Topline:
California Attorney General Rob Bonta said Thursday he’s investigating allegations of a pattern or practice of excessive use of force and other civil rights violations by the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, noting the county “has among the highest both in raw numbers and in per capita data deaths in custody, high levels of use of force in custody, of using your firearm, of deaths by firearm.”
The Sheriff’s Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Why it matters: Eighteen people died in Riverside County jails in 2022 — the most in at least 15 years. Community activists have long complained about unfair treatment of people of color in custody and on the streets by sheriff’s deputies. The department is the fourth largest sheriff’s agency in the nation.
The backstory: In a letter to the state agency that oversees local jails earlier this month, the ACLU of Southern California and two community groups claimed Riverside County correctional officers smuggle in drugs as jail overdoses climb, relatives were notified days after a loved one’s death in jail, and an incarcerated person was given “puzzle books” as mental health treatment.
A controversial sheriff: Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco is a one-time member of the right-wing militia group The Oath Keepers and supports the “Constitutional sheriffs” movement, which asserts that federal and state authorities are subordinate to a local sheriff’s authority. Last year, Bianco appeared with a controversial far-right figure at a political fundraiser.
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