Sacramento County Sheriff Jones has an opportunity to restore trust. He should take it

The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a new memorandum of understanding with Sheriff Scott Jones on Tuesday that will make it easier for the board to hold accountable a law enforcement officer who has acted unilaterally and without transparency.

Sheriff Jones should sign the memorandum of understanding immediately. It would be a sign to county residents that he’s serious about making needed changes to protocols of how his office works with the inspector general’s office.

The sheriff’s locking the inspector general out of an office wasn’t a process, it was power-grab. And the MOU creates a basic process where none existed before.

However, Sacramento County residents also deserve assurances that there are consequences if Jones doesn’t comply with the MOU process.

Jones has deliberately kept details of officer misconduct from the public, including his own, such as refusing to release information until a court order compelled his office to share records with The Sacramento Bee.

During his leadership, jail inmates have sued the county over inhumane conditions. A female deputy once accused Jones of unwanted sexual advances. Meanwhile, Jones allows Netflix producers to stage scenes inside his jail.

With the new agreement, there is now a process for the sheriff to share information with the inspector general so the inspector can review incidents such as deputy-involved shootings. The MOU provides a dispute resolution process should Jones or the board disagree about the inspector general’s “performance, obligations or scope.”

This type of process didn’t exist when Jones effectively ended the tenure of former Inspector General Rick Braziel when he physically locked the inspector out of the sheriff’s office.

Jones didn’t like Braziel’s report on the fatal shooting of a suspect by deputies. The county has been without an inspector general for more than a year, which is a disservice to all Sacramento County residents.

The board approved a new inspector general Tuesday, retired Brentwood Police Chief Mark Evenson, following a rushed and opaque process.

The Board of Supervisors didn’t disclose Evanson’s name when it first announced intentions to vote on his appointment last month, and only after The Bee inquired. The Bee’s Alexandra Yoon-Hendricks requested an interview schedule under the California Public Records Act just to find out who the other two finalists were.

The MOU puts basic accountability provisions in place that have been lacking. It assures greater protection for the inspector general to do his job and frees the board to focus on pushing for real reforms in the sheriff’s department. One such reform could be establishing a civilian oversight commission, something we support doing, and that board chair Patrick Kennedy first discussed years ago.

Sheriff Jones must sign this agreement to restore trust in the integrity of the inspector general’s office. Sacramento County deserves transparency, not locked doors.

This story was originally published December 11, 2019 at 12:10 PM.