How San Mateo County’s next sheriff will weather a staffing shortage, manage a budget in excess of $250 million and adapt to a shifting criminal justice landscape are top of mind for the two candidates hoping to lead the county’s law enforcement.
With deputy sheriff Mark Melville stepping forward to challenge incumbent Carlos Bolanos, the June 5 election will pit Melville’s call for a restructuring of the more than 800-person office and review of the officers’ training programs against Bolanos’ experience and past history with the office and its recent challenges.
Both Melville and Bolanos pegged staffing as an ongoing strain on the office as the rising cost of living in the region presents difficulties for agencies seeking to hire qualified personnel. Having served as sheriff since he was appointed in 2016 and as undersheriff since 2007, Bolanos acknowledged the shortage of qualified personnel has required him to consider asking officers to work overtime or make adjustments to the number of personnel hired with special expertise, such as investigators.
“We’re struggling to fill our positions as is all law enforcement in the region,” he said.
Melville said the staffing shortage has resulted in a tense working environment in which overworked personnel are required to work an extra 12-hour shift every week, leaving room for errors and slow response times.
“I see deficits in every department,” he said. “We’re obviously short a lot of personnel and that hasn’t helped us.”
Melville said the training officers receive has also suffered in recent years, for both mid-level and new officers, who would benefit from working with experienced officers and developing interpersonal skills that can de-escalate crisis situations, and added he would support a greater focus on making sure personnel are getting the appropriate training given their experience levels.
“That’s where I think our training programs need to be a little bit longer and a little more personal,” he said.
While Bolanos acknowledged overtime levels are currently high at the Sheriff’s Office, he pointed to a good working relationship with the union as an indication morale would remain very good in the months to come. Despite the pressures of overtime and understaffing, Bolanos added his office has been able to maintain public safety in the county as well as a $16 million surplus while at the helm of the Sheriff’s Office.
Bolanos said sound financial management of the Sheriff’s Office’s costs has allowed for necessary investment in equipment and services, adding the new Siebel Firearms Range at the Coyote Point Recreational Area was funded mostly through private donations and without having to ask county officials for additional funds.
With experience as the city manager of Livingston and as the police chief and city manager of Gustine, Melville said he’s well-positioned to shape policy and chart out a new structure for the office. Though he pegged training and recruiting as top priorities if he were elected, Melville said much of the change he envisions for the Sheriff’s Office comes down to a philosophical difference on how the organization should be run, favoring a ground-up approach in which all officers and the public can inform a predictive policing model. Melville said he’s observed many divisions staffed with senior personnel where they’re not needed, making the organization top heavy.
“We hire a lot of people with expertise that we don’t use, and that’s very frustrating to me,” he said.
Melville’s motivation to put his hat in the ring is rooted in a desire to give county residents chance to elect their sheriff, noting Bolanos’ appointment to the role by the Board of Supervisors two years ago when his predecessor Greg Munks stepped down before the end of his third term was rushed and should have been handled differently.
“Everything’s been handed down, and I said ‘that’s wrong,’” he said. “We need to allow the people of San Mateo County to elect their sheriff.”
A 2007 scandal in which Bolanos, who was undersheriff at the time, and then sheriff Greg Munks were discovered at a Las Vegas brothel during “Operation Dollhouse,” a series of raids by local and federal authorities, has trailed Bolanos, even though he confirmed with the Daily Journal a previous statement that he did not step foot in the brothel. Both Bolanos and Munks, who were in town for 120-mile law enforcement run known as the Baker to Vegas Challenge Cup Relay, were detained for a short time and released and neither was arrested or charged.
Bolanos said he’s been staying focused on running the office instead of being distracted by talk of the incident, pegging county law enforcement’s engagement in the community and a strong sense of the Sheriff’s Office role in addressing fears in the county’s immigrant population about the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activities in recent months are among his proudest achievements during his tenure.
He said programs like the Sheriff’s Activities League, which offers after-school programs in areas like unincorporated North Fair Oaks, and the Community Alliance to Revitalize Our Neighborhood, have gone a long way to establish trust between local enforcement and the community and played an instrumental role in spreading the word about the county’s policy that it does not directly enforce federal immigration laws.
“For the criminal justice system to work, people need to trust law enforcement,” he said. “They need to report crimes … they need to participate in the system or else all of us become less safe.”
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Look, folks--when you're staying at a nice hotel in Vegas, you can get all the spa services you want. You don't need to have a cab driver take you to an unmarked business. Period.
What about kids in the county? Sheriffs department dropped the ball on that millbrae teacher abusing a student.
