Sacramento Sheriff’s Office to get new inspector general as Scott Jones’ tenure winds down
Sacramento County on Tuesday appointed a new inspector general for the Sheriff’s Office, filling a post charged with giving independent oversight of the law enforcement agency.
The position has been vacant since Feb. 1, when retired police chief Mark Evenson resigned as inspector general.
The Board of Supervisors named Francine Tournour, a former Contra Costa County deputy sheriff to the position who for 13 years held a position reviewing misconduct allegations against Sacramento police and firefighters.
Tournour most recently served as director of the City of Sacramento Office of Public Safety Accountability, where she conducted complex investigations concerning the city’s 1,300 employees. She retired from the position in 2019.
“I am excited to be back in the Sacramento region in my new role as Sacramento County’s Inspector General,” said Tournour said. “I look forward to engaging with the community, addressing important issues and working toward positive outcomes.”
Evenson served as Sacamento County’s inspector general since December 2019. He followed Rick Braziel, whom Sheriff Scott Jones locked out of department buildings and jails in August 2018 during Braziel’s review of a 2017 incident in which officers shot a mentally disturbed Black man.
Tournour will take office in the final months of Jones’ 12-year-run as sheriff. Jones did not seek reelection. Democratic Assemblyman Jim Cooper of Elk Grove is scheduled to take office as sheriff in January.
Tournour will $165,000 over a one-year contract that can be extended.
She was identified as the best applicant by the county’s volunteer Community Review Commission and by a second panel that included Supervisor Don Nottoli, Sheriff Jones, and representatives for both the Law Enforcement Management Association and the Sacramento County Deputy Sheriff’s Association.
This story was originally published August 23, 2022 at 5:25 AM.
