Jail Space, Policing Top Issues in Sheriff’s Race

As new residents pour into Riverside County, the Sheriff’s Department has struggled to keep pace with shrinking jail space and increasing demand for community policing.

Those are two of the main issues at the center of the race for Riverside County sheriff, which pits incumbent Bob Doyle against two challengers on the June 6 ballot.

Retired Undersheriff and former Temecula Police Chief Rick Sayre is Doyle’s most formidable opponent in the election, which also includes underdog Robert “Bob” Ritchie, a Desert Hot Springs police officer and San Jacinto councilman.

A divided deputy’s union declined to endorse anyone earlier this year.

Doyle, a 30-year department veteran with more than $300,000 in campaign contributions according to the latest election reports, has campaigned on his accomplishments and cites the many endorsements he has received since he took office in 2002.

Doyle, 53, also has faced criticism after recent reports that he and other Southern California law enforcement officials issued badges to campaign contributors, something Sayre has tried to turn into a campaign issue.

The union’s “neutrality, to me, is clearly a vote of no confidence in Bob Doyle,” said Brian Floyd, spokesman for Sayre’s campaign. “He appears to have sold badges for political contributions.... That’s just wrong.”

Doyle, of Murrieta, declined to comment on the matter, which he called “ancient history.” In interviews, Doyle has said the badges were not connected to campaign fundraising and that he believed the special badges were distinct enough from those used by sworn deputies, in compliance with state law.

Doyle has said his top priority is increasing the capacity of packed county jails. There are plans to build two large jail hubs in the eastern and western ends of the county. An additional 240 beds are under construction near Banning as a short-term solution for the county’s 3,200 inmates, Doyle said.

“Those jail beds become the nucleus of the criminal justice system,” affecting the district attorney’s office, public defenders and many other county agencies, Doyle said.

Since he took office, supervisors have approved funding for 478 new deputies, about 350 of whom have been hired, he said. Also, the county formed a gang task force, the sheriff has worked to keep response times down, and he is organizing community policing programs for unincorporated areas as they fill with new residents.

Riverside County passed the 2-million-resident mark this year, according to census figures, and is experiencing some of the largest population gains in the nation.

As for the 3,000-member union’s not endorsing a candidate, Doyle said the Riverside Sheriff’s Assn. “in no way ... represent[s] the rank and file of this department.”

About 60% of union members work for the Sheriff’s Department, said union President Pat McNamara. The rest work for the Probation Department and district attorney’s office. The absence of an endorsement is not unique to this year’s race, McNamara said.

“It’s a rare thing that we wouldn’t be involved in it, but not unprecedented,” McNamara said. The group’s endorsements can be accompanied by “significant” funding, as high as tens of thousands of dollars depending on the race, McNamara said.

Sayre, 53, also worked his way through the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department ranks over nearly three decades, and was second in command under Doyle. Temecula contracts with the Sheriff’s Department for police service, so his tenure there as police chief was while he was a deputy. He retired after 29 years. He described Doyle’s leadership style as autocratic. Sayre hopes to bring a more “collaborative and inclusive” attitude to the job, he said.

“I just genuinely believe the organization is going backward,” said Sayre, who lives in Moreno Valley. “The badge thing kind of rubbed everybody wrong.”

Sayre also condemned county leaders for not using the defunct Eagle Mountain jail in Desert Center to house misdemeanor offenders. Local officials had concerns about security at the remote site, where two inmates died in a 2003 riot.

Cracking down on lesser offenses would send a powerful message to felons that breaking the law in Riverside County has consequences, Sayre said.

Several local officials from cities including Beaumont, Moreno Valley, Corona and Norco support him, Sayre said. He is president of the Moreno Valley Unified school board and said he would resign that post if he became sheriff.

Supervisor Jeff Stone, who was a member of the Temecula City Council when Sayre was the city’s police chief, also advocated using Eagle Mountain as a jail site and openly clashed with Doyle over that political issue and others. “I think it’s healthy to have a spirited debate,” said Stone, who has not endorsed a candidate for sheriff.

Sayre said he also hoped to hire more deputies, shorten response times and toughen enforcement of illegal immigration laws. County jail inmates will soon be screened for immigration status under a newly approved program.

Sayre lags far behind Doyle in contributions, taking in about $17,000, according to campaign finance reports.

The race’s admitted underdog, Ritchie, has raised just a couple of thousand dollars for his campaign.

A former kindergarten and special education teacher, Ritchie, 36, emphasizes surveying department employees and county residents to make local law enforcement work better, and training deputies to use less-lethal methods such as Tasers and beanbag guns to reduce the number of officer-involved shootings.

The San Jacinto resident would also work to improve response times, hunt down sex offenders and add jail beds by opening up small, local facilities.

“I’m a longshot, but you never know,” Ritchie said.