Report 2017-101 Recommendation 3 Responses

Report 2017-101: Concealed Carry Weapon Licenses: Sheriffs Have Implemented Their Local Programs Inconsistently and Sometimes Inadequately (Release Date: December 2017)

Recommendation #3 To: Sacramento County Sheriff's Department

To ensure that staff are gathering consistent evidence from applicants to demonstrate residency, good moral character, and firearms training and are including which requirement applicants did not meet in its denial letters, by March 2018 Sacramento should create formal CCW processing procedures and train its staff to follow these procedures. These procedures should require staff to gather and evaluate the information the department believes is required to demonstrate that each of the criteria for a CCW license has been met, and they should also require staff to include which requirement applicants did not meet in its denial letters.

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From October 2023

As of January 2018 the following procedures have been in practice for the Sacramento County Sheriff's Office Concealed Weapons Permitting Office.

New staff are provided one-on-one on-the-job training. More experienced staff are always available to answer questions when they arise. A training manual has been written and is available for future reference. In addition, when any changes are made or suggestions on how the backgrounds could be improved, emails are sent accordingly to all staff.

Regarding requiring staff to gather and evaluate the information the department believes is required to demonstrate that each of the criteria for a CCW license has been met, our Unit emails all CCW staff members as changes arise.

For the issuance of the new, initial CCWs, a senior staff member makes a final review to ensure all criteria have been met.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Pending

To support its response, the Sheriff's Office provided a handout explaining its CCW policies and procedures to the public, but it did not provide evidence that it established CCW processing procedures for its staff. Further, it did not provide any evidence that it trained its staff in following processing procedures.

All Recommendations in 2017-101

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.