Marin County tightens oversight of sheriff’s office

Marin County supervisors have approved a program designed to increase public oversight of the sheriff’s office.

The supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday in favor of an ordinance that will create a nine-member oversight commission and an inspector general position. The ordinance will appear on the consent calendar of the supervisor’s meeting on Tuesday for final approval.

Assembly Bill 1185, signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2020, gives county supervisors the authority to establish oversight boards and appoint inspectors general to assist them in their supervision of sheriffs.

The commission and the inspector general will be empowered to issue subpoenas for documents or testimony. The panel also will be able to initiate an independent probe into a completed Marin County Sheriff’s Office investigation it deems insufficient.

During a public hearing preceding the vote, a number of speakers urged the supervisors not to approve the program. They said it showed too much deference to law enforcement.

Some of the critics objected to the fact that the ordinance requires the county to “endeavor” to appoint at least one former law enforcement officer to the panel. The ordinance allows up to two former officers.

Critics also objected to the ordinance prohibiting anyone with a serious felony conviction within the last 10 years from serving on the commission.

“People with law enforcement history should not be on the commission. They’re not civilians,” said Barbara Rothkrug of Mill Valley. “The current plan is a fake. It will lead to pretend oversight. It should not be adopted.”

Several critics of the program objected to meetings between county officials and union representatives before the ordinance was adopted.

“You secretly negotiated with two sheriff’s unions for 16 months to arrive at today’s draft ordinance, which will provide oversight only in name,” said resident Frank Shinneman.

Tammy Edmonson, a member of the Mill Valley Force for Racial Equity and Empowerment, said, “The commission is said to have the power to seek an independent investigation, but again the ordinance empowers the sheriff’s union to block the commission from ever doing so.”

Assistant County Executive Ariel Espiritu Santo said a state law, the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act, requires counties to confer with unions about any decisions that could affect employees’ working conditions.

Cameron McEllhiney, executive director of the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement, said that under state law, investigations by an oversight commission or inspector general may not obstruct the investigative functions of the sheriff.

Espiritu Santo said, “We believe that having a parallel investigation could jeopardize the outcome of a sheriff’s investigation, specifically if there are any potential criminal charges or components of the investigation.”

John Alden, director of Sonoma County’s Independent Office of Law Enforcement Review and Outreach, said, “Please don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. What you have here is a really extraordinary ordinance compared to anything you’re going to see anywhere else in California.”

John Holt of Larkspur urged supervisors to reject the ordinance, but not because it isn’t tough enough.

“I hope you will abandon the effort, which is just another hangover from the George Floyd turmoil, just like the now-paused effort to rename Sir Francis Drake Boulevard,” Holt said.

“It has led to insatiable demands by the activist constituency that this proposal is intended to placate, yet even the current proposal is not good enough for them,” he said. “They will never be satisfied.”

Supervisor Stephanie Moulton-Peters acknowledged the critics, many of whom live in her district, but said “the most important thing is to start.”

Supervisor Katie Rice said, “We will be a better community, a safer community, and have better relationships all the way around I think with this action.”

Supervisor Eric Lucan said, “I’ve been really impressed with the professionalism of our sheriff’s department. I see this ordinance as being more proactive than a reaction to something that is wildly out of line.”

The county is budgeting about $600,000 a year for the program, which will include the inspector general’s salary and some administrative staffing support.

County supervisors will appoint the members of the commission. Five commissioners will represent county districts and four will represent the county at large.

“In appointing these members, the idea is to endeavor to have folks that represent the diversity of Marin, both in terms of demographics and also in terms of lived experience with law enforcement,” Espiritu Santo said.

She said the commission will have a role in selecting an inspector general. After that happens, the next step will be to negotiate an operating agreement with the sheriff’s office that will specify how it and the inspector general will interact.