DATE: NOVEMBER 22, 2004
TO: CAPTAIN R. C. SMITH, COMMANDER CENTRAL DIVISION SACRAMENTO COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT
FROM: HENRY HARRY
SUBJECT: CHALLENGES FACING THE CENTRAL DIVISION
Congratulations on your promotion to Captain and your new assignment to Commander of the Central Division. I had the opportunity to work under you in Central a few years ago and I believe you are an excellent choice to help the people in Central. Welcome back. I wish you the best of luck.
Last week I exited the Central Division after finally receiving my long awaited transfer to the Courthouse. My new assignment is a vast change of pace from the enormous workload officers have to face in the Central Division. I feel guilty about leaving Central. I feel as if I have left soldiers behind on a battle field.
I want to share some of my thoughts regarding the problems facing the Central Division. Please do not mistake my bluntness as rudeness or arrogance. There are many issues we must address in Central if citizens and law enforcement are to make a successful turnaround in our community.
The following are my concerns about issues facing the Central Division that need to be addressed immediately. Time does not allow me to fully discuss all of these issues but I will do my best to communicate more with you in the future.
CONTRACTED LAW ENFORCEMENT SERVICE
There is great concern about patrol officers being pulled from the field to cover contracted positions at school district sites. Central has had vacant patrol officer positions, in part, because officers were taken from Central’s patrol division and assigned to full-time contracted School Resource Officer positions (SROs). Today patrol officers and citizens are further negatively impacted by these contracts. Patrol officers are frequently pulled from patrol shifts and assigned to work at school sites, sometimes for several days at a time.
There may be an argument by some who say that later in a patrol shift officers who have been assigned to school sites are replaced by officers who have been called in to work on an overtime status. This argument raises two issues: 1) before “overtime” officers can arrive and start handling calls in the field there is still a period of lowered patrol service, and 2) is public overtime money being spent to cover the school contract? The question regarding the overtime is not an accusation, however it is a concern.
A brief examination of the records will reveal that even when basic patrol staffing levels were below the department’s own minimal staffing level of six officers, deputies were still pulled away from patrol assignments and directed to work full days at school sites. In some instances our community, which generates more crime and has the highest rate of homicides, has been left with only four patrol deputies because an officer has been assigned to work a school site. This practice of assigning patrol officers to cover school contract sites is unsafe and unfair. For the officers in the field, one of their back-up partners is taken away. Citizens, some in frightening situations, have to wait longer for an officer to arrive and help them.
Officers in the Central Division are hopeful you will give this matter your highest and immediate attention. This practice must stop.
ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS ALONG MARTIN LUTHER KING BOULEVARD
Officers repeatedly respond to citizen’s complaints regarding twenty or more Hispanic males loitering at and around the intersection of 47TH Avenue and Martin Luther King Boulevard. The AM-PM business at this intersection appears to be most impacted; this location is a major problem. Officers will tell you this situation has grown horrendous. Subjects are actually sleeping on sidewalks in the area, just a few feet away from inhabited homes. Officers have arrested one of these subjects twice for public intoxication. These arrests took officers out of the field and away from covering their beat partners as they transported and booked this subject into jail. According to a citizen, this same subject is responsible for stabbing one victim and assaulting another at this same location. One of the victims was reportedly another illegal immigrant and did not want contact with law enforcement; the other victim reportedly did not want to cooperate with police out of fear the suspect would get out of jail and return to the same location the following day.
It is my experience that some of these subjects, although they are illegal aliens, are growing defiant. Without a mission from leadership to tackle this problem our overworked officers can only disperse these crowds and then return a short time later to address the same problem. We need to implement an effective strategy to overcome this problem.
GROUP HOMES / BOARD AND CARE HOMES
These locations are generating a significant amount of calls for service. It is my experience some owners are collecting as much as $500.00 a month for a room. In some cases, owners are leaving subjects with mental health problems “in charge” of these homes in exchange for a break on rent.
I believe an examination regarding these businesses will show, in some cases, law enforcement is being called upon and expected to handle problems at these locations which have more to do with poor business operation than a true need for police service. For example, one group home I was called to had six juvenile boys and one staff person on site. The problem, which triggered a patrol response, was ultimately a lack of control by the staff member over the boys, rather than a need for law enforcement. The call for police service, in this case, could have been avoided if the business owner would have placed the safety of staff and the juveniles over profits and hired another staff member to assure order was maintained at the group home.
We must identify the number of these locations within the Central Division, their impact on police services and strategies to reduce problems and burdens they cause.
CITIZENS COMMITTEE
As part of the Central Drug Elimination Plan I authored and in the book I am writing, “Making War,” the role of community participation in helping to guide law enforcement is an important issue. The meaningful inclusion of citizens in the decision making process is a key element in raising the quality of life and making our community safer. We implemented the Central Division Drug Elimination Plan under Captain Bob Landry. Later, under Captain Jim Cooper, portions of this plan were credited with slowing the homicide rate in Central.
I call attention to the draft Drug Elimination Plan and its vision for improving our community, particularly the idea of establishing a committee of citizens to help guide law enforcement in policing our community.
I believe the loss of Captain Landry and the limited assignment of Captain Cooper contributed to a delay in the establishment of such a committee. We are far behind on this issue. I encourage you to rapidly establish a diverse group of Central Division community stakeholders to address these and many other tremendous problems facing our community. Our citizens deserve meaningful inclusion in the process of policing Central.
There are many more issues I plan to bring to your attention in the coming months. I implore you to persuade Sheriff Blanas to recognize the importance of coming to our community and personally engaging in an exchange of ideas with officers and citizens about these and other important issues. Please convey to Sheriff Blanas that violent crime and officer safety in the Central Division are as important as developing a new arena for the Sacramento Kings.
Thank you for stepping up and accepting the challenging assignment of policing the Central Division. If I can be of service please do not hesitate to call.
Sincerely,
Henry Harry
Related links:
Prince George's County Crime Plan
LAPD Crime Fighting Plan