Seven vie to be San Diego County’s next sheriff

For the primary time in additional than 30 years, San Diego County voters gained’t have an incumbent sheriff on their June 7 main ballots. As an alternative, they’ll decide the area’s new high cop from a listing of seven.

The race was thrown extensive open final 12 months when former Sheriff Invoice Gore introduced he wouldn’t search reelection. The 2 candidates who obtain probably the most votes within the main will face off in November’s common election.

New management may imply a sea change for a division that has been grappling with staffing issues, excessive demise charges within the jails and an uptick in crime, in addition to its personal knowledge indicating racial bias in stops and searches. Critics say the division wants a tradition shift.

The seat hasn’t seen a lot turnover. Solely 4 males have been elected as San Diego County Sheriff in additional than 50 years.

And whereas there isn’t any incumbent on the poll, one of many frontrunners has the backing of Gore and crammed the seat briefly when he retired. Gore held the job for greater than 12 years, handpicked in 2009 by retiring then-Sheriff Invoice Kolender.

The Sheriff’s Division has greater than 4,600 staffers and an annual price range of $1.1 billion. It handles regulation enforcement in 9 cities, from Imperial Seaside to Vista, in addition to the county’s unincorporated areas. It additionally supplies safety within the courts and runs the county’s seven jails.

With Election Day quick approaching and voting already underneath manner, three candidates lead the sector in identify recognition, fundraising and endorsements: Undersheriff Kelly Martinez, former sheriff’s Cmdr. Dave Myers and lately retired Assistant San Diego Metropolis Lawyer John Hemmerling.

Rounding out the sector are California Freeway Patrol Officer Jonathan Peck, retired sheriff’s detentions Deputy Juan Carlos Mercado, Redwood Metropolis police Capt. John Gunderson, and retired sheriff’s Sgt. Charles “Chuck” Battle.

The Union-Tribune despatched questionnaires to all seven candidates with queries starting from why they’re working for sheriff to their positions on key points dealing with the division.

Martinez, Myers, Hemmerling

Martinez mentioned she has probably the most expertise — 37 years with the division — and factors to the dimensions of the company and the scope of its work, her present job working every day operations as undersheriff, and the month she spent as appearing sheriff when Gore left and earlier than an interim sheriff was appointed.

She additionally has the backing of Gore, who she mentioned was amongst those that requested her to run. She embraces his assist and bristles at a suggestion of establishment.

“I hope you could have already acknowledged that I’m a distinct particular person than Sheriff Gore was,” she informed the Union-Tribune editorial board earlier this month.

Martinez mentioned she is probably the most skilled and certified candidate. “This can be a essential time for San Diego County regulation enforcement and expertise and management matter,” she mentioned.

Martinez counts the Deputy Sheriff’s Affiliation — the union that represents rank-and-file deputies — amongst her supporters. She additionally has endorsements from San Diego Board of Supervisors Chair Nathan Fletcher and San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria.

Myers, who ran for sheriff towards Gore in 2018, labored his manner up the ladder over 32 years with the division, retiring as a commander. He mentioned division staffers and neighborhood members pressed him to run once more.

The reform-minded Myers is a harsh critic of the division’s management. He informed the Union-Tribune editorial board he would put new directors in place and take recent have a look at the division.

Myers lambasted “filthy and unsafe jail situations,” and mentioned the company wants “systemic modifications” in coverage, staffing and infrastructure. Myers mentioned he intends to shift the inner tradition by setting targets and holding individuals accountable.

He has the endorsement of the county’s Democratic get together, in addition to Congress members Mike Levin and Sarah Jacobs and state Meeting member Dr. Akilah Weber.

Hemmerling mentioned he determined to run final 12 months, when he noticed that Gore was leaving and the frontrunners to interchange him had each spent a long time within the division. “The established order,” he mentioned, “is just not adequate.”

As chief of the Metropolis Lawyer’s prosecutions unit, Hemmerling positioned himself as an outsider who would deliver change.

Hemmerling spent roughly 9 years as a San Diego police officer, together with time on the beat in Mid-Metropolis. He has spent the final six years main the legal prosecution unit for the Metropolis Lawyer, which handles misdemeanor instances.

He additionally factors to his service as a Marine each on lively responsibility and within the reserves, and highlights his time working a jail in Iraq — a job that got here with excessive scrutiny, coming after the Abu Ghraib jail scandal.

