Sacramento County inspector general resigns, leaving gap in jail and sheriff oversight

Sacramento County’s inspector general resigned effective Feb. 1, leaving vacant the county’s key office charged with providing independent oversight of the Sheriff’s Office and investigations of use-of-force cases.

Mark Evenson, a retired Brentwood police chief, took the position in December 2019. The position was vacant for more than year prior to his appointment, which followed Sheriff’s Scott Jones’ move to lock then-Inspector General Rick Braziel out of department buildings and jails in August 2018.

During his tenure, Evenson investigated high-profile shootings, in-custody deaths, overcrowded and degrading county jails, department policies, and crushing waves of COVID-19 cases that have killed at least three incarcerated people since the pandemic.

In a text message to The Bee, Evenson said he notified supervisors on Nov. 30 “that I had to resign from the IG position due to medical reasons and that my last day in the position would be January 31, 2022.” He added, “I will not be doing any interviews with the media.”

The inspector general is tasked with investigating and auditing the county’s law enforcement agency. During his tenure, Evenson released one report on summarizing cases and recommendations from 2020, a shorter end-of-year report for 2021, and a review of COVID-19 outbreaks at jails.

“The overpopulation in the jails continue to be an issue,” Evenson wrote in his report on COVID-19 cases. “Even with the overpopulation issue in mind, it is difficult to understand the decision to place potentially infected inmates in the same housing pod with those being quarantined. Though we may never know if this decision actually contributed to the outbreak, it was a poor decision that should never happen again.”

There were six officer-involved shootings in 2021, and nine in-custody deaths. In 2020, the Sheriff’s Office reported three officer-involved shootings, and six in-custody deaths.

None of Evenson’s reports included summaries or findings from these cases because the Sheriff’s Office considers them all open investigations, and the District Attorney’s office has not sent the inspector general office final analyses and determinations.

Because of the vacancy, residents can no longer file a complaint or commendation about a Sheriff’s Office employee with the inspector general. Instead, the county is asking residents to submit reports to the Sheriff’s Office Internal Affairs Unit.

Sacramento County’s personnel services department is preparing to begin recruiting for a new inspector general, county spokeswoman Kim Nava said.

The Board of Supervisors chair and county sheriff will ultimately select the inspector general. Don Nottoli serves as board chair in 2022, and Jones — who announced last month he’s running for Congress — will be sheriff until his term ends this year.

“Hopefully we get some good candidates,” Nava said. “(County staff) understand it’s an important position, and they want to make sure they get the right person for the job.”

This story was originally published February 12, 2022 at 3:25 AM.