Civilian Oversight of Sheriff’s Office Proposed

Civilian oversight of the Alameda County Sheriff's Office (ACSO) will be proposed soon to the Board of Supervisors, following over two years of meetings, town halls and study by the supervisors’ Reimagining Adult Justice (RAJ) project.

RAJ Consultant, Wendy Still, who once headed the county’s probation department after leading adult probation in San Francisco, is proposing a civilian review board, to look over past incidents, and an inspector-general, to look over ongoing policies and practices. 

She also made several other recommendations about ACSO operations. 

The office has drawn criticism in the recent past for deaths at the Santa Rita Jail, a federal investigation into mental health services there, and a few expensive court settlements of lawsuits claiming abuses. Longtime Sheriff Ray Ahern was recently defeated for re-election by current Sheriff Yesenia Sanchez. 

The board will discuss Still’s recommendations at an upcoming meeting, though which one has not yet been announced.

The Reimagining Adult Justice (RAJ) project was started in 2021 by late District 2 Supervisor Richard Valle with an initial focus on remedying racial inequities in county law enforcement.

Valle’s successor, Supervisor Elisa Márquez, released recommendations on most, but not all, of the project’s “12 Elements.” Release of the others is imminent.

Márquez heads the board’s Public Safety Committee.

ACSO operates Santa Rita Jail and provides law enforcement services not only to the county’s unincorporated areas including Castro Valley, but also to the City of Dublin, which contracts with the county.

Other major recommendations include better data sharing with other county departments and law enforcement jurisdictions, an analysis of the jail population and trends in who is sent to the jail, and ways to reduce the jail population while maintaining public safety.

The Interfaith Coalition for Justice in our Jails (ICJJ) is among groups who have criticized the jail over services for mentally ill prisoners.

Bob Britton, a Castro Valley resident active with that group, said the jail provides services to more mentally ill people than any county mental health facility. ACSO estimates that about half of the 1600 people now housed in the jail are mentally ill.

ICJJ believes many of those people ended up in jail for minor offenses that are better dealt with by community mental health services than the criminal justice system.

Britton said, “Many think of the jail as housing convicted criminals who’ve done bad things, but 80 percent of those held are awaiting trial, not serving a sentence.”

“We’re not for abolishing jails, but we do want them used for those whom they’re intended for, not a lot of the people who are in there now,” he continued.

Calls to ACSO and RAJ for comment were not immediately returned. Supervisor Márquez's office withheld comment until the final recommendations were closer to discussion by the supervisors.

ICJJ strongly supports oversight of the ACSO but sees a potential big problem with how it might be enacted, Britton said.

Oversight does little good, he said, if the review board and the inspector general don’t get independent legal counsel. Otherwise, he said, the same county counsel represents both the agency trying to get information and the one that may be resisting providing it.

Supervisor Miley doesn't see this as a pressing need, but District 1 Supervisor Keith Carson does and has vowed to vote against the oversight proposal otherwise, Britton said.

“ICJJ would rather have no oversight than weak oversight,” said Britton.

“That’s because having any oversight at all on the books would dissuade voters from putting forward an initiative for proper oversight, which they more likely to do if there's none in place.”