[Orange County] Let Orange County’s law enforcement watchdog work

The need for independent oversight of Orange County’s law enforcement organizations couldn’t be more obvious than it is now.

Just recently, the Orange County Grand Jury reported that nearly half of 34 deaths in Orange County jails could have been avoided. The report comes a year after the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California published a 108-page report of its own highlighting the “inhuman, violent conditions” of Orange County jails.

All of this has been within the context of an Orange County criminal justice system which has fallen under scrutiny over the use of jailhouse informants and potentially the violation of the constitutional rights of suspects.

Of course, Orange County has an organization in place that’s supposed to be monitoring and investigating these sorts of issues. It’s called the Office of Independent Review, created in 2008 following a high-profile in-custody beating death to restore public trust in Orange County’s law enforcement agencies.

Unfortunately, the office has never quite lived up to its promise and until earlier this year went two years without even having an executive director. But rather than strengthen the office at a time when it is needed most, the O.C. Board of Supervisors has only chosen to undermine it.

On June 20, Kevin Rogan, the recently appointed executive director, submitted a draft work plan consistent with the mission of the OIR. He proposed, among other things, focusing on jail reviews and studying whether it makes sense for the O.C. Sheriff’s Department and District Attorney’s office to have separate crime labs.

Then, on June 26, Supervisor Andrew Do came up with another idea: rather than have it do what it was created to do, the OIR should instead study the nexus between homelessness and law enforcement for the next six months.

The board went along with it, further watering down the OIR and undermining accountability and public confidence in the process. We call on the board to reverse course, defer to the person they appointed to the position and allow the OIR to do the work it was intended to do.

July 7, 2018

The Orange County Register

By the Editorial Board