Voters endorse additional law enforcement oversight
Measure P, which strengthens civilian oversight of the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office, is projected to pass with 66.5% of the vote as of early Wednesday morning, according to the unofficial results posted by the Sonoma County Registrar of Voters, with 100% of precincts reporting as of Wednesday morning.
The official vote tallies won’t be confirmed until Dec. 3, but a sufficient majority of voters appear to have approved the measure.
The passage increases funding, autonomy and legal authority for the Independent Office of Law Enforcement Review and Outreach (IOLERO) led by director Karlene Navarro. She could not be reached for comment by 8 a.m. Wednesday.
The approval of Measure P, also known as the Evelyn Cheatham Effective IOLERO Ordinance, comes after months of community organizing around systemic racism and holding law enforcement accountable for abuses of power following police shootings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and other Black Americans.
The ordinance replaces the previous version that positioned IOLERO to rely on cooperation from the Sheriff to access records and information to determine whether its internal investigations were sufficient.
IOLERO maintains its ability to recommend policies to the Sheriff’s Office and audit investigations of complaints against its employees, but the ordinance allows IOLERO to audit additional areas of internal investigation than what was previously agreed upon by the sheriff.
Measure P’s approval grants IOLERO subpoena powers to compel records and testimony in its investigations as well as the authority to independently investigate cases where the director decides an investigation of a complaint or incident by the sheriff was incomplete or inadequate and cases involving the death of someone in sheriff’s custody or by actions of the sheriff’s staff, according to the measure’s text.
The office also receives unprecedented and unfettered access to databases, computer applications and physical files containing employee personnel records, racial profiling data, incident reports, records of discipline, jail inmate grievances, body-worn camera footage and more to evaluate relevant information for the office’s reviews and audits.
Furthermore, the measure allows IOLERO to recommend discipline for officers subject to its investigations, accept whistleblower complaints from the Sheriff’s Office and have auditors sit in on internal affairs interviews, according to the text.
While the text does not specify where the funds will come from, the oversight office shall receive funding equivalent to one percent of the total annual budget of the Sheriff’s Office, the text said.
The ordinance was officially endorsed by County Supervisor James Gore, community leader Alicia Sanchez, Rubin Scott, president of the Santa Rosa/Sonoma NAACP chapter, former IOLERO director Jerry Threet and Herman G. Hernandez, a member of the Sonoma County Board of Education.
Formally opposed to the measure were Damian Evans, president of the Sonoma County Law Enforcement Association, and Michael Vail, president of the Sonoma County Deputy Sheriff’s Association. Evans cited legal deficiencies and a lack of input from law enforcement in the measure as reasons he disagreed with it.
