Study Session Canceled plus Jailers Suspended
NO QUORUM, NO MEETING (NO PROGRESS)
What's that old phrase, "The best laid plans...."? Well, the study session Tuesday in which the council was to hear from the Costa Mesa Police Department on several issues, including gangs, was canceled. It seems three of the five council members were absent - no quorum, no meeting. Oh, well. I certainly hope they don't wait another month before hearing what the CMPD has to say on this subject... it's too important.
VIDEO OF GANGS IN THE O.C.
One of the folks who posted anonymous comments on my last post on this subject, a person who identified him or herself as "cmtruth", provided a url to a YouTube video that is fascinating. For those who missed it, simply click HERE and you'll be taken directly to the video. Once there you can watch it, then view the other four in the series by British documentarian and actor, Ross Kemp from the menu on the right side of the page. It's a fascinating study on Gangs of Orange County and the first two mention Costa Mesa extensively. CAUTION: these video clips - each is around 10 minutes long - are not for casual viewing.
GRAND JURY REPORT ON LACY JAIL BEATING DEATH
All over the news in the past couple days is the grand jury report on the beating death of inmate John Chamberlain in the Theo Lacy Jail here in Orange County. Based on that report and the news coverage thereof, it seems the poor fellow was beaten to death by a half dozen of his fellow inmates - perhaps because one of his jailers mis-identified him to other prisoners as a child molester.
LAZY JAILERS?
It now turns out that the jailers don't do a very good job of paying attention to their charges in the hoosegow. There are reports that they watch television, leave their posts to workout and generally ignore prisoners. The names of several jail personnel who have been suspended were published in the newspapers Tuesday. You can read the Los Angeles Times article HERE and the Orange County Register article HERE. I looked for familiar names but didn't find any.
JAIL TOURS TOO LONG FOR DEPUTIES
I'm not really surprised that the sheriff's deputies who are performing the job of jailers ignore their duties. The tour in the jail can be 6 or 7 years - perhaps even longer if a person requests it. I've been led to believe that's the case with our former mayor, Allan Mansoor. In my opinion, using deputies as jailers for an extended period of time is a waste of training and talent. Perhaps the new Sheriff of Orange County, whomever it turns out to be, will address this issue. We do know that interim sheriff, Jack Anderson, has stated he wants to replace sworn deputies in the jail with civilian custodial officers. Sounds like a good start to me.
MANSOOR ON
THE MEAN STREETS? - OMIGOD!Of course, that means that Mansoor will actually have to become a real law enforcement officer and work in the streets. I'm sorry, but I can't help but smile...
posted by The Pot Stirrer at 4/09/2008 12:58:00 AM
5 Comments:
Re: Jailers
these kinds of abuses have been going on at OC JAIL main & Theo Lacy for YEARS!!!
im glad it's finally coming into to light & due to the current situation at the Sheriff's dept. they have no choice but to make an example of these guys to show there is a new sheriff in town.
i just hope that the cleaning house does not stop at the top over there & works it's way down to the bottom, well i guess since they got the jailers it has started at the bottom.
From today's LA Times regarding the 'jail fiasco' (I'm sure Mr. Chamberlain's family might think of it as more than a fiasco):
Wayne Quint, president of the Assn. of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs, said Wednesday that he was also concerned that "you get what you pay for."
Quint noted that 800 of the county's 1,900 sworn deputies work in jails and are available to work the streets in the event of an emergency.
Replacing them with correctional officers, who are not permitted to work the streets, could jeopardize public safety, Quint said.
"We're living in a post-9/11 world, and we have a readily available secondary police force if we need it," Quint said.
PUH-LEEZE! God forbid there should be some disaster that requires us to utilize these slackers as cops on the street. They'll be too busy text messaging and watching movies anyway.
What happened to Chamberlain is an absolute disgrace. So much for 'to protect and serve.' Who was protecting him in custoday? The same guys who told the shot caller that he was molester, is what it sounds like. NO HUMAN BEING DESERVES TO DIE LIKE THAT, even if he was a molester (which he wasn't). That whole incident is just sickening.
The nerve to say 'you get what you pay for.' Sounds like Orange County residents aren't getting much but a bunch of people that should now be inmates rather than jailers. This is just another pathetic chapter to the entire, sordid Carona Legacy.
190 of 204 jail deputies recently asked to return to patrol voluntarily refused to do so.
Pretty telling statistic.
"190 of 204 jail deputies recently asked to return to patrol voluntarily refused to do so.
Pretty telling statistic."
why would they want to go back to patrol & actually have to do work?
as it is now they get paid to play video games, watch cops & have inmates do their job.
i view it as a sad statistic
cmtruth,
it is a VERY sad statistic. You'd thinks cops would want to do police work, not jalier work. I also find it pretty alarming that we are paying for half of our sworn deputies (with their "danger-pay" pensions) to be sitting in the jails. They use special officers for the airport and court security, they should also use professional jailers for jail duty.
The fact that the vast majority choose the cushy jail life over street patrol shows that we have the wrong mentality in our Sheriff's department. Every time the union talks about the need for more money or better pensions, my skin crawls.
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