KCSO honors COVID-19 liaison, promoted personnel
Jun. 15—Toward the end of a 33-year career devoted to a single organization, one might be inclined to take things a little easier, or coast to the finish line.
Perhaps find a quiet corner and try to bide time until the retirement party.
Not so much for Kern County Sheriff's Office Detentions Lt. Kevin Wright.
During a promotion ceremony Wednesday, Wright, who retired in March, was recognized with a commendation by Sheriff Donny Youngblood for leading the agency's response to COVID-19 throughout the pandemic, right up to Wright's retirement in March.
After the ceremony, Youngblood said Wright's work in the jails served as a model for other detention facilities.
"We had so many unknowns with COVID, and Kevin took the program and eventually, the jails in the state of California patterned what they did after what we did," Youngblood said after Wednesday's promotion ceremony.
To give scale to the task at hand for Wright and the KCSO during the pandemic, Chief Deputy Erik Levig noted that KCSO jails housed 44,000 inmates during the two-year period that Wright was in charge of the COVID response, and 442 cases were reported among inmates, or just about 1 percent, in addition to roughly 343 employees who tested positive.
As the KCSO's point person, Wright dealt with the challenges felt by many during this time, but on a scale larger than most and with unique constraints, considering the population in his charge.
Ultimately, the KCSO was one of the first agencies of its kind to require two negative tests in order for employees to return to work, Youngblood said, noting at first, other organizations early on were relying on a certain number of days before a person could return to work after testing positive. The two-test requirement became a standard, and Youngblood credited its successful implementation to Wright's leadership, as well as a great deal of teamwork and coordination by the KCSO.
"I think really, one of the most difficult things, and I think we did a good job at it, is that it was constantly changing," Wright said, referring to the need to communicate and coordinate a response to hundreds of employees, 1,000-plus inmates and their families. "Because this week, it would be this (protocol), and then the next day, it would be, 'Oh this has changed,' and then it would be, 'no, this is changed now.'"
In addition to Wright's commendation, the ceremony recognized the promotions of Cmdr. John Carpenter, Lt. Kenzo Lackey, Detentions Lt. Jeri Coulter-Laird, Sgt. Steven Davis, Sgt. Eliseo Tafoya, Senior Deputy Richard Giannelli, Senior Deputy Brandon Routh, Detention Senior Deputy Erik Johnson and Crime Scene Technician Ricardo Zavala.
