Riverside County sheriff's officials in a statement released late Thursday largely dismissed a laundry list of criticisms laid out in two grand jury reports this week.
The reports focused on the department's use of stun guns and its handling of harassment complaints by employees at the Lake Elsinore station.
Sheriff Stan Sniff said the department's formal response will not be complete till the end of summer. The department "will take an honest look" at the grand jury's findings, he said.
"We're always interested in outside input," Sniff said.
One report suggested that deputies might be overusing Tasers and recommended a review of training procedures and written policies to ensure the devices are used properly.
In one incident, a deputy shocked the same person eight times in less than a minute, the report said.
Sheriff's officials said Taser deployment records cited in the grand jury report do not give a complete picture of the incident, such as the effectiveness of the shocks and the level of resistance the deputy encountered.
However, the Sheriff's Department statement released by Sgt. Joe Borja does not provide details to explain why numerous shocks might have been justified.
Sheriff's officials did not respond Friday to requests for further information.
The grand jury report also recommended updates to the department's policies on the use of Tasers. But sheriff's officials, responding line-by-line to the report, cited several existing policies that they said already address concerns raised by the grand jury.
The statement also said the department already conducts the kind of Taser training and detailed reviews of Taser incidents recommended by the grand jury.
HARASSMENT REPORTS
A second grand jury report revealed that six former employees of the sheriff's Lake Elsinore station had complained repeatedly about harassment and other problems at work.
The report says the county human resources department had records of complaints from other stations, but none from Lake Elsinore from 2007 to 2009.
The Lake Elsinore employees alleged sexual harassment, battery, false imprisonment, perjury, malicious prosecution, a hostile work environment, rude conduct and age discrimination, the report says.
Sheriff's officials suggested in their response that the county's procedure requiring notification of the human resources director does not apply to the Sheriff's Department. The policy is designed for departments without internal investigation systems.
The Sheriff's Department, the statement says, "has a history of very thorough, fair and unbiased investigations" and "takes all complaints against personnel very seriously."
Sniff added that "the department has made a lot of strides on diversity. It's not the male-dominated department it was probably 20 or 25 years ago."
'Appropriate Action'
The statement says the 11-month investigation began in July 2008, and some allegations in the grand jury were sustained.
It says "appropriate administrative action was taken" and that those who filed the complaints received letters reporting the findings. Because of legal restrictions on disclosure of personnel information, however, the letters did not include details, the statement says.
Former sheriff's Community Service Officer Elizabeth DeCou said Friday that she was one of the employees who complained.
DeCou said she was insulted by the grand jury report and the response.
She said the grand jury failed to address the larger issue she raised about a culture of harassment at the Lake Elsinore station, and that simply checking with county human resources to see if complaints had been lodged was not sufficient.
She also criticized the department's response as "blowing smoke."
"I got terminated because I was a whistleblower," she said.
DeCou and others who alleged mistreatment have pending complaints with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Reach Sarah Burge at 951-375-3736 or sburge@PE.com
http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_D_sheriff03.1f96a43.html
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