Voice of OC (https://voiceofoc.org/)
While sex scandals have rocked the Santa Ana and Orange County governments in recent years, both continue to allow managers to date people they supervise and whose promotions they oversee. But new policies are in the works, officials say.
The Mission Viejo City Council unanimously voted to beef up its no-camping laws, despite warnings from lawyers and homeless activists who said the law could criminalize homelessness.
Orange County’s largest homeless camp, home to hundreds of people living along the Santa Ana River near Angel Stadium, has a new set of visitors: twice-a-week patrols by a contingent of two dozen sheriff’s deputies and other law enforcement officers.
Westminster police officers will get a salary increase each year over the next three years, after the City Council approved a new three-year-agreement for sworn and civilian Police Department employees.
Orange County officials are accepting they are “financially and legally responsible” for the Sheriff-Coroner’s misidentification of a dead body that resulted in a family unknowingly holding a funeral for a stranger.
A deputy district attorney and former judicial candidate, Karen Schatzle, has filed a federal lawsuit against the County of Orange and the District Attorney’s office alleging DA Tony Rackauckas retaliated against her and threatened her career because she ran against a judge he had endorsed.
Mission Viejo’s Mayor Pro Tem Ed Sachs told a city council meeting it could be time for south county cities to form their own police force due to the rising costs of contracting with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.
Orange County’s ethics commission now can legally meet for the first time – over 15 months after voters overwhelmingly approved its creation – after a retired judge was appointed as the third member.
The Anaheim City Council will double down on existing efforts to provide services to homeless people before eventually clearing out large encampments along the Santa Ana River.