Much-needed oversight for Orange County law enforcement is going to take a little longer. The Board of Supervisors appears to have jumped the gun on hiring Gary Schons, a former senior state attorney general, to take up the long vacant position as head of the Office of Independent Review. He withdrew his application last week, citing conflict of interest concerns.
“If all had gone well on Thursday, the board was set to hire Schons and have him start immediately,” the Register reported. “Instead, Schons wrote a letter to supervisors this week explaining that his law firm, Best Best & Krieger in San Diego, said that he couldn’t accept the position because it presented too many conflicts of interests with the numerous municipalities the firm represents.”
We’re back to square one, and, as the Register notes, “The board, which has operated without any external law enforcement oversight for 10 months, plans to launch another search for a new executive director — a nearly five-month process that could leave the job unfilled until July or later.”
It is extremely disappointing for this hire to have been so seemingly botched because that is far too long to wait. Local law enforcement is being tarnished by a scandalnow. The U.S. Justice Department, the California Attorney General’s Office and the Orange County Grand Jury are all investigatingnow. Oversight is needednow. And if we needed a reminder of why this matters, we got one this week when Eric Ortiz was again found guilty of murder. Ortiz was convicted in 2015 but that conviction was overturned after four sheriff’s deputies invoked their Fifth Amendment rights over the use of jailhouse informants. Justice delayed is justice denied.
To be sure, the Editorial Board has its reservations about the OIR. We were an early supporter in principle, believing that it could have done something with Sheriff Mike Carona. In practice, however, our view of the office quickly soured due to the excessive deference it showed to the sheriff. The role, and powers, of the OIR going forward must be clearly defined, and its relationship with its subjects one of impartial investigation, rather than deference. But the county’s top law enforcement agencies must have meaningful oversight.
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