Orange County Sheriff Made Donors His Deputies (86 friends& relatives)

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/latimests/2005...


Shortly after he took office, Orange County Sheriff Michael S. Carona and one of his top assistants deputized 86 friends, relatives, political contributors and others, giving them badges, powers of arrest and in some cases guns — despite the fact that none had background investigations and some had not been fully trained.

Three years later, the state's Commission on Peace Officers Standards and Training removed all 86 of the reserve deputies from California's peace officer database, which meant the commission no longer recognized them as peace officers. Even so, 56 still have their badges and identification cards, and 14 have concealed weapons permits.

A commission executive said he knows of no other case in which reserves have been removed from the database. The commission does not have the power to force a police agency to comply with its rules, but it can decertify a reserve program — a step that would jeopardize the program's funding and credibility.

A Sheriff's Department audit, which is continuing, has determined that six of the volunteer deputies were performing police duties. Department officials ordered the six to stop performing police duties until background and training questions were resolved. The department had issued guns to four of the six, who have since returned the weapons.

<snip>
Of the original 86 reserve deputies, 29 had contributed to Carona's inaugural election campaign in 1998 and his re-election campaign in 2002. Several others hosted fundraisers for him or the Mike Carona Foundation, a philanthropic group. The list includes physicians, lawyers, business owners and one of Orange County's top restaurateurs, who has hosted several Carona fundraisers.

Several of the reserve deputies had ties to former Assistant Sheriff Donald Haidl, who established the reserve program for Carona. Among them are Haidl's brother, sister, nephew and two other relatives. Haidl's private pilots, his personal secretary and other employees from his auction company also were deputized.

that bastion of Conservative ideals in an otherwise Progressive State. I'm guessing this Sheriff is of the Conservative persuasion and sees absolutely nothing wrong with deputizing his family and "closest friends" to form his own little Orange County Gestapo.

:eyes: Only in a Conservative County could something like this occur.

That was a politcal "bonus" for backing the Sheriff, getting a "Special Deputy" badge.

most people just took them home and put them on the fireplace mantle, but there always a few dumbasses who'd outfit their Lincolns and Caddies with red lights, radio and siren and start carrying a gun and wearing their badge on their belts.
They'd usually stop that shit after the county party chair had a firm talk with them...