Disagreements lead 4 members of committee examining reforms for KCSO to resign

Feb. 10—Continuous disagreements between divided factions in a citizen's committee advising reforms to the Kern County Sheriff's Office as is required by the state Department of Justice led to resignations from the panel's leaders, the group's members and Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood said Friday.

Composed of volunteers, the Community Advisory Council is tasked with revising KCSO's policies on use of force, stops and searches, community policing, language access and more after the Sheriff's Office signed a stipulated judgment with the California DOJ. Then-Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced in 2020 that KCSO violated residents' constitutional rights and KCSO agreed to reform policies rather than admit legal fault.

The departures delay the changes KCSO must enact to ensure better policies dictate how policing is done in Kern County and, according to the state DOJ, abide by the U.S. Constitution. Youngblood has previously denied deputies trampled people's fundamental rights.

"We had two years of work that really took a hit yesterday and I felt it was important to let you all know that," Youngblood said to reporters at the KCSO headquarters on Norris Road on Friday. "Now, we have to go back and re-form a committee and start over."

At least four people resigned this week: Arleana Waller, the founder of the CAC; co-chairs of subcommittees Susan Lawol and Tiara King; and community member Mardi Sharples. They resigned after two meetings this week discussing bylaws governing the council turned "disruptive" and "accusatory," Youngblood said. He blamed the American Civil Liberties Union and the Dolores Huerta Foundation for debating every line of text, which led to nothing being accomplished during both meetings.

ACLU senior policy advocate Rosa Lopez disagreed with this characterization and said there were differences of opinion. She added in a phone interview with The Californian that while leaders must be appointed and the bylaws must be revisited, the work will not be affected because she and the deputies have a good relationship to keep their policy discussions going.

"It's unfortunate because I do think they could bring powerful voices to the table," Lopez said of those who resigned. "But, it's unfortunate that they chose to just leave instead of address this challenging conversation."

The Dolores Huerta Foundation did not return multiple requests for comment Friday.

King, who was the co-chair of the policy committee, said in a phone interview conversations between CAC leaders and some members became stagnant and wouldn't bear productive results. She noted ideas were frequently met with resistance, which turned the atmosphere hostile — resigning allows the CAC to continue its work with the KCSO in an unrestricted way.

"The stipulated agreement brought on, in my opinion, brought on a lot of egos and power struggles," she added.

Two people who were present at the first of the two meetings this week noted its divisive nature to The Californian.

The name-calling and the "putting down" marred the meeting, and it's regrettable both sides couldn't overcome their differences, said Genora McClanahan, a CAC member and the owner of It's Because of Love.

Waller, Lawol and King resigned from the committee and plan to keep working with the KCSO on this work to voice opinions of those who trust them. These women had difficult conversations about deputies' tactics and at first neither side trusted one another. But that relationship evolved and is now filled with productive conversations, Youngblood said, while adding he has no problem with CAC leaders.

Problems arose when KCSO deputies were held accountable by the ACLU and others rather than receiving a rubber stamp from CAC leaders, Lopez said. She said bylaws dictating how the CAC functioned were confusing and didn't provide a structure moving forward to accomplish what's required under the stipulated judgment.

She wanted to establish who's considered a member and who can vote. The active community member — who also serves on a similar community panel advising reforms to Bakersfield Police Department policies — added it wasn't until she joined CAC that they held community forums to collect thoughts on KCSO's presence in Kern County and revise the use-of-force policy. Lopez said it's not like work didn't happen when CAC first launched in 2020, but it accelerated with her participation.

Lawol told The Californian the work done prior to Lopez joining CAC allowed them to hold these in-person public meetings and draft use-of-force policies. CAC has finished examining the use-of-force policy and is reviewing the stop, search and seizure policy over the past two years. Adopting bylaws was a fairly recent decision the CAC made.

Lawol also thanked Lopez for her work and added her experience with the ACLU elicited great ideas.

"It was a group effort," Lawol noted.

Waller, the founder of CAC, wasn't available to comment Friday because she said she was traveling. In a letter dated Thursday to Youngblood, she noted their original mission has been "subverted by politics and bureaucracy" and no work can be done without "mutual respect."

You can reach Ishani Desai at 661-395-7417. You can also follow her at @_ishanidesai on Twitter.