The San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to empower a citizens review board for law enforcement to take stronger measures in probing in-custody deaths.
The board voted 4-1 for Supervisor Monica Montgomery Steppe's ordinance to strengthen the Citizens Law Enforcement Review Board (CLERB), a move she hailed afterward as "a bold and necessary step forward."
The amendments in Tuesday's ordinance are as follows:
- Authorizing CLERB to investigate any county employee or contractor, including health care providers, working under the direction of the sheriff or probation department in connection with in-custody deaths.
- Requiring CLERB to finish all investigations within one year of discovering allegations of misconduct and publicly reporting any delays.
- Investigations will no longer be automatically dismissed after one year.
- Requiring CLERB to prioritize cases involving in-custody deaths over "all other cases, even those classified as `natural,' and reopen a closed case in narrow circumstances."
"These amendments make long-needed changes to CLERB into a more effective oversight board," Montgomery Steppe said earlier Tuesday. "With the right tools, we can ensure that the tragic and preventable deaths that we've seen in the San Diego County jail system come to an end."
Montgomery Steppe, who serves as board vice-chair, also thanked the community for fighting for answers and solutions.
"Families who have lost loved ones in the jail system deserve answers," she added. "The public deserves answers."
Supervisor Jim Desmond was the lone no vote. In a recent emailed statement, Desmond said he couldn't "support expanding CLERB's jurisdiction into correctional health care because it's already a highly regulated field overseen by medical boards and state and federal laws."
"I do support independent assessments to improve care, but duplicating regulation isn't the answer," Desmond added.
Before voting on Tuesday, Desmond said he appreciated what CLERB is doing.
(PIC:KNSD)