Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Sheriff takes issue with Merced County civil grand jury's critical report

Investigative panel never bothered to speak to Pazin or his department.
By CORINNE REILLY
creilly@mercedsun-star.com

Merced County Sheriff Mark Pazin issued a stern rebuttal this week to the county's civil grand jury, dismissing claims that his department has failed to properly assist and cooperate with the Gustine Police Department.

The grand jury routinely inspects local government agencies across the county, including police departments. In a one-page report issued after a scheduled April visit to the Gustine Police Department, the grand jury criticized the sheriff's department for what it deemed the department's "reprehensible" failure to work with Gustine.

The grand jury blamed the sheriff's office for cutting off radio communication with the Gustine department, ending dispatch services there and failing to enter Gustine's arrest warrants into a centralized computer system.

In his rebuttal, made public late Monday, Pazin strongly disagreed with the grand jury's assessment. He wrote that its report contains several factual errors and omits relevant facts. Jury members never contacted Pazin as a part of their investigation, Pazin's rebuttal says.

It states: "The grand jury uses the word 'reprehensible' as it pertains to cooperation from county law enforcement to Gustine Police Department. What is actually appalling is an official one-sided document from the grand jury written and submitted to the Superior Court, without speaking with the other principals in the matter."

Specifically, Pazin's rebuttal says that Gustine is to blame for ending sheriff-provided dispatch and radio services there. It states that in February 2006 the Gustine Police Department sent formal notice that it wanted to terminate its contract with the sheriff and instead purchase dispatch and radio services from the Turlock Police Department. (With nine sworn officers, Gustine's department is too small to support its own 24-hour dispatch and communications center.)

"I think the problem is that (the grand jury report) makes it seem like we are refusing to serve Gustine, but that's not the case," sheriff's spokesman Tom MacKenzie said in an interview Tuesday. "Gustine chose to go somewhere else. There's nothing we can do about that."

Pazin's rebuttal adds that Gustine is paying considerably more to Turlock for the services than it paid to his department. It also says the grand jury's claim that Gustine's arrest warrants aren't entered into a national law enforcement database is inaccurate.

The rebuttal states that the sheriff's department routinely assists Gustine with internal affairs investigations, major crimes investigations and patrols. "Our office has cooperated at every level with the Gustine Police Department," it reads.

The civil grand jury is comprised of 19 citizen volunteers who spend year-long terms conducting routine examinations of local government agencies and investigating specific complaints of impropriety from the public. Agencies discussed in grand jury reports are legally required to issue formal responses.

Three separate chiefs have led the Gustine Police Department in the past three years. The department's most recent leader, Richard Calderon, left the job last week after the city chose to buy him out of his contract. Calderon's predecessor, Kris Anderson, stepped down in March 2008, a month after he was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving.

Jeff Schindler, a retired 30-year veteran of the Merced Police Department, is serving as Gustine's interim chief until the city hires Calderon's permanent replacement.

Gustine Police Lt. Vincent Inaudi said Tuesday that he hasn't seen the grand jury's report or the sheriff's rebuttal, but he backed up Pazin's message: "Every time we've requested the sheriff's assistance on an investigation or anything else, they've been nothing but incredibly helpful," Inaudi said.

Harlan Dake, foreman for the civil grand jury that issued the Gustine report, acknowledged Tuesday that the jury didn't contact sheriff's officials during its investigation.

"What's in the report is what (Calderon) told us," Dake said. "In hindsight, we probably made a mistake by not talking with the sheriff about it."

Reporter Corinne Reilly can be reached at (209)385-2477 or creilly@mercedsun-star.com.

http://www.mercedsunstar.com/167/story/1022037.html

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