Hemmerling has the backing of the county and state Republican get together, former Mayor Kevin Faulconer, former Metropolis Lawyer Jan Goldsmith and retired San Diego police Chief Shelley Zimmerman, who he labored with as chief authorized counsel for the division.

Hemmerling additionally had the endorsement of the Union-Tribune editorial board — till the board rescinded it earlier this week after a recording surfaced of Hemmerling making remarks at a candidate discussion board that had been thought of by many to be disparaging to transgender individuals. Hemmerling retired from the Metropolis Lawyer’s Workplace the next day. He mentioned he’d lengthy deliberate to retire, and he’s nonetheless working for sheriff.

From Jan. 1 although April 23, Martinez reported greater than $56,000 in marketing campaign donations. Myers had greater than $72,000, together with a $10,000 mortgage from himself. Hemmerling raised greater than $44,000 in that stretch.

They had been the one three candidates to pay the $16,000 price to incorporate a half-page assertion within the info pamphlet mailed to San Diego County voters.

Battle, Gunderson, Peck, Mercado

Peck’s marketing campaign raised greater than $10,000 this 12 months by April 23, and Mercado had raised slightly greater than $3,600, together with a $3,000 mortgage to himself.

Gunderson and Battle mentioned they weren’t searching for donations.

Battle mentioned the Sheriff’s Division doesn’t want reform, and that it traditionally it has been clear and accountable.

Gunderson mentioned the division does want change, and the sheriff needs to be apolitical. “I jumped within the race as a result of all I noticed had been candidates who had been professing to signify one aspect of the political spectrum or the opposite, and San Diego residents deserve higher,” he mentioned.

Peck calls himself a Constitutional sheriff, and mentioned he’s “the one who will shield and defend the constitutional and inalienable rights of the residents of San Diego County.” He mentioned the Sheriff’s Division’s administration failed at that activity, specifically over the past two years, and pointed to COVID restrictions he mentioned overstepped constitutional bounds.

Mercado didn’t reply to the questionnaire the Union-Tribune despatched to all seven candidates.

Jails

The brand new sheriff will inherit a division underneath intense scrutiny as a result of many individuals have died in county jails — 185 deaths between 2006 and 2020, a price greater than all different massive California counties. The state auditor’s workplace investigated, and earlier this 12 months issued a discovering that the Sheriff’s Division did not adequately stop and reply to the deaths of individuals in custody.

Gore questioned the auditor’s methodology and pushed again towards the findings.

Martinez, Myers and Hemmerling all embraced the report and mentioned they’d make reforms, together with creating a much more strong reserving course of to incorporate medical and psychological well being evaluations.

Martinez mentioned detentions deputies will put on cameras, and damaged safety cameras can be mounted. The division can also be upgrading the wi-fi know-how within the jails to allow them to join higher internally and to well being care programs.

The division has additionally prioritized hiring and retention, she mentioned, and she or he has promoted new individuals to guide the jails.

Myers mentioned he sees a scarcity of management and a resistance to alter. “After you have a sheriff on the high that units attainable targets and holds individuals accountable … we’re going to see important modifications,” he informed the Union-Tribune editorial board.

Myers mentioned he’ll order “a complete evaluate to get on the systemic issues which might be on the root of the jail deaths.”

He additionally needs to create protocols to assist alcohol- or drug-dependent inmates throughout their withdrawal once they enter custody. The county lately started offering touring groups of clinicians to assist individuals in acute psychological disaster, and opened facilities the place they are often taken to be stabilized. Myers mentioned he needs those self same types of instruments within the jails.

Hemmerling — he mentioned he commanded 4 jail compounds in Iraq “with out incident” — mentioned his reforms would come with frequent security checks, and nearer supervision of inmates with a better threat of demise as a consequence of psychological sickness or drug overdose.

Hemmerling informed the Union-Tribune editorial board that the jails are microcosm of the drug and fentanyl use taking place in society at massive, and mentioned he’s a “enormous proponent” of rehab applications within the jails.

Peck mentioned the issue is overworked jail employees, lack of educated medical personnel to deal with inmate wants, and road medicine getting contained in the jails. “The apparent reply is to retain and rent extra certified deputies and employees,” Peck mentioned.

Gunderson mentioned the jails want “an entire tradition change” together with how inmates are safeguarded.” He mentioned he would begin by assembly with jail employees to seek out out what assets they’re missing to have the ability to do their jobs.

