Sheriff Stan Sniff -a pattern of scapegoating and control, including retaliating against adversaries

It is always someone else’s fault in the world of Sheriff Sniff.

Articles we have here at Right on Daily show his pattern of attacking Riverside County Local Government for years and blaming them for decisions he is making. We are going to talk about these as the passive-aggressive behavior against CCW Permits (by deliberately short-staffing that department) is a deliberate act.

More than a few stories detail cuts in Jail Staffing and slow rolling more Jail Beds in Riverside County.

More than a few stories detail misplaced budgetary priorities. These priorities have been a source of friction between the Sheriff and the rank-and-file deputies for years.

Here is one recent example – Lt. Chad Bianco who is running against the Sheriff was “Re-Assigned” for most of 2015-2016 to a job in an isolated office and was put in a position where he could not interact with anyone else. This, while the Sheriff was publicly attacking the Riverside County Board of Supervisors over budgeting issues. Perhaps Bianco could have been working on the CCW Backlog?

Sniff’s control issues re-manifest as Bianco has been re-assigned again just recently to a similar dungeon.

There are other things the Sheriff has been doing to retaliate against political adversaries that we will be getting in to soon.

Suffice to say, the concept of retaliating against political adversaries is not new. Sniff was fired by the former Sheriff in 2006 as likely retaliation for his own ambition.

A lot of my friends in Riverside County believe that the bad blood between the Riverside Sheriffs and Sheriff Stan Sniff is rooted in the “Body Camera” issue. The deeper issue here is a Sheriff that is always making decisions to further his own political future with little or any regard for the privacy or rights of law enforcement officers. (Sounds like Obama, huh?)

Witness, this gem from several years ago:

The Sheriff deputies actually had to fight with the Sheriff regarding forced blood draws from deputies involved in shootings. The issue is the presumption of guilt and the officer being dehumanized in order to prove themselves innocent.

Perhaps stuff like this are reasons why the Sheriff is a darling of the ACLU?

Perhaps Sniff’s soft stance on enforcing ICE Deportation orders is another reason? Perhaps his flip-flopping on immigration enforcement (in advance of his re-election campaign) is another reason for confirm?

Perhaps the horrendous rate of early release of felons is another? (as the Sheriff stonewalls staffing jails)

While we are scratching the surface of the Sheriff’s Behavior and priorities, The entree in to a real discussion about the “Body Camera” fiasco has its’ genesis in the retaliation against Bianco and in the drama surrounding the forced blood draws. What is not clear is the Sheriff’s leadership. What is clear is that he needs to be in control regardless of the issue. What will also become clear is that he likes to scapegoat everyone he can not directly retaliate against. No Sheriff that cared about his men would even hesitate over a policy of forcing blood draws out of rank and file officers.

Next up – why Sheriff Sniff’s affinity for the ACLU, thus hanging a target on all of the cops in Riverside County should concern us all…