Op-ed written by Dave Myers<\/p>\n
“I write to you to express my grave concern for the viability of our largest law enforcement agency in San Diego County, the San Diego Sheriff\u2019s Office. My candidacy for Sheriff was based on rebuilding competency and community trust though transparency, data reform, ending the record number of jail deaths now, addressing racial bias in policing, and diversity recruitment to make the Sheriff\u2019s Department more reflective of the community it serves.\u00a0\u00a0I am grateful for your overwhelming support and endorsement for my Sheriff\u2019s campaign. While we didn\u2019t make it out of the primary, the fight to correct the ongoing failures by the current Sheriff\u2019s Department leadership must continue. The status quo is failing our communities, especially communities of color, our unhoused, and mentally ill.\u00a0\u00a0Jail deaths continue despite promise after promise of \u201cwe\u2019ll do better\u201d by the current Sheriff and his Undersheriff, who has been running the day-to-day operations of the jails.<\/p>\n
As we approach the general election, our choice for real reform in the Sheriff\u2019s Department is limited. The other registered Democrat in the Sheriff\u2019s race still can\u2019t remember who she voted for President in 2016, according to attendees at the November 10, 2021 Spring Valley Lemon Grove Democratic Club endorsement meeting. As some of you may recall, during the December Central Committee endorsement meeting, this candidate stated that in the 2020 presidential election she didn\u2019t vote for anyone for President because she was very conflicted between choosing Trump or Biden. For us Democrats, the choice for President in 2020 couldn\u2019t have been clearer after 4 horrible years of Trump, but to some, a racist, misogynist, anti-choice, anti-LGBTQIA, and pro-NRA candidate apparently still had some appeal.<\/p>\n
Below I want to briefly recap Undersheriff Kelly Martinez\u2019s record at the Sheriff\u2019s Department:<\/p>\n
1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Highest rate of inmate deaths. (JLAC Report, CLERB In-Custody Death Report, Disabilities Right California-Death in Custody Report). In 2018, the Department had more jail deaths than Rikers Island. This year so far, as reported by the SD Union-Tribune, there have been 15 in-custody deaths. Tragically, this is on pace to exceed all previous years for in-custody deaths.<\/p>\n
2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0At a time of highest in-custody death rates and severe medical staff shortages in the jails, Undersheriff Martinez hired more clerks to issue Carry Conceal Weapon (CCW) permits and not more jail medical personnel.<\/p>\n
3.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Because of deplorable jail mismanagement and neglect, the Department is being sued in in US federal court for injunctive relief from appalling unsanitary and unsafe conditions.<\/p>\n
4.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Department still refuses to address the results of study after study (including one that it commissioned) showing that there may be implicit bias and racial profiling by Deputies. The SD Union-Tribune, ACLU, Campaign Zero, CLERB all confirm using Sheriff\u2019s stop data that we need community engagement and policy changes on this issue, and yet we\u2019ve seen no progress made, not even acknowledgement of the results of the studies.<\/p>\n
5.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There are still dozens of sexual assault kits that remain untested, even though the Sheriff\u2019s Department runs the regional crime lab and has the capacity and capability of testing them today.<\/p>\n
6.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Undersheriff Martinez sought out and got the enthusiastic endorsement of the local gun lobby PAC that sued to stop the County of San Diego ghost gun regulations, and opposes universal background checks and raising the minimum age to purchase an assault rifle.<\/p>\n
7.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Undersheriff Martinez sent Sheriff recruiters to an anti-vaccination rally to recruit Deputy Sheriff\u2019s. When asked about this in a community forum, she denied that the Department had a recruiting booth at the anti-vax rally. (https:\/\/twitter.com\/ 8.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Department still has not implement any rigorous, meaningful training on de-escalation. Earlier this year, Sheriff\u2019s Deputies carrying out an eviction escalated a situation that resulted in the death of Dr. Yan Li, an accomplished scholar who suffered from mental illness. (https:\/\/asamnews.com\/2022\/04\/ 9.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Sheriff\u2019s leadership continued to act in bad faith by not turning over evidence in an excessive force lawsuit. (https:\/\/www. 10.\u00a0\u00a0Despite its claims of fostering an environment of respect and inclusion, the Department still does not have a policy that addresses the needs and concerns of the transgender community. As the SD Union-Tribune and CLERB have found, the Department failed to protect the LGBTQ community when Deputies placed a transgender woman in a male jail, which resulted in her being severely beaten. \u201cJail beating of transgender woman result of \u2018systemic failure\u2019 by Sheriff\u2019s Department, CLERB finds.\u201d (https:\/\/www. 11.\u00a0\u00a0Undersheriff Martinez was a member of the County Human Relations Commission. When a board member during a public meeting attacked the LGBTQ community, calling members of the transgender community an \u201cabomination\u201d, other board members condemned their peer, called for his dismissal from the board. They signed a letter repudiating their peer for his hateful action. Kelly Martinez refused to sign onto the letter and still hasn\u2019t condemned her fellow commissioner for his homophobic, transphobic speech.<\/p>\n 12.\u00a0\u00a0Undersheriff Martinez fully supports the SD Sheriff\u2019s Department\u2019s working directly with I.C.E. by allowing Deputies to cooperate and share information with I.C.E.\u00a0\u00a0This directly contributes to community mistrust, separates families and prevents crucial witnesses from coming forward to report violent crimes.<\/p>\n 13.\u00a0\u00a0Undersheriff Martinez fully supports \u201cqualified immunity\u201d for law enforcement, which is antithetical to the SDDEM adopted platform for criminal justice reform. See my op-ed in USA Today to understand why this matters so much to criminal justice reform (https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/