Voice of OC (https://voiceofoc.org/category/topics/public-safety/page/2/)
Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas may face his strongest election challenge in 20 years as his well-financed former protégé, County Supervisor Todd Spitzer, could block Rackauckas from winning re-election in the June 5 primary and instead force a run-off in November.
The judge, David O. Carter, pointed to Santa Ana and Anaheim residents and businesses who, he said, are grappling with hundreds of homeless people who formerly lived at the Santa Ana riverbed but now are in their cities due to a shelter shortage.
Undersheriff Don Barnes, Aliso Viejo Mayor Dave Harrington and Los Angeles District Attorney detective Duke Nguyen are all vying for the Sheriff’s seat on June 5.
In the days leading up to Danny Pham’s death, jail staff placed him with a man who police say confessed about two months earlier to murdering a homeless man.
The nation’s highest court decided April 16 it would not review the case, rejecting a petition by Westminster to appeal the 2014 decision by a federal court jury that awarded $3.4 million in damages plus attorney fees to Westminster Police Department officers Jose Flores, Ryan Reyes and Brian Perez.
Complicated investigations can several take years, but a deadline is looming: the expiration of the three-year statute of limitations on state perjury charges against three Sheriff’s deputies who are accused of lying under oath about their work with informants during testimonies in 2014 and 2015.
Among the options being considered are closing the city’s main library on Sundays, issuing more parking tickets, and asking voters to hike the city’s sales tax rate.
The mid-year overruns could end up eating into millions of dollars in county discretionary money that could pay for other services, according to budget documents.
The County of Orange will defend the District Attorney and Sheriff’s Department from a lawsuit over the alleged misuse of jailhouse informants, after the Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday for the county’s in-house attorneys to defend the lawsuit.
A joint task force between the Orange County District Attorney’s office and federal law enforcement agencies aimed at cracking down on local political corruption fell apart last year, after years of festering distrust between local and federal officials, according to an investigation by the Los Angeles Times.