Cop Land

There has been some mention that the City Council's Christmas firing of Chief Romero may be part of a larger plan to bring the L.A. County Sheriff's Department in to replace the Pomona P.D.

I wanted to have more than just a gut level reaction against this idea, so I spoke to a business associate who is a retired 20 year veteran with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. I know this man to be a measured, thoughtful and methodical person, so I believed he would give me an impartial and honest answer.

He said that the biggest pro to dissolving the police department and contracting with the sheriff's department would be the cost. It would be much cheaper not to have our own department and be part of a large county organization.

Another pro is that Pomona would have access to more state of the art equipment and specialized deputies (i.e. deputies who only work with gangs for instance to the exclusion of everything else). He said that it COULD result in more officers on the street at night for instance, because the sheriff's department has an equation of officers to citizens that they must abide by, which is the same for every City they serve.

He said that the sheriff's department also has the ability to flood the streets with a police presence if an area of town needed that (as in the case where there were a rash of burglaries in a particular neighborhood). When I asked him if he thought the sheriff coming to town would result in less crime and more solved cases, he responded, "I don't know about that."

The other thing he talked about was that the city council would actually have less control over the sheriff's department than they currently have over the P.P.D. He said that typically a sheriff's Captain would be assigned to work with the local city government. He said that the Captain would try to keep the city happy in order to keep the contract with the city, but that overall, the Captain answers to his superiors at the Sheriff's office, not the city council. In some ways this is a big pro for Pomona, since we are already seeing signs that this new government believes they are above the law and above the people and can do what they want, despite how bad it smells.

He said that the awarding of a large government contract is big money, and that there is the opportunity for local politicians to be wined and dined, and benefit personally.

He said that the biggest con to bringing the sheriff in was "lack of identification" with the community. He said that initially, Pomona police officers would be absorbed into the sheriff's department. After training elsewhere, the former P.P.D. officers would likely come back to work as Sheriff deputies in Pomona. Over time, however, deputy sheriffs would be placed here temporarily, but then routinely promoted or transferred to other areas of L.A. County. He said that this would result in a revolving door of officers who don't know the people, places and institutions in the community. He said that having the Sheriff replace the P.P.D. would necessarily take away from the small town feel of a city.

Of all the pros and cons, the one that reasonates with me most is the threat to Pomona's small town feel. When people wonder aloud why I live in Pomona, it's not just that I live in a great old house, but what keeps me here is the sense of community. I strongly believe that disbanding the Pomona P.D. would directly affect the quality of my life here in Pomona. I don't want to be another anonymous L.A. County town whose been stripped of most of it's personality. But then again, I don't like to shop at Walmart either.

Anybody have some thoughts on this, including the members of local law enforcement who read the blogs?

Thanks to Ren for today's image. For more of his images of Pomona, click here.