New Santa Clara County sheriff takes oath of office
Robert Jonsen sworn in as South Bay's first new top cop in quarter-century
Newly elected Santa Clara County Sheriff Robert “Bob” Jonsen formally took his oath of office as the South Bay's first new top cop in a quarter-century during a formal ceremony Feb. 3.
Jonsen was sworn in at the Board of Supervisors chambers, which was filled with elected officials and law enforcement leaders from throughout the region. Longtime Bay Area Rep. Anna Eshoo formally introduced the new sheriff before he gave the oath administered by Judge Theodore Zayner.
Jonsen said after the swearing-in that he is “grateful for all the support that is going to be required to move our sheriff's office to where it needs to be so we can serve these communities in the most excellent fashion of public safety.”
In the general election last November, Jonsen, a former police chief in Palo Alto and Menlo Park who spent most of his career with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, edged out retired sheriff's captain Kevin Jensen — who also ran in 2014 — by 1.6% of the ballots
cast, or about 7,000 votes.
Jonsen is the 29th sheriff in the county's history, and claims lineage to the job through his great-uncle Jonathan Sweigert, who served as the South Bay's sheriff from 1887 to 1891.
Jonsen has already been serving as sheriff since the Board of Supervisors voted in December to install him before the start of the new year rather than appoint an interim sheriff for a matter of a few weeks.
The call for an interim appointment arose after Laurie Smith, who had held the office since 1998 and claimed the distinction of the state's first woman sheriff, abruptly resigned Oct. 31 in an attempt to nullify her civil corruption trial that could have forced her ouster. A civil jury ultimately found her guilty anyway of abusing her authority in her issuance of concealed-carry weapons permits, evading gift-reporting laws and resisting civilian oversight.
Jonsen ran on a platform of bringing an outside perspective to reform the office, which had been weighed down over the past decade by political scrutiny from an array of critics — often on the county board and including other elected leaders — that hung a cloud over Smith's management, particularly with jail operations.
In his remarks, Jonsen said he envisions a jail environment that gives those in custody “the opportunity to graduate from incarceration rather than just being released back into an environment which may invite recidivism,” and improves the jails' mental health response.
Those who have long clamored for leadership change in the sheriff's office might have expected Jonsen to install his own handpicked commanders to help him with his transition into office. But that hasn't happened, and most of the topof-the-office leadership under Smith remains in place.