Chad Bianco wins Riverside County Sheriff’s race
Lt. Chad Bianco is the next Sheriff for Riverside County. With all 1072 precincts reporting, the law enforcement veteran edged out incumbent Stan Sniff by just over 13 points.
Bianco secured 56.52% of the vote (145,026), overcoming Sniff’s share of 43,48% (111,558).
According to Ray Smith, spokesman for Riverside County, by, law Bianco would officially begin his tenure as Sheriff on January 7, 2019, at noon.
Sheriff Stan Sniff issued the following statement Wednesday following Bianco’s victory:
“The public has spoken and decided upon a change in direction. I am very proud of the men and women of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, particularly in light of the work we’ve done to reduce crime – despite tough budget constraints in recent years caused by the county’s stark fiscal challenges.
The Sheriff’s Office has done an outstanding job in a broad range of areas – increasing diversity, professionalism and educational levels department-wide and enhancing the use of technology to make our department one of the very best in the nation – at a time of profound change to our state’s criminal justice system.
After 43 years of uniformed law enforcement service I will soon leave the public arena, retiring from government service to transition to other awaiting aspects of life, including a return to my longtime interest in overseas travel and exploration.
It has been an absolute honor to serve our public as Riverside County’s 13th Sheriff over these past 11 years, and that period has been the highlight of my four-plus decades of public service. I would like to thank the residents of Riverside County for the incredible opportunity.”
Sheriff’s Lt. Chad Bianco of Riverside has waged an aggressive campaign, gaining momentum after the June 6 primary, when Sniff won only 33 percent of votes cast, to Bianco’s 35 percent. The difference was made up between the other two challengers — former Hemet police Chief Dave Brown and
Deputy Miguel Garcia — neither of whom received more than 20 percent of the total.
Bianco, who has been endorsed by the Riverside Sheriffs’ Association, representing all the line deputies under Sniff’s command, has echoed concerns he advanced during the 2014 race — that the sheriff’s department has been poorly managed, and the sheriff is out of touch with the community’s needs.
“I’ll start (my term in office) by repairing the relationship between the sheriff and our deputies and will work to bring the entire public safety community in Riverside County together to make our county a safe place to live and work once again,” Bianco said in campaign literature. “Under my leadership, the sheriff’s department will be focused on community-oriented policing and a proactive approach to crime reduction.”
Up to the minute election results:
Bianco, now in his 25th year with the sheriff’s department, highlighted his opposition to Senate Bill 54, the so-called “Sanctuary State” legislation that largely prohibits local law enforcement agencies from cooperating with federal authorities in enforcing immigration law. The candidate, a self-identified Second Amendment stalwart, also said he would put an emphasis on expediting the process of issuing concealed firearms licenses, an issue that has dogged Sniff, who has been accused of ignoring a growing backlog of applications from residents.
Bianco has spent most of his time in the corrections division and has never held elected office.
Sniff was appointed in October 2007 to finish out the term of then-Sheriff Bob Doyle, who left the county for a state position. Since then, the sheriff has been elected to two full terms.
While the sheriff has earned endorsements from a long list of current and former elected officials, a few have chosen not to publicly support him in next week’s election, including county Supervisors V. Manuel Perez and Chuck Washington, as well as District Attorney Mike Hestrin.
Sniff has shied away from confrontation in the campaign, choosing instead to run on his record.
A growing concern for the county is the lack of deputies in unincorporated communities, where only two patrolmen might be available at a given time to respond to calls over a space covering several hundred square miles. Sniff has repeatedly complained to the Board of Supervisors that he’s hamstrung
by escalating costs associated with union contracts, inter-agency services and the new John J. Benoit Detention Center in Indio, leaving few resources to fund more deputies in the unincorporated areas.
The sheriff in the past has acknowledged a steady attrition rate impacting the department’s ranks, for which he has blamed a lack of county incentives to retain personnel, along with inducements from other law enforcement agencies that lure deputies away.
Sniff is quick to note that, despite his challenger’s grievances against him, the county’s overall crime rate has dropped on his watch, falling almost 9 percent last year. On his website, the sheriff touts his “four decades of law enforcement experience,” in addition to more than three decades as a U.S. Army reservist, contrasting his experience level with his challenger’s.
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