Officer.com Police Blogs & Podcasts

Tim Dees
Editor-in-Chief
Officer.com

It’s old news now, but a couple of weeks back (November 10, to be precise), the vice president of programming for an AM radio station in Tolleson, Arizona took exception to the Chandler Police Department’s characterization of a rape suspect as “Hispanic.” She notes that “Hispanic” is an ethnicity, not a race, and that it would have been more appropriate to describe the suspect as having “dark skin.” Chandler PD, bless their little sun-baked hearts, told the people at KMYL that they’re perfectly happy to keep describing their suspect as a Hispanic.

I couldn’t read this without reminiscing over the pantheon of terms for various races, ethnicities and nationalities that law enforcement and other industries have had forced on them over the years. I always seem to be behind the curve on these.

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Tim Dees
Editor-in-Chief
Officer.com

The big news in Southern California, now that it’s temporarily not burning down, is the indictment of Orange County Sheriff Michael Carona. Orange County, or “The O.C.” as it is known on TV, has the second-largest sheriff’s department in the state and the fifth-largest in the country. It’s a fairly wealthy county, so much that many of the deputies that work there can’t afford to live in their own jurisdiction.

Carona is accused of some pretty serious offenses, including the acceptance of bribes and kickbacks to the tune of $700,000—not chicken feed, even in Orange County. It is alleged that he accepted cash and favors to persuade the county board of supervisors to appoint one of his accused co-conspirators to the office of assistant sheriff, despite the lack of any law enforcement experience or qualifications. The assistant sheriff then oversaw and revised the department’s reserve deputy program, handing out deputy badges and concealed weapon permits to people with a similar lack of training, but who allegedly paid for the privilege. Concealed weapon permits are nearly impossible to obtain in Southern California, and badges are always handy for getting a pass on traffic stops and for their high CDI* factor.

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