Garrett Hottle
RIVERSIDE, Calif. (KESQ) – A year after a similar proposal died for lack of support, the Board of Supervisors today approved formation of a committee to assess possible measures to improve oversight of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office and enhance the agency’s overall operations going forward.
“Watching sausage being made is messy,” Supervisor Jose Medina said after roughly two-and-a-half hours of public testimony Tuesday regarding his and board Chair Karen Spiegel’s joint proposal. “That’s what we have. We have a cross section of the community giving input. It’s messy and takes time, but it’s important.”
In a 4-0 vote — with Supervisor Chuck Washington absent — the board cleared the way for establishment of an ad-hoc committee intended to spend about six months evaluating how best to increase scrutiny of sheriff’s operations, and what might be done to make the agency better, ethically and professionally.
Last July, Medina alone proposed setting up a committee with essentially the same intention, but none of his colleagues would second his motion, which expired for lack of action. That meeting, like the one Tuesday, also generated significant audience participation. There were a total 58 people who signed up to speak, allowed two minutes each. The comments were about 9-to-1 in favor of a committee — virtually unchanged from a year ago.
Since that time, the county’s civil Grand Jury conducted an investigation that culminated in a report citing the benefits of an independent commission to oversee the sheriff’s department, pointing to ongoing liability costs from lawsuits and other concerning developments that warranted heightened attention.
“This is one of the largest counties without a fully empowered civilian oversight body,” a speaker named Nanette told the board while showing a graphic indicating that, over the last dozen years, $126.74 million has been paid out by the county to settle sheriff’s-related lawsuits. “We need strong oversight measures and soon. No more studies, no more delays, no more deaths.”
ACLU attorney Amaris Montes said a public records check confirmed there had been 270 in-custody deaths from 2011 to 2025.
“Of all 58 counties in California, this county had the second-highest number of custody deaths,” she said.
“We need oversight, transparency and supervision,” Elizabeth Ayala told the board. “This is more about the control of our tax dollars and how people will be treated with the policies that the sheriff rules over.”
When a woman from Temecula spoke in favor of Sheriff Chad Bianco, lauding the overall work of patrol deputies, she drew hisses and even shouts from some attendees, leading to a brief verbal confrontation between her and them.
“I know there are emotions and feelings, pro and against, but let’s keep decorum so we can hear all important voices,” Medina told the audience.
Frequent board critic and Bianco supporter Roy Bleckert of Moreno Valley said an ad-hoc committee would only create “more layers of government” without any productive results.
“You want to put this thing under the control of certain factions that will bring us to a place where we should not be,” he said. “Instead of trying to make political theater … there are a lot of things you can do to fix this.”
Chief among them, Bleckert said, is to fully fund the Benoit Detention Center in Indio, which remains only one-third available to facilitate incarcerations.
“We’re very transparent,” Undersheriff Don Sharp said. “My staff do a good job. Unfortunately things happen, and we try to do things better.”
Medina said that despite the setback from inaction last year, “it’s never too late to do the right thing.”
“That’s where we are today,” the supervisor said. “I have no doubt there are many excellent individuals, sheriff’s deputies, doing their jobs. But we must hold all facets of government accountable.”
Spiegel acknowledged the committee proposal had been “spearheaded” by Medina, and said she lent her support to it out of an obligation “to work together and move forward.”
“You get to a point where you have to come to common ground,” she said. “This is not something personal.”
Bianco did not attend the meeting.
When the matter surfaced last summer, as he was beginning his campaign for governor, he expressed aversion to the prospect of a full-time watchdog for the agency, dismissing the committee idea as “divisive partisan politics.”
“We’re here because of a lie,” the sheriff said at the time. “I will not say our agency is perfect, but we’re striving to be the best.”
The Riverside Sheriffs’ Association, which endorsed all of the supervisors except Medina in their election or re-election bids over the last seven years, had only one representative in the queue to speak on Tuesday — RSA President Jose Santos.
“We’re not supporting an oversight body now,” he said. “We’re reserving our final position until we can determine whether this process is fair.”
Medina noted in his proposal last year that Los Angeles, Orange, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, Santa Clara and Sonoma counties had all moved forward with establishing oversight committees, but it wasn’t clear how much additional financial burden that had placed on the jurisdictions.
The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department regularly leads among county agencies in the number of lawsuits filed annually naming the department as a defendant. The suits often stem from deputy-involved shootings.
In 2014, then-Supervisor Kevin Jeffries, disturbed by the millions of dollars in liability claims the county was having to settle every year, proposed making agencies responsible for paying their own settlements out of their individual budgets. The sheriff’s department was the principal opponent of the concept, which didn’t garner support.
Details on the oversight committee’s likely makeup and future hearings were not yet available.
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