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Join the 10,000+ Riverside residents who have indicated they support Sheriff Oversight & Accountability!
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We are a diverse group of Riverside County residents and organizations calling on our Riverside County Board of Supervisors to provide much-needed accountability for the Riverside Sheriff’s Office.
The ongoing issues surrounding sheriff-involved shootings, in-custody deaths, and the significant financial liability resulting from the lack of oversight have eroded public trust and demand urgent reforms
We believe independent oversight of law enforcement is good for both deputies and the community they serve, as well as important for good government practices.
Coalition members include ACLU of Southern California, League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), Starting Over, Starting Over Strong and LWV Riverside.
Our Goals:
Separation of the roles of County Coroner and Sheriff. The role of Coroner should be carried out by an individual with medical expertise (aka medical examiner) and all staffing to operate completely independently from the Sheriff’s Office.
Establishment of a community oversight body for the operations, all internal and external formal complaints and serve as the public facing entity that engages with the community. This body would also receive and review complaints from the community. This body should be composed of individuals and families who have lost loved ones due to the Riverside Sheriff’s Department and community leaders involved in racial justice and limit and or restrict the amount of law enforcement or former law enforcement from serving on the Board.
Establishment of an Office of Inspector General (OIG) to provide independent and comprehensive oversight, monitoring of, and reporting about the Sheriff's Department and serve as the investigative arm of the Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission including the review of law enforcement-related death investigations involving the Sheriff’s Office.
The activities and recommendations of the community oversight body to be presented regularly, directly, publicly, and transparently to the full County Board of Supervisors.
The community oversight body and OIG to have subpoena authority for the independent investigation of all aspects of Sheriff’s Office operations including access to personnel records.
The Riverside County Sheriff's Department oversees county law enforcement for 2.46 million people, operates our 4,000-bed jail system, and performs duties of the coroner’s office, which include investigations into the cause of death. The department has over 4,000 employees with a budget of over $1 billion.
Accountability is integral to any system, and most assuredly for a large and powerful department that deals with matters of life and death.
Patterns of Misconduct That Oversight Could Prevent
Over 40 in-custody deaths in the last three years, prompting the New York Times to label Riverside County jails as One of America’s Deadliest Jail Systems.
Egregious deputy misconduct from drug trafficking to excessive force. Deputies have faced civil lawsuits for excessive force, wrongful detentions, and sexual misconduct.
The Sheriff Department’s lawsuit settlement payouts were nearly $100 million from 2014-2024. These settlements are paid by taxes, not the Sheriff budget.
Family members of people who die in custody are often denied access to autopsy or incident reports for months, or even years.
Racial profiling which carries the risk of separation, deportation, or long-term legal consequences for immigrant and mixed status families.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta has launched a civil rights investigation into the sheriff’s department.
Failures within the department are not caused by one sheriff but are a symptom of a system without safeguards.
