No Confidence in Sheriff Ahern — 15 Orgs Sign Letter to Alameda County BOS & AG Bonta

October 3, 2022

Re: Alameda County Residents Have No Confidence In the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office Following the Latest Revelations of Hiring Abuses

The revelations that the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office (ACSO) has, for years,
routinely hired deputies despite troubling psychological evaluations and potentially
blemished employment histories, diminish further Alameda County residents’
confidence in the Sheriff’s Department.

We are calling on the Board of Supervisors to exercise their responsibilities under CA
Govt. Code Section 25303 to ensure that all officers of the county “faithfully perform
their duties” and — as custodians of the budget, recognizing the county’s civil liability
when officers fail — that they vote "No Confidence," ask Sheriff Ahern to step down, and
appoint Sheriff-elect Sanchez to take charge of ACSO immediately.

Sheriff Ahern has violated the trust of residents in the county, failed to maintain
minimum hiring standards for deputies and created serious liabilities for taxpayers.
We ask that Attorney General Bonta oversee the evaluations of deputies who have
been relieved of duty, review those deputies’ history of complaints and discipline, and
review the employment histories of all sheriff deputies who worked previously for other
law enforcement agencies. AG Bonta should release the aggregate information on
these hires to the public, within the limits of state law regarding individual personnel
records.

The Alameda County Sheriff’s Office provides public protection services throughout the
county and supervises thousands of individuals held in our county jail. ACSO has come
under recent negative scrutiny through civil lawsuits and federal intervention, with
potential county liabilities in the hundreds of millions of dollars. These further revelations
underscore the need for a full, transparent review and overhaul of ACSO standards and
practices to reflect community values, accountability and constitutional law enforcement.

Adamika Village
American Civil Liberties Union
Brotherhood of Elders
California Sanctuary Campaign
Coalition for Police Accountability
Faith in Action East Bay
Latino Taskforce
Lovelife Foundation
Make Oakland Better Now
National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform
Secure Justice
Soldiers Against Violence Everywhere
Violence Prevention Coalition
Vision Quilt
Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club