Riverside County Sheriff Announces More Layoffs

The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department announced a second wave of layoff notices on Friday — notifying employees another 100 deputies will lose their jobs in August.

It follows another round of 100 notices handed out in May.

Sheriff Stanley Sniff says the notices are going out in order to deal with deep budget cuts proposed by the County Executive Office.

Sheriff Sniff says around 500 positions may be lost — depending on the decision by the Riverside County Board of Supervisors during budget hearings on June 13th.

“These cuts are extremely deep and are going to damage frontline law enforcement,” said Sheriff Sniff.

The sheriff says hundreds of layoffs would mean fewer patrols in unincorporated areas and fewer beds in jails.

He adds that task forces targeting gangs and S.A.F.E. — which monitors sex offenders — could also be crippled.

“To have to eliminate them is just an absurdity and does not support the public interest whatsoever,” said Sniff.

Riverside County District Attorney Paul Zellerbach’s office works very closely with the gang task force and is the lead agency for S.A.F.E.

“The need is probably greater in the Coachella Valley for these gang task forces than anywhere else in the county. And that’s just a reality,” said Zellerbach.

Zellerbach is also facing a possible $5 million budget cut. He says — if approved — his office will have to pull out of those operations.

“That may compromise or make difficult to obtain convictions in some of those cases. Because, if you think about it, law enforcement can arrest all the criminals they want. But it doesn’t do any good if you arrest someone and put them in jail unless we convict them,” said Zellerbach.