Battle mentioned employees may do a complete evaluate of the jail to determine issues and recommend fixes.

Bias in policing

In December, the outcomes of a examine commissioned by the Sheriff’s Division confirmed that folks of shade are stopped, searched and subjected to pressure by deputies at greater charges than White individuals, even when making an allowance for crime charges and poverty. It’s one in every of a number of research and knowledge critiques that present the sorts of racial disparities that communities of shade have lengthy decried.

Martinez mentioned racial bias and use-of-force considerations are a systemic downside nationally. Victims and suspects every “deserve a extremely educated regulation enforcement response from individuals who respect everybody we serve,” she mentioned. Martinez inspired individuals to report unfair policing, and mentioned she’s going to examine any claims made.

Hemmerling mentioned he believes in neighborhood policing as an efficient strategy, and pointed to his time as a police patrol officer in Mid-Metropolis, the place he mentioned he labored to achieve belief by attending to know individuals locally.

“Officer welfare and public security can’t fall sufferer to a sociologist’s knowledge sheet,” he mentioned.

Hemmerling mentioned he’ll prioritize assets in communities most impacted by crime. “Failing to supply satisfactory regulation enforcement to underserved communities is simply as incorrect as over policing.”

Myers mentioned it’s “utterly unacceptable” that division leaders have “did not even acknowledge its personal knowledge on racial disparities. To me, that’s an entire failure of management.”

He mentioned would drill down into knowledge to see if the stops are literally deterring crimes. He would additionally use the instruments to flag use-of-force incidents, and have a look at when and why pressure is used, and by whom.

Myers mentioned he would hearken to neighborhood members, and see that the deputies get ongoing cultural competency coaching.

Gunderson mentioned acknowledging the information is reliable is “a very good first begin,” and it needs to be adopted by working with leaders of affected communities “to discover a technique to transfer ahead towards our frequent aim of equal remedy for all.”

Peck mentioned: “Social media, motion pictures and politicians have portrayed regulation enforcers as threatening, unjust and corrupt as an alternative of members of their neighborhood serving and protecting peace.” He blamed politicians for creating battle by enacting legal guidelines he mentioned are unconstitutional.

Battle mentioned the neighborhood should perceive that deputies don’t use pressure arbitrarily, and that deputies reply correctly 99.9 % of the time to the actions and conduct of individuals they encounter.

In alphabetical order, the seven candidates are:

Charles “Chuck” Battle, 72, of Lakeside, mentioned he served within the U.S. Navy and is a Vietnam conflict veteran. Whereas with the Sheriff’s Division, his assignments included work within the jails and on patrol earlier than he retired as a sergeant in 2007. He has additionally been licensed as a non-public investigator for 35 years.

John “Gundo” Gunderson, 46, lives in San Diego, and commutes to his job as a police captain in Redwood Metropolis, a metropolis of roughly 85,000 individuals positioned between San Jose and San Francisco. Over his profession, he mentioned, he has labored with for the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Division, the San Diego Police Division, the San Diego County District Lawyer’s Workplace and the Redwood Metropolis Police Division. His assignments embrace working in jails and on patrol. He mentioned he’s been a detective, a member of SWAT, and labored in administration.

John Hemmerling, 56, lives in San Diego. He was the chief prosecutor within the San Diego Metropolis Lawyer’s Felony and Neighborhood Justice Divisions till he retired this week. He spent 9 years as a San Diego police officer, and is a retired Marine Corps Reserve colonel who served within the Gulf and Iraqi wars.

Kelly Martinez, 59, of San Diego, is the undersheriff, which is second-in-command to the sheriff, and as such she is accountable for the division’s day after day operations. When Martinez began with division in 1985, girls weren’t allowed to work in patrol. She is the primary feminine undersheriff and can be the primary feminine sheriff within the division’s historical past.

Juan Carlos “Charlie” Mercado didn’t reply to the questionnaire the Union-Tribune despatched to all seven candidates.

Dave Myers, 60, is a La Mesa resident who began his profession with the Sheriff’s Division as an Explorer in 1986 and retired as a commander in 2018. Over these 32 years, he served in roles from patrol deputy to murder detective. As a commander he managed two dozen substations and the Particular Investigations Division.

Jonathan Peck, 41, of Ramona is a California Freeway Patrol officer who has spent 19 years in regulation enforcement — 5 years with company in Los Angeles County and 14 in San Diego County.