I was flipping through the pages of the Santa Barbara News Press last week and found the new trial coverage of the Corey Lyons double murder all the way back on page A6. Yet it seems every other day last week the front page carried the new push for a Gang Injunction about persons who might commit another crime but had not at the time of the story's, You see what bothers me is that supposedly the community was in an uproar over violent gang crimes. Yet when the opportunity to allow the community to have an open forum to share there concerns our City leaders failed to allow that to happen.
What about the allegations against our City leaders that have gone unanswered.The Santa Barbara City Council and Cam Sanchez's boss Jim Armstrong felt the need to hire an investigation agency to look into past actions by our police chief Sanchez.To date I have not heard anything in he way of findings even though public money was spent.
Than in the last District Attorney race charges of misconduct were raised about past actions by than candidate Joyce Dudley. Are we being told that those allegations only carried merit as a political ploy and are not relevant nor should they still be investigated now?
When do we begin to evenly and ethically apply the laws across the board because as I have been reporting this last week that is simply not the case here in Santa Barbara.
Can we add an injunction and safe zone and shut down I.V. for Halloween, if not why not?
City Hires Ventura Investigators for Scoles Case
Mesa Resident Claims Police Chief Improperly Detained Him
Thursday, April 30, 2009Santa Barbara City Administrator Jim Armstrong has hired a Ventura-based private investigation firm to look into allegations that Santa Barbara Police Chief Cam Sanchez violated the civil rights of Mesa resident Wayne Scoles, whom the chief had arrested after a verbal altercation on the Mesa last June. Sanchez alleged that Scoles - a Mesa activist known for his intense passion and loud voice - had threatened the chief physically after making several racial slurs about Sanchez's ethnicity. Earlier this year, a Santa Barbara jury found Scoles not guilty on misdemeanor charges. He has since filed seven complaints with City Hall indicating his intention to sue on the grounds he was improperly detained and interrogated. Once such a complaint is filed, Armstrong explained, an internal investigation is automatic. Given that it involved the chief of police, he said, an outside entity was brought in.
Clouds Gathering Over Police Chief
Budget Showdown, Mayoral Face-Off Confront Cam Sanchez
Thursday, April 23, 2009
By Nick Welsh (Contact)
Two months ago, for example, a Santa Barbara jury concluded it simply did not believe the chief of police when Sanchez accused Wayne Scoles, a burly, hot-tempered Mesa activist, of calling him "a Mexican motherfucker" last June before Scoles allegedly threatened to "kick his [Sanchez's] ass." Scoles, who was arrested and prosecuted on misdemeanor charges, denied threatening the chief or making racist remarks; Sanchez was the key witness against him. As courtroom melodramas go, the Scoles hearing was inconsequential in the extreme. But for the chief, it clearly was an embarrassment.
Wayne Scoles denied threatening to beat up Sanchez and charged that the chief had him arrested to shut him up.
More recently, Chief Sanchez found himself forced to apologize to a prominent Latina anti-gang activist, who had been dragged out of her car at gunpoint by law enforcement officials during the erroneous execution of a search warrant on suspected drug dealers. Even though county Sheriff's deputies were to blame-they had the wrong house on the wrong street-Sanchez was brought in to limit the fallout. If city police are to find success against gangs, they need active help from low-income and Latino residents, many of whom regard law enforcement with considerable fear and suspicion. The public takedown of a well-known activist did little to allay such concerns.In between, Sanchez found himself the target of an orchestrated mini-insurrection conducted by the Fire and Police Commission, usually one of the quietest and most quiescent of all the city boards and commissions. Typically, Fire and Police Commission meetings last 30 minutes; this one in March went two hours. Anyone with a gripe against the chief was invited to show up. Scoles was the first to speak, demanding the chief's resignation. He was followed by Jim Worthen, a former Republican Party operative and public access talk-show host, who likewise wanted Sanchez deep-sixed, for allegedly failing to return any of numerous phone calls placed by Worthen.
If that weren't enough, a homeless advocate denounced the department's decision to close the murder investigation on Ross Stiles, a homeless man who died under suspicious circumstances. The department's investigation was trashed as half-hearted at best. "Homelessness is not a capital offense," the activist said in a written statement.
Sanchez was not present at the commission meeting, instead attending funeral services for the four Oakland police officers who were killed in the line of duty last month. He was also attending the funeral for a close personal friend in Hollister. Upon his return, Sanchez would comment of Worthen's attack, "I never even heard of the man." At the same hearing, downtown hotel owners decried the noise and public debauchery taking place in the city's "Entertainment District." One commissioner, Thomas Parker-a former FBI agent and now a private security consultant helping corporations deal with white-collar crime-said he was shocked at how low the police profile was in the drunk-and-disorderly zone. During one 90-minute Saturday-night tour, Parker said one bar he visited "looked like gang central," he entered another where a male strip show was unfolding, and, in all that time, he saw only one police car cruise by.
With the appointment of retired FBI agent Thomas Parker, the Fire and Police Commission has gotten a lot friskier and a lot less docile.
In years past, the commission busied itself primarily with dance permits and city towing contracts. But with the recent appointment of Parker, new to Santa Barbara this year, a majority of the commissioners are now inclined to take a more robust interpretation of their duties and functions. The commissioners now want to comment meaningfully on a wide array of issues, like gangs and proposed budget cuts. To this end, they regard Sanchez as an obstacle and an impediment. If there's a confrontation brewing, they show little signs of backing down.Typically, big-city police chiefs wear out their welcome professionally after about three years. For smaller-market law enforcement executives, the life expectancy is closer to five. By this measure, Sanchez has been a screaming success. And in a field where no news is good news, he has succeeded in maintaining a notably low profile throughout most of his tenure in Santa Barbara. Perhaps that's why the recent eruption of controversy seems so striking. But then, money woes have a nasty habit of highlighting controversies that would otherwise lay dormant. Though there's definitely more static on the chief's line than the public is accustomed to, it's hardly enough to threaten his job. Even so, with 30 years of law enforcement under his belt, and 16 as a chief, Sanchez will soon be able to walk away from the post and enjoy the enviable retirement benefits reserved for those in law enforcement. For the time being, however, Sanchez is staying put, doing his best to adopt a philosophical attitude to the slings and arrows coming his way.
See the results without voting.
Money, Honey
It appeared the real push would come to shove this week with the much-anticipated release of the city's new budget plan. No department was to be spared the fiscal ax, and City Administrator Jim Armstrong had ordered the police department to identify at least $1.3 million in "adjustments." That's roughly 4 percent of the department's budget. By contrast, non-public safety departments -like Parks & Recreation-were told to cut closer to 10 percent."There are no sacred cows," Sanchez said in a recent interview. "We all have to share the pain." Initially, it appeared that pain would involve the elimination of five positions of sworn officers-currently now vacant-and the positions of eight non-sworn officers, currently now filled.
POA head Sergeant Charles McChesney is looking to make the chief of police report directly to the City Council, not the city administrator.
And to the politically influential Police Officers Association (POA), that was both wrong-headed and dangerous. The union's members were geared up for a showdown of epic proportions to fight off budget cuts. As they told it, the police department has been bleeding for the past nine years, losing positions and funding at the expense of officer safety and public safety. At its height, the department was authorized for 150 sworn officers, but that was thanks to federal grants bestowed during the largesse of the Clinton administration. Four years ago, it was down to 126. Now it's authorized for 140. But in the flesh, the real number is closer to 134, with three police-academy graduates on the way and several others on injured reserves.The POA's initial reaction to the proposed budget cuts was to launch a lobbying blitz, quietly educating the City Council what would happen to public safety if five sworn officers and eight non-sworn were to be sliced or diced. Sergeant Charles McChesney, the POA's president, said he could identify only $30,000 in cuts that would not impact public safety. Rather than inflict such cuts, McChesney said City Hall should liquidate some of its $175 million investment portfolio. To date, no city employees' union has ever targeted the investment portfolio before. This was a first. City finance czar Robert Peirson insisted that such a move would be impossible and illegal, arguing that the bulk of the city's investments are controlled by what are known as "enterprise funds," such as the municipal golf course, water district, airport, or waterfront.
Of all the major unions representing city employees, the POA remains the only one to have officially declined to discuss contract "give-backs" in the face of looming budget shortfalls. The Service Employees International Union Local 620 currently is negotiating a host of major concessions-raise freezes, work furloughs, and no vacation-time cash-outs-in exchange for a no-layoff commitment. The firefighters' union has not formally entered into such negotiations, but has met informally with city negotiators and expressed openness to discussing such measures.
Santa Barbara Citywide Crime Stats
| | 1985 | 1990 | 1995 | 2000 | 2005 | 2008 |
| HOMICIDE | 7 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| RAPE | 24 | 26 | 33 | 38 | 34 | 26 |
| ROBBERY | 75 | 132 | 107 | 58 | 76 | 117 |
| AGGRAVATED ASSAULT* | 139 | 467 | 436 | 371 | 399 | 347 |
| AUTO THEFT | 225 | 350 | 247 | 122 | 207 | 114 |
| LARCENY/THEFT | 1,740 | 3,052 | 2,614 | 1,953 | 2,125 | 1,912 |
| ARSON | 19 | 8 | 18 | 14 | 43 | 32 |
If City Hall wins those grants, the problem is solved. But if it falls short, the road ahead promises to be bumpy indeed. If the excruciatingly bitter contract negotiations that took place three years ago between City Hall and the POA provide any illumination-after which City Hall agreed to a 26.5 percent increase in pay and benefits during three-and-a-half years-such a budget battle could prove especially disruptive, painful, and publicly contentious.
Among city employee unions, the POA has always carried the biggest stick. Its endorsement alone imbues a candidate with a law-and-order respectability. But that's just the beginning. The union donates generously to the candidates themselves and runs its own separate campaigns on behalf of its candidates. In addition, POA members walk precincts on behalf of their endorsees.
This year, the union has a lot at stake. Most immediately, there are the budget cuts. But this December, the POA contract expires; negotiations for a new contract are slated to begin sometime this summer. The starting wage for an entry-level cop is $65,000 per year without overtime. But with overtime and seniority, 55 of the 101 sworn officers are earning $100,000 or more. That puts them on par with officers in comparable departments from Santa Monica to Santa Barbara.
Between now and November, Santa Barbara voters will select a new mayor and three new councilmembers-in other words, a whole new council majority. Already, the union has endorsed Councilmember Iya Falcone in her bid to become the city's next mayor. Falcone is so highly regarded by the POA that the union didn't extend to Falcone's chief rival-Councilmember Helene Schneider-the customary courtesy of an endorsement interview. Although the mayoral campaign remains in its early stages, the looming budget cuts have already emerged as a divisive issue. Falcone initially voiced strong support for maintaining the status quo of troop strength at 140, but at a gathering of West Beach merchants and residents on Monday evening, pledged her support to increasing patrol strength to 150. Schneider, who in the past has been supported by the Service Employees International Union Local 620, has suggested the department could save $550,000 with no loss of service if the POA agreed to waive a scheduled pay increase and forgo vacation cash-outs.
Crossfire
Giving dangerous urgency to this sprawling debate is the growing public impatience with the persistence of gang violence. While the number of gang-related incidents is holding roughly steady, the brazenness of the participants has been increasing. And so too has the amount of front-page news space devoted to mug shots of intimidating gang members, whether real or merely alleged.Barring the miraculous intervention of these federal funds, Chief Sanchez will find himself caught in a furious crossfire between his officers' union and his immediate boss, City Administrator Armstrong, the one man in City Hall the POA most virulently distrusts. (Privately, some union leaders believe Armstrong would like to reduce the number of sworn officers on the payroll to 130, while they contend a city of Santa Barbara's size and complexity should ideally have as many as 150. Armstrong denies ever voicing any opinion at all regarding the proper size of the police department.)
"At the end of the day, most people don't care who I answer to," he said. "All they want to know is that a uniform shows up at their door when they call for service."
In fact, the union has already alerted Sanchez that it is contemplating a campaign to amend the city charter to make the police chief directly answerable to the City Council, not the city administrator. Sanchez, for the record, opposes such a change, arguing that that would politicize the post, that Armstrong is "a great boss," and that he already enjoys unfettered access to all councilmembers and they with him. "At the end of the day, most people don't care who I answer to," he said. "All they want to know is that a uniform shows up at their door when they call for service."Gang-Related Offenses
| | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 |
| MURDER | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| ATTEMPTED MURDER | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| ASSAULT WITH A DEADLY WEAPON | 16 | 25 | 26 |
| BRANDISHING | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| ROBBERY | 5 | 3 | 6 |
| BURGLARY | 3 | 5 | 1 |
| VANDALISM | 30 | 37 | 37 |
| BATTERY | 5 | 12 | 13 |
| KNIFE IN PUBLIC | 3 | 7 | 8 |
| TOTAL GANG RELATED OFFENSES | 102 | 163 | 177 |
| TOTAL CITYWIDE NUMBER OF OFFENSES | 26,137 | 24,346 | 23,002 |
| PERCENTAGE OF CRIME GANG-RELATED | 00.39% | 00.70% | 00.77% |
As for the coming city elections, Sanchez commented, "Two things I don't worry about: I don't worry about any mayor's race or any City Council elections. I get along with all the candidates and they all have the city's best interest at heart."
Sanchez's relationship with his union has always been a dicey mix of cordiality and friction, regard and suspicion. He was the union's first choice of candidates, but he was hired from outside the department. Almost immediately upon taking the post, Sanchez inherited a messy sex-discrimination lawsuit filed by two female officers who contended they would have been promoted to sergeant-a post that at that time no woman officer had ever achieved-were it not for the department's good-old-boy system. The POA, they charged, was part and parcel of that club. The jury awarded the two women $1.8 million.
The grumble on Sanchez always has been that he's not enough of a cop's cop, that he's distracted by functions outside the department, and that he's not hands-on enough. Much of the day-to-day responsibility of running the department was delegated largely to Rich Glaus, former assistant chief. And the POA has always been quick to complain Sanchez doesn't stick out his neck enough for his officers.
"Do I ethnically profile? You bet I do. One hundred percent of the victims of these gangs are Latino," he said. "100 percent."
However, Sanchez has no shortage of champions. His support for community-oriented policing jibed well with the City Council's liberal-leaning, Democratic-dominated majority. On gang issues, Sanchez's Latino heritage helped diffuse concerns about racial profiling. "Do I ethnically profile? You bet I do. One hundred percent of the victims of these gangs are Latino," he said. "100 percent."In action, Sanchez and his department have provided a mix of an iron fist and a velvet glove. Last week, for example, the department was commended by a statewide law enforcement agency for Operation Gator Roll, in which more than 200 suspected Eastside gang members were arrested by a force of 400 federal, state, and local law enforcement officials directed by city police last October.
But Sanchez considers "the best day" of his 30-year law enforcement career the time he spent last summer engaged in heart-to-heart discussions with gang bangers then serving time at Los Prietos Boys Camp. Two of those gang members have since enrolled in City College, found jobs, and appear to be on their way out of gang life. Sanchez challenged members of UCSB's Latino Business Association to mentor at-risk teens. The group responded by providing about 35 mentors for Santa Barbara High School students, meeting once a week for at least an hour. The hope is to show there are alternatives to the bloody turf battles between Eastsiders and Westsiders.
Getting Along
More recently, Sanchez has taken back some of the ministerial functions he'd delegated, such as promotions. Not only was the first female officer promoted to sergeant under his watch, but two more have also been promoted since then. Many Latinos have moved up the promotional ladder as well, infusing the department with greater diversity at all levels. Due to a wave of retirements, Sanchez appointed a whole new command staff this January, replacing Deputy Chief Glaus with Frank Mannix. His three new captains are Alex Altavilla, Armando Martel, and Gilbert Torres.Where the union is concerned, Sanchez has said his door is always open. Likewise, he feels free to speak his mind to McChesney or former POA president Mike McGrew, if need be. How often that actually occurs, however, is unclear. McChesney, who was elected in October 2007, said he's sat down over coffee with the chief just once.
McChesney said he understands Sanchez answers to City Administrator Armstrong. But he would prefer if Sanchez had voiced more concerns regarding some of the proposed cuts. Outgoing Fire Chief Ron Prince held his nose a little when discussing the $750,000 his department was slated to endure. Prince made it emphatically clear he was not personally recommending these cuts, merely identifying them, as ordered by Armstrong.
Much to the union's chagrin, that's not how Sanchez played it during negotiations three years ago. And it's not how Sanchez is playing it now.
When it appeared the positions of five sworn officers would be stripped from his department, Sanchez argued it could be done safely. Those positions would be filled by cops working the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) patrol, staffing the Police Activities League (PAL) program, and two of the beat coordinators. By reassigning, he said, the department's essential patrol strength would be maintained at about 50. "In terms of calls for service, that won't suffer," he said. "Other things will suffer, but my number-one goal is to keep police officers in police cars. Some programs will have to be suspended to keep cops in cars, and that's unfortunate. But when people pick up the phone and they want a cop, they're getting a cop."
Whether or not the department secures major new grant funding, the public will be paying more for its services. By increasing the price of a parking ticket by $4, the department estimates it can raise $300,000. People who have their cars towed will see tow-release tickets soar by 250 percent.
POA President McChesney expressed satisfaction that the department appears to have dodged a budget bullet. But some of the cuts, he said, will still sting. He said burglaries have increased by 25 percent compared to the same time period last year. But with one less crime-scene technician out of a two-person team, it will take that much longer to get fingerprints processed. Animal control officers, he said, don't just respond to wildlife incursions or dangerous dogs on the prowl. "They're an integral part of our anti-gang unit," he said, noting that many gang members have pit bulls. "This will have a very real impact on public safety."
Ultimately, it will be up to the City Council, not the POA, not Jim Armstrong, and not Cam Sanchez, to hash out a workable budget. That will play out in the weeks and months to come. Given the impending election and the stakes involved, all of the proceedings will be intensely politicized. In the meantime, Sanchez denied rumors that he's angling for a new job as chief of Oakland or San Francisco. He has not applied, he said, nor has he been invited to do so.
The friend whose funeral Sanchez recently attended in Hollister -where Sanchez used to be chief-died of cancer before turning 60. "You know, I've been a cop for nearly 30 years and a chief for 16. I know we're going through hard times economically, and it's nobody's fault at the city or the county. It is what it is and we're all going to have to make some sacrifices," he said. "But let me tell you something, I don't have any problems. I've got nothing to complain about. Nothing at all."
http://www.independent.com/news/2010/feb/04/prosecutorial-throwdown/
Prosecutorial Throwdown
Supes Stay Out of Fray; Install Replacement DA
Thursday, February 4, 2010Things couldn’t have gotten much sadder. Or nastier. District Attorney Christie Stanley finally retired from office, with almost a year left on her term, in paperwork filed last week, effective Friday, January 29. Her brief note to county officials acknowledged what has long been painfully obvious to anyone watching the courts: Ravaged by cancer, Stanley hadn’t really functioned as DA for more than a year.
This week, county officials received another missive from Stanley, this time a scorching denunciation of career prosecutor — and candidate for DA — Joyce Dudley. In it, Stanley blistered Dudley for what she described as Dudley’s “zealous ‘win at any cost’ approach.” Stanley accused Dudley of “multiple judicial misconduct problems,” adding, “Her problems with playing fair are repeated, well-known, and documented.” That note was mailed to the county via Josh Lynn, who is Dudley's rival for the DA post.
Stanley’s unhappiness with Dudley surfaced when Dudley announced she was running for District Attorney, well before Stanley officially declared she wouldn’t seek reelection. Stanley returned the favor by endorsing Lynn, the department’s chief trial deputy, to be her successor. In addition, Stanley appointed Lynn to run the department in her absence, making him the de facto incumbent in what’s become a fierce two-way race between two very intense, competitive prosecutors. In perhaps her final communiqué, Stanley praised Lynn’s leadership, ethics, and dedication, arguing that the county supervisors should not replace him as acting District Attorney before this June’s election. Mostly, Stanley did not want the supervisors — two of whom have endorsed Dudley — appointing Dudley to the interim post.
This Tuesday, the supervisors unanimously opted to disregard Stanley’s last request. Sort of. At the instigation of Supervisor Joe Centeno, the board emphatically opted to remain out of the fray. The supervisors decided not to replace Stanley with either Lynn or Dudley. Instead, they elected to replace Stanley with the second-highest-ranking prosecutor in the department, Ann Bramsen, who operates out of the Santa Maria office. The supervisors also agreed to appoint whoever won the June election to fill out the remaining six months of Stanley’s term of office. Formally, the supervisors directed staff to bring back the issue of a Board appointment for acting DA in June.
For Dudley, who publicly stated she had no interest in being appointed, it was a clear victory. A Democratic candidate in a county where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans, Dudley will not have to run against a rival endowed with an incumbent’s considerable advantage. Lynn, in addressing the supervisors, made it sound as if he never wanted the post. “I never asked for, nor did I want, that appointment,” he stated. “I don’t believe it is fair. I don’t believe it is just.” Earlier that day, however, his campaign media advisor, Mark Ward — arguing that Lynn should retain his post as acting DA — said of Stanley, “This is the woman who appointed him acting District Attorney. There’s a reason she did that.”
That reason, according to Ward and Lynn, can be found in legal documents they released last week, highlighting a handful of cases in which, they contend, Dudley was faulted for excessive zeal. The most explosive involved a 1995 case against Amado Silva Inda, prosecuted and convicted for sexually abusing his teenage daughter. Judge Pat McMahon set aside the jury’s guilty verdict and ordered a new trial, citing multiple instances of prosecutorial excess. Concluding a 114-page legal brief, McMahon opined, “It is not pleasant to either recall or recount in print how [Dudley] fell so quickly from grace as she endeavored to overzealously obtain a conviction at any cost and without regard to rules of law, evidence, or ethical probity.” McMahon’s ruling was upheld by the state appellate court though not, Dudley insisted, on the grounds of prosecutorial misconduct. Dudley said she did not retry the case out of deference to the victim, who didn’t wish to endure the pain of a second hearing. Steve Balash, the defense attorney who represented Inda, said allegations of misconduct are commonplace in criminal law. “It was a very emotional trial,” he recalled, “but I wouldn’t call what she did outrageous.” If Dudley was out of line, Balash asked, “Why the hell did she keep getting assigned cases and getting promotions all these years? And if the DA thought they had a rogue prosecutor guilty of misconduct, why the hell did they appeal McMahon’s ruling?”
For the prosecutors working for the Santa Barbara District Attorney’s Office, the current political knuckle-fest is something entirely alien. For the past 30 years, the Santa Barbara DA’s Office has been immune from this sort of internal brawling. At Tuesday’s supervisors’ meeting, many prosecutors waited for hours to testify. Both candidates had their champions present. Dudley supporters Hilary Dozer and Ron Zonen, with 59 years of prosecutorial experience between them, blasted Lynn for putting the department at risk by his “unfounded” attack on Dudley. “I had hoped for a campaign free of unnecessary vituperation,” lamented Zonen.
As for Dudley, she insisted that Stanley never wrote the letter the supervisors received. “I don’t know who wrote it,” she said. “but I’m certain she didn’t.” That wasn’t Stanley’s view of the Inda case, Dudley said. And besides, Dudley claimed, Stanley was too sick. Lynn’s campaign manager Mark Ward insisted that Stanley was the author, but that she wrote it “several weeks ago,” just in case it appeared the supervisors might appoint Dudley acting District Attorney.
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