Alameda County Again Delays Vote to Create Civilian Oversight of Sheriff

Alameda County supervisors on Tuesday again postponed a vote on whether to create civilian oversight of the sheriff, the latest in months of delays that have dragged the yearslong effort to a near standstill.

Reading from a statement on Tuesday, Supervisor Elisa Márquez reiterated her support for civilian oversight but pointed to the absence of Supervisors Lena Tam and Keith Carson, who were not present when the meeting began.

“It is paramount that all of my colleagues be present in person to fully participate in this long-awaited, critical public safety action item,” Márquez said, requesting the item be placed on the agenda for the board’s June 18 meeting.

The county began developing the proposal in 2020 after the passage of AB 1185, a state law that empowered every California county to establish civilian sheriff’s oversight through a public vote or a Board of Supervisors resolution and gave those oversight bodies the power to subpoena records from the sheriff.

The latest delay added to the frustrations of community activists who have been calling for increased oversight of the embattled Alameda County Sheriff’s Office for years.

“A lot of these supervisors, during their candidacy, were all supportive of sheriff oversight,” Millie Cleveland, a member of the California Coalition for Sheriff Oversight, a group of civil rights organizations, said Tuesday. “But every step of the way, they seem to be blocking any movement on this issue.”

Activists have pointed out, among other concerns, the worryingly high number of deaths at the county jail, which the sheriff’s office oversees.

Over the last decade, more than 60 people have died at Santa Rita Jail, according to reporting by the Guardian, and deaths in county jails have been on the rise statewide. The human toll has been compounded by a financial one: Between 2015 and 2020, the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office led the Bay Area in payouts resulting from wrongful deaths and excessive force lawsuits, according to the ACLU of Northern California. The jail has been under federal oversight since 2022.

Tuesday’s postponement at the Board of Supervisors comes after the county’s Public Protection Committee — chaired by Márquez — sent two proposed oversight ordinances to the board in February. Both would create a Sheriff Oversight Board and Office of the Inspector General. One is slightly more detailed, specifying that no law enforcement officers or out-of-county residents would be allowed to serve on the board and would allow the inspector general to hire independent legal counsel.

Yoel Haile, director of the criminal justice program at the ACLU of Northern California, said both proposals fall short by requiring the sheriff to approve any investigation by the civilian oversight board or the inspector general.

“County residents, who are the primary stakeholders in what the sheriff does, should have the ability to investigate,” Haile said, “should have the ability to question the sheriff, to find out the facts, to have subpoena power so that interviews can be conducted with the people who are involved.”

Sheriff Yesenia Sanchez’s office has not publicly weighed in on the proposals.

“It is important to recognize that any oversight has to be conducted collaboratively, with the interests of public safety, individuals’ constitutional rights, and the county’s fiduciary responsibility as the agenda,” a spokesperson for the department said in a statement on Monday.

If approved, either resolution would bring community oversight to the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office for the first time. It would also make Alameda the fifth Bay Area county to create sheriff’s civilian oversight, following San Francisco, San Mateo, Sonoma and Santa Clara.