Just a couple days ago, a new story about an old issue. Sheriff Sniff once again reminds us that he has been incapable of solving problems and is fully capable of blaming others.
When you read the article you will realize that the Sheriff drug his heels on interviewing applicants and training them. Cash-Strapped Riverside County laid out a ton of money to expand the Indio Jail and now it will be sitting partly vacant.
With Violent Crime spiking in Riverside County, what does the Sheriff base his re-election campaign on?
The jail is being counted on to add capacity to the county’s overcrowded five-jail system. To free up space, the county is expected to release almost 6,000 inmates early this year to comply with a federal court order to relieve overcrowding, according to sheriff’s officials. That problem will worsen, Sniff said, when the existing Indio jail is demolished and the new one stays vacant.
6,000 criminals being put back on the ground early is a direct consequence of Stan Sniff refusing to plan or be flexible to deal with the budget problems he knew he had. The County hired a respected national accounting firm to try and free up funds to take care of vital services and the Sheriff is fighting all of their recommendations:
Many of KPMG’s recommendations deal with public safety, which consumes three of every four discretionary dollars, according to the executive office. The firm has said Sniff can become more efficient by changing deputies’ schedules and using non-sworn staff to handle minor, non-emergency calls.
So – the Sheriff does not want to use auxiliary or volunteer deputies to handle minor calls, choosing instead to use the much more expensive sworn deputies on such calls. This compounds the problem with staffing the new jail. It does not stop there (Quoting Supervisor Kevin Jeffries):
Sniff “needs to stay vigilant,” Jeffries said. “But he also needs to look internally and start moving sworn deputies out of administrative desk jobs and back into the field.”
“With our budget projections, he has to meet us halfway. We need the new jail opened and staffed. We need more deputies on patrol,” the supervisor added.
“Just like the Board of Supervisors, the sheriff is also at a crossroads. We either all find new ways to cut costs while still providing essential services or we all go bankrupt arguing about whose fault it is.”
It is clear that Sheriff Stan Sniff has a serious credibility issue as people normally friendly to him are calling him out. AS you have learned by reading the expose’ on this blog about the Sheriff, he has refused to demonstrate leadership, flexibility or vision. The consequences are 6,000 inmates being released while the brand new jail sits empty. This, alone would be enough of a case to fire Sheriff Sniff.
Sign up to receive RightOnDaily updates sent to your inbox.