Page 25 - Sonoma County Gazette MARCH 2020

Sonoma County Deserves Effective Oversight of Law Enforcement
By Susan Lamont
Almost twenty years ago, in response to many incidents of excessive use
of force by local officers, the California Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights issued a report recommending that Sonoma County require a civilian review board to oversee the Sheriff’s Office.
Andy Lopez was born one month after the report was issued.
It would take Andy’s
killing by a Sonoma County
deputy thirteen years later
to create the momentum
for such a board. Finally, in
2016, the County created the
Independent Office of Law
Enforcement Review and
Outreach (IOLERO).
The task force which
created IOLERO was made
up of twenty-one diverse
community members. Its
goal was to make both the
residents and law
enforcement officers safer.
Effective civilian oversight
facilitates increased
transparency, as well as increased trust between law enforcement and all communities.
The Task Force Set Forth Several Guidelines for Achieving
These Goals, They Were:
Retired Director Jerry Threet used his three years’ experience in IOLERO to identify the shortcomings of the office.
1. Community education and outreach
2. Conveying feedback from the community on law enforcement issues 3. Provision of a neutral location for complaint filing
4. Public discourse regarding policies and procedures
5. Advice and recommendations regarding policies and procedures
6. Complaint tracking and trend analysis
7. Annual reporting to the Board of Supervisors
8. The Sheriff and community on the work of the OIA [which became
The Committee to Support an Effective IOLERO has created an ordinance to make these recommendations real. We are working to place the Evelyn Cheatham Effective IOLERO Ordinance (FPPC#1422712) on the November 2020 ballot.
IOLERO] on the status of law enforcement oversight
9. Independent and confidential audit review of internal departmental
Evelyn was a member of the Community Advisory Council of IOLERO and, as an activist and mentor to disadvantaged youth through her nonprofit Worth Our Weight, embodied the world we wish to create.
investigations of officer use of force incidents, incidents of misconduct, and corrective action taken
The ordinance can be found on the website: socoeffectiveoversight.org., as well as the history which led to its creation, a list of endorsers (including both Sonoma County’s Democratic Party and the Green Party, the ACLU
of Northern California, Santa Rosa Sonoma County Branch of the NAACP, the North Bay Organizing Project, North Bay Labor Council, the National Organization for Women (NOW) Sonoma County and many more) and ways for you to volunteer and donate.
Four years after the creation of IOLERO, its mission remains
unfulfilled for lack of money, inadequate staffing and the Sheriff’s Office withholding access to information. Both the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement (NACOLE) and President Obama’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing have established core principles for creating law enforcement agencies which make everyone safer. Sonoma County deserves a Sheriff’s Office based upon those principles .
The deadline for gathering 22,000+ signature is the beginning of May and we could use your help. And if you see a signature gatherer, please sign!
Today, all over the United States, communities are recognizing that one
of the best tools for keeping our First Responders and communities safe is independent, effective, civilian oversight. It has been twenty years since that U.S. Commission on Civil Rights report. It is time for Sonoma County to make effective oversight a reality.
CONTACT: Susan C. Lamont, Committee to Support an Effective IOLERO | FPPC#1422712 | 707-889-3021
Evidence shows that collaborative, informed civilian oversight facilitates transparency and accountability that benefits both law enforcement professionals and the citizens they have sworn to protect and serve.
NACOLE recommends independence from political interference, sufficient funding, unfettered access to law enforcement records and staff, clear and ample authority, policy and pattern analysis, community engagement and support, cooperation, public reporting, and transparency.
Last year, concerned community members and IOLERO’s first director came together to work to improve the effectiveness of IOLERO, based upon these NACOLE recommendations.
The ordinance is named after one of our committee members, Evelyn Cheatham, who died while we were beginning our campaign.
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