JONATHAN PECK: FEAR OF UNFAIR REPERCUSSIONS HURTS RECRUITMENT
Q:Rate ex-Sheriff Bill Gore and assess his legacy. What was his biggest accomplishment? What did he most neglect?
A:
During Sheriff Gore’s
tenure, he made a concealed carry weapons permit easier to obtain in San Diego County but far below the Riverside and San Bernardino County levels. This progress only occurred because of his 2018 opponent’s platform to increase concealed carry weapons permits if elected. The Sheriff ’s Department should be above politics and personally held beliefs. The Constitution is the supreme law of the land, including the state of California. Therefore, the primary duty of the county sheriff is to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution despite political pressure. Under Sheriff Gore, the morale of the Sheriff ’s Department declined significantly due to lack of support from leadership and understaffing. His failure to work with the unions is just a small part of that. Low morale consequently affects the communities the deputies serve.
Q:
What are the three
largest issues that contribute to the high number of San Diego County jail deaths and what would you do to address them?
A:
Three major issues
need to be addressed: 1) overworked deputies working 12-hour shifts with additional mandatory overtime because there aren’t enough deputies to relieve them; 2) not enough trained medical personnel to address the health needs of inmates; and 3) the infusion of illegal drugs into the jails, which is unabated. The obvious answer is to retain and hire more qualified deputies and staff. The only way to rectify the understaffing is to make San Diego competitive with other counties and law
enforcement agencies in wages and benefits and provide exceptional training. I will prioritize working with all parties, community groups, deputy associations, the Board of Supervisors, etc., to take steps to resolve this dire situation.
Q:
How would you rate
the Sheriff ’s Department efforts at recruitment and retention? Do you think the staff reflects the diversity of San Diego County and how do you think it should change?
A:
As we move forward,
the Sheriff ’s Department needs to be above politics. The primary reason recruitment is down is because of fear and low morale. Most deputies fear political repercussions from their own leadership if a situation goes sideways, and they are retiring early to protect themselves. Prospective recruits are not applying for the same reasons.
We must always be on guard for prejudice but not at the cost of good law enforcement officers. I will provide the balanced leadership and stay above politics and prejudice.
The San Diego County Sheriff ’s Department actually does, for the most part, reflect the diverse population of San Diego, according to 2020 statistics. The best way to maintain this is to keep the current deputies and incentivize recruits with competitive pay, benefits and support.
Q:
What would you do to
protect inmates from this or the next pandemic and how would you try to prevent the spread of disease in jails?
A:
The jails should be a
place of safety and security. Due to jails’ unique situation of isolation from the community, any epidemic should have little effect. With the proper medical facilities, doctors and medical professionals to ensure the health of our inmates on a daily basis, this should be easily sustained. If a health emergency affects inmates, I would have the inmate population monitored and deal with each case as it surfaced, according to the department’s guidelines. If it exceeded our means, of course we would immediately call for assistance from neighboring counties as our emergency procedures direct us to do.
Q:
Department data has
shown that San Diego
County deputies are more likely to use force on people of color. What would you say to affected communities about this? What, if anything, would you do to address it?
A:
Law enforcement
officers are normally the ones called into violent and chaotic situations, to bring peace. Social media and movies have educated our people to see police in a threatening light instead of in the service of our people. I plan to rebuild the confidence of the people in our sheriff ’s deputies in all of our communities.
I propose to do this by making deputies more accessible to the people to build relationships and establish trust. If we build community outreach through events that are based on our common ground, hopefully this will reduce the perceived needs of gangs and change the cycle of incarceration in all of our diverse communities.