Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens took office in June and made some swift moves, drawing praise and ire.
She recalled volunteer police badges,some doled out to political donors by former sheriff Michael Corona, now on trial for corruption. She’s also taken a tougher line on concealed weapon permits.
Those moves aren’t politically popular but could prove easy compared to the challenges ahead.
Her toughest hurdle could be an expected rise in crime in a poor economy. Couple that with a shrinking budget as the county and state deal with budget woes.
On the political front, Hutchens’ challenge will be winning over Republican donors whose support she’ll need in her 2010 election bid.
“She’s done some very effective things and she’s done some controversial things,” said Scott Baugh, chairman of the Republican Party of Orange County. “Time will tell.”
Others like the change Hutchens represents.
Tom Ross, political director of moderate Republican group New Majority, says one of its goals is to broaden the appeal of the party. As a woman, Hutchens does that. New Majority doesn’t endorse local candidates but keeps tabs on those who could have potential for state office.
The sheriff sat down with the Business Journal’s Sherri Cruz to talk about law enforcement challenges, running the department and her bid for election two years from now.
What do you see as OC’s biggest law enforcement challenge?
Our challenge coming up is going to be the economy. By that I mean that crime typically will increase in a down economy. The intervention prevention funding programs start to dry up at just the most critical time for us. We’re going to have to identify some budget cuts at a time when crime is going to increase.
How much do you need to cut?
We’re looking at 10% to 15% cuts right now. We have to identify them and then there’s going to be a discussion about it in January.
Why is the sheriff’s department relevant to the majority of county residents in cities with their own police departments?
We patrol 12 contract cities and unincorporated areas (mostly in South County and in Stanton and Villa Park). We provide staffing for the jails and for the courts. We provide staffing at the three harbors. We provide a homeland security division. We are in charge of disaster times for the whole county. Our crime lab provides services for the entire county. We provide air support and canine upon request from any police department. We do a lot for the entire county.
How do you combat a rise in crime without being able to hire more deputies?
We have to work harder. We reduce a number of crimes just by being visible,people seeing the units and our law enforcement officers out there. We have to get more creative. We have overtime. But again, that’s an issue when we don’t have the overtime budget. In terms of our contract cities, we have to provide the level of service that they have contracted for because they’re paying us for it. When we’re looking at budget cuts, the only areas that we have to cut is in the jail.
What do you do in that situation?
You have to start looking at early release, which I do not want to do in OC. Absolutely not.
How do you fix well-publicized jail problems without losing support of the deputies, whose union is influential?
We’re working very closely together. I’m not getting push back from the jail personnel. I say jail personnel because they’re not all deputies. We conducted an independant audit, and they say we’re doing a very good job. But we do not have enough staffing.
The perception was the workers manning the jails weren’t doing such a good job.
That’s false. That came out of the Chamberlain incident, where inmate (John Chamberlain) was beaten to death. It did find deputies and other personnel who were not doing their job. They’re no longer with us. We see people who want to do their job and are getting it done despite the fact that they don’t have enough time or resources to do it.
Describe your leadership style.
Integrity and doing the right thing.
How do you instill that in others?
You lead by example. You model the behavior you want others to demonstrate. You select the right people in the command positions. You promote the people who demonstrate leadership and ethics. That sends a message to the rest of the organization: This is what she values. This is what she’s going to demand of us.
How does the alleged corruption under Carona affect you?
Well, everybody has an interest about whether this permeated into the department itself,it didn’t. It was at the highest level. Those people are all gone.
You’ve needed to become a politician. What is that like?
It’s a learning process. There’s a lot of compromise involved and there should be because you’re representing a department that serves a lot of constituents. I was selected, not elected (after Carona stepped down), yet I do have all the responsibilities of an elected sheriff and I have to manage a campaign in 2010. I’ve never run for public office.
Do you think the sheriff should be elected?
There are arguments both ways. I’ve gone back and forth. When you elect a sheriff, it’s really the community at large that elects the sheriff. But you also have to raise money, so that can get a little difficult. But I think there are sufficient protections.
Are You getting any resistance to tighter concealed weapons rules?
They’re complying with it. And yes, I’m getting some resistance. It’s from a small group.
Are there any volunteer badges still out?
We’ve gotten about 85% of them back. I’m confident we’ll get them back. People understand why I had to do that.
How will you measure your own success at the end of your term?
I guess the true testament will be if people feel confident enough in me and the sheriff’s department to elect me.
