The City of Dublin — the only municipality in Alameda County to contract with the sheriff’s office for its policing — will be guaranteed a seat on a nine-member board that, once approved, will provide civilian oversight of the law enforcement agency.
The Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 during its June 18 meeting to agree to the Dublin provision following insistence from Supervisor David Haubert — whose 1st District includes the city — that its population play a role in the ultimate makeup of a proposed Sheriff Oversight Commission. The city council will make the appointment.
“(It’s) 75,000 people entirely policed by the sheriff’s department,” Haubert said. “If they don’t have a seat at the table, it’s a travesty.”
Only Supervisor Keith Carson voted against the provision, one of several points discussed during a three-hour meeting on how a civilian oversight board and an inspector general’s office to investigate the sheriff’s office would operate.
Carson did not say why he voted no, but he expressed concerns during the discussion about what would happen if other cities in the county contract with the sheriff’s office, mentioning that the Port of Oakland utilized the sheriff’s office. He also expressed concerns about “stacking the commission” with representatives of any one area.
“Stacking it up and making sure that you can control the commission is counterintuitive for the purpose and the intent of the commission,” Carson said.
Following years of discussion and public meetings, county staff placed two similar proposals in front of the board, but it was clear each had too many provisions in each to gain a consensus for a vote on an overall package.
State law in 2021 gave counties the authority to pass ordinances establishing civilian oversight commissions. Although the idea was discussed for years, Alameda County officials have been slow to follow Marin, Santa Clara and other counties in doing so. For example, Los Angeles, San Diego and Sonoma counties already have had some form of civilian oversight of their sheriff’s agencies before 2021.
The issue moved to the forefront in recent months with scrutiny of the Santa Rita Jail, the county’s holding facility in Dublin. More than 60 people have died in the institution since 2014, and lawsuits have cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars. The U.S. Department of Justice declared mental health care in the jail to be inadequate, and a lawsuit filed on behalf of inmates resulted in the jail being placed under a consent decree monitored by a federal judge.
In recent months, the American Civil Liberties Union and other community groups pushed the supervisors to act. Still, meetings to discuss the proposals were postponed three times before the board took up the matter last week.
Both proposals before them called for a seven-member civilian board to monitor the sheriff’s office and issue reports, along with an independent inspector general who could conduct investigations of the agency’s detention operations, use-of-force incidents, and compliances with civil rights laws and public complaints.
Both the board and inspector general would have power to subpoena witnesses, but cannot make policy. Their reports will be made public and forwarded to the Board of Supervisors to implement changes.
A few key provisions drew changes. First, a proposal to increase the size of the civilian board from seven to nine received consensus. Each of the five Supervisors would appoint one member from his or her district, with four at-large members set to be vetted by a selection committee.
Haubert, however, believed Dublin required a seat and insisted one of the at-large members be from the city. Supervisor Nate Miley briefly accused Haubert of trying to stack the board with representatives from his district, but Haubert agreed to a stipulation that he would not appoint a Dublin resident with his district vote. The proposal, which received four votes, included a stipulation that one of the three other at-large board members be from an unincorporated area.
Dublin Mayor Michael McCorriston said the city was pleased Haubert successfully secured a seat for Dublin on the committee. The city had advocated for the seat for many years, he said.
“Dublin is a significant stakeholder with the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office, as we are the lone city using them for police services and we are home to Santa Rita Jail,” McCorriston said. “We are positioned to deal with many of the issues related to the jail, including emergency response and releases, and accordingly we look forward to participating in these important discussions.”
Independent Attorneys Approved
Another area of controversy included whether county attorneys should represent the oversight commission in legal matters. Civil rights organizations believe the inspector general should operate with an independent attorney to avoid conflicts of interest. Although the county staff’s proposal included provisions that the inspector general would use an independent attorney and the civilian board would utilize county lawyers, the board approved independent attorneys for both. Supervisors Lena Tam, Elisa Marquez and Carson voted yes for the idea, while Haubert and Miley said no.
In another vote, supervisors were unanimous in agreeing that only residents of Alameda County can serve on the civilian commission, but failed to gain a consensus on whether retired law enforcement officers can serve. Miley and Haubert said yes, Carson and Marquez said no, and Tam abstained.
A provision to eliminate language in the ordinance that would “strongly encourage” the county sheriff or a representative to attend meetings received three votes to pass. Tam, Miley and Marquez agreed they had no authority to demand the sheriff’s attendance at civilian board meetings. Haubert and Carson abstained.
With the changes, county staff will rewrite the proposed civilian oversight ordinance for a first reading at the supervisors’ July 9 meeting, where the public can offer its opinions. Haubert insisted the plan also go before county municipal advisory commissions in unincorporated areas for their review.
