Voice of OC (https://voiceofoc.org/tag/santa-ana-police-officers-association/)
Santa Ana City Council members in a near-unanimous vote of the majority Democrat panel approved a budget Tuesday that increases police spending by nearly $3 million.
Aggressive police unions, spending on law enforcement over youth programs and few citizen oversight boards — activists and leaders say OC’s debate is years in the making.
What happens today could set the stage for the November general election, and impact the future of Santa Ana politics. If voters want Iglesias out, they’ll have three different replacement candidates, all backed by different people, to choose from.
Gerry Serrano, President of the Santa Ana Police Officers Association writes that who holds dirty politicians accountable? Cecilia Iglesias’s unethical and illicit behavior has been repeated and continuous. She is not above the law and should be removed from office.
The recall campaign was largely funded by the city’s police union after Iglesias opposed controversial pay raises for police officers last year. It’s one of the city’s first recall campaigns in years that’s been successful enough to go forward with an election.
Two recall movements in two neighboring cities are on the move against elected officials this year – one in Westminster that’s guaranteed a recall election and another in Santa Ana that has gathered the signatures but won’t find out until next month from county officials whether it can move forward.
DA records contradict its public statements for why the DA’s office did not file DUI hit-and-run charges against Santa Ana police Sgt. Gerry Serrano, who now leads the city’s influential officers’ union.
It’s the latest twist in a months-long saga over the police raises, which tie up most of the new money from Santa Ana’s recent $60 million sales tax increase approved by voters last November.
Sgt. Gerry Serrano went from facing potential DUI hit-and-run charges to leading one of the larger police unions in California. Voice of OC is publishing portions of the DUI police report for the first time.
The suit alleges union president Gerry Serrano held a grudge stemming from then-Police Chief Carlos Rojas’ discipline of Serrano for a 2011 hit-and-run DUI arrest, and later worked to oust Rojas as part of an “illegal scheme.” Serrano and the city deny the claims.