing families apart in this country,” he said.
The candidates each used their closing statements to return attention to controversies that have plagued their respective campaigns.
Smith decried a scandal about a series of disturbing racist and misogynistic text messages involving several deputies, that led to the firing of former correctional union president Lance Scimeca, and the demotion of Deputy Don Morrissey and his eventual resignation as president of the Deputy Sheriffs’ Association. She has continually sought to tie the scandal to Hirokawa because the DSA endorsed him, and what she characterized as his defense of Morrissey and ambivalence in denouncing the acts in a related deposition.
“I trusted him to do the right thing, and what does he do? He protected him,” Smith said.
Hirokawa gave his battleworn response to that claim by saying his remarks in the deposition were in the context of ensuring any discipline of Morrissey happened by the book.
“I only defended due process, like anyone should do in law enforcement,” he said.
The challenger countered by referencing a controversy from the 1990s involving Smith that resurfaced in a Mercury News investigation published earlier this year. Smith refuted an allegation she interfered with a sex discrimination investigation by taking a taped recording of an aggrieved former deputy, asserting the tape involved a complaint against the agency, not her specifically, and that she was exonerated of a related sex harassment accusation made years later.
To Hirokawa, it was reflective of his former boss’ management style.
“The sheriff,” he said, “believes she can make up her own facts.”
At one point, the candidates were asked about any career regrets, and they framed their responses as veiled shots at each other.
“Maybe I should have spoken up more with how promotions were done,” Hirokawa said, adding that he would funnel salaries spent on upper-level executive staff toward rank-andfile deputies.
Smith paused at the question, and initially said while she has made mistakes, she had no career regrets. But after talking for a few moments, she pivoted.
“I trusted people in the past who I probably should not have trusted,” she said.