Report 2021-109 Recommendation 18 Responses

Report 2021-109: San Diego County Sheriff's Department: It Has Failed to Adequately Prevent and Respond to the Deaths of Individuals in Its Custody (Release Date: February 2022)

Recommendation #18 To: Citizens' Law Enforcement Review Board

To ensure that it provides effective oversight of the deaths of individuals in the Sheriff's Department's custody, CLERB should perform an analysis of overall trends related to these deaths, including demographic information, and determine whether the trends suggest deficiencies in the Sheriff's Department's policies and procedures. Based on these trends, it should also identify policy recommendations for improving the safety of the individuals in the Sheriff's Department's custody. To increase transparency, CLERB should include these trends and analyses in its annual reports starting with its 2021 report, which it should publish in 2022.

1-Year Agency Response

The current EO has prioritized in-custody death investigations and the analysis of overall trends related to the deaths, to include demographic information. The current EO has committed to expanding the reporting to include an analysis of overall trends related to deaths, including demographic information and whether the trends suggest a deficiency in the SDSD's policies and procedures, in the 2021 Annual Report and all subsequent Annual and Semi-Annual Reports. In addition, all CLERB policy recommendations made in 2021 were included in the 2021 Annual Report, which was approved by CLERB in August 2022 and presented to the Board of Supervisors later that month.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Fully Implemented

CLERB's 2021 Annual Report and 2022 Semi-Annual Report include metrics related to deaths in detention facilities, including demographic information. In its 2022 Semi-Annual Report, CLERB included recommendations based on data that indicated disparate enforcement of offenses. CLERB should continue to perform an analysis of overall trends related to in-custody deaths and identify policy recommendations for improving the safety of the individuals in the Sheriff's Department's custody.

6-Month Agency Response

The current EO has prioritized in-custody death investigations and the analysis of overall trends related to the deaths, to include demographic information. The current EO has committed to expanding the reporting to include an analysis of overall trends related to deaths, including demographic information and whether the trends suggest a deficiency in the SDSD's policies and procedures, in the 2021 Annual Report. In addition, all CLERB policy recommendations made in 2021 will be included in the 2021 Annual Report. The 2021 Annual Report will be presented to CLERB in August 2022.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Pending

60-Day Agency Response

The current EO has prioritized in-custody death investigations and the analysis of overall trends related to the deaths, to include demographic information. The current EO has committed to expanding the reporting to include an analysis of overall trends related to deaths, including demographic information and whether the trends suggest a deficiency in the Sheriff's Department's policies and procedures, in the 2021 Annual Report. In addition, all CLERB policy recommendations made in 2021 will be included in the 2021 Annual Report. The 2021 Annual Report is in progress. The EO will advise the CSA of the 2021 Annual Report status during its six-month update.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Pending

All Recommendations in 2021-109

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.