The public forum I attended had a Q&A, Bolanos was asked to address it. He said the employee was still at work, that people make mistakes, and the employee repented for his mistakes.
I dont care about repentance! I dont care that you're sticking up for an employee. I live here and it could've been my kid... I want Mr. Bolanos to tells us what happened and then tell us what he's going to do to ensure it wont happen ever again.
It seems like Melville has little to no experience managing such a large force. Being the police chief and city manager of two small towns just does not cut it. Bolanos seems like he has some skeletons in his closet, but at least he has the experience to manage a large county program.
Mr. Morris : “Some skeletons in his closet? “ Not many sheriffs in this country are cited in a report funded by US Department of Justice that say they were detained in an FBI sting where trafficked minors are found. One was 15. Breaking the law; arrogance towards public; dismissive attitude toward voters and the truth. Absolutely no place for someone like that. Please read comment by “ Dirty County”. Morale at an all time low; fear of retaliation if they speak out and support Melville. You might want to talk to some deputies. I know three outstanding employees in sheriff’ s office who left because they couldn’t take the bullying at the top.
I or
Ra, including a 15 year old
Having worked many years in a large government agency, I can say, our best leaders were the outsiders who had a diverse background and had a fresh perspective.
The size of the workforce didn't matter, because they weren't micromanaging the individual number of people, but instead were ensuring the supervisors, middle managers, and upper managers were held accountable, were trained, and were managing their workforce appropriately. I dont think size matters much when you're the sheriff, you're elected, you have to split your focus between the people and your organization. Bolanos focuses too much on the organization and managing its size and its sizable budget, but what about the community and being visible to them? I live in this county, outside a political event, I've rarely seen him present at anything until election season came up
Some skeletons in his closet? The second highest law enforcement agent undersheriff Carlos G. Bolanos was caught and detained by the FBI along with 4 other law enforcement agencies, what crime or behavior would be unacceptable for you ?
If he was just a Deputy with or without the education he has, Bolanos would have dragged over the coals by the local media.
There is another example of a sex related crime that shows Bolanos’ office failed, a female Millbrae teacher was sexually molesting a young girl, two calls to his office and one of them was from the parents of the young girl. It took the San Bruno Police to catch and investigate, and the SMC District Attorney’s office prosecuted the case.
Ask the SMDJ to print the FBI documents I presented to the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors on March 13, 2018. After that day the SMDJ got copies of the documents from S.M.C. BOS.
Again this was one family of pimps that were rotating the sex slave children and women from one illegal brothel to another, in the sting called OPERATION DOLLHOUSE.
In Las Vegas the Police do not charge the johns, but they do charge Prostitutes.
In OPERATION DOLLHOUSE no women or children were charged, why?
The children and women were sex slaves!
No , Bolanos doesn't have skeletons in the closet, he was HIDING in the closet when the LVPD raided the underage human trafficking whorehose.
I have seen the report prepared by Shared Hope with funding from the United States Department of Justice, titled " Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking- Las Vegas, Nevada." It's a devastating report of the trafficking of minors in Nevada. Munks and Bolanos are singled out and cited for being detained at the brothel in the Operation Dollhouse incident. What I found most significant is that the report stressed that MINORS were found at the residence where Munks and Bolanos were detained ,and faulted the media for not reporting this. Didn't see any mention of minors found there in this article, or in today's Half Moon Bay Review article. One witness I spoke to who was at the jail in Las Vegas when the sad trafficked women in Operation Dollhouse were brought in stated that the minor at the brothel where Munks and Bolanos were detained was just 15, a Latina, in handcuffs and looking "absolutely terrified." THAT is the issue here. Not some bogus red herring as to whether Bolanos was in the brothel or not. He wasn't down the street or across town. He was there, and the FBI saw sufficient cause to detain him. Yet Mr. Bolanos is still hiding behind Munks with his "explanation" *cough* instead of manning up and facing citizens head on about how on earth they ended up at a filthy rundown hovel where there had already been a prior police bust, where even neighbors knew bad stuff was going down. But he won't answer questions. He's too scared. This will follow and dog him for the rest of his life. Karma.
https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2008/04/18/lawmakers-demand-probe-of-sheriffs-las-vegas-brothel-visit/
"Lawmakers Demand Probe of Sheriff's Las Vegas Brothel Visit"
-“This cries out for a comprehensive external investigation because the highest law enforcement officer in the county should not be under any suspicion of illegal activity at any time ever,” said Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Hillsborough. “I don’t think the public is naive, and I don’t think they’re stupid."
_______________________________________________-
Sadly, there was never a full investigation done by anyone in San Mateo County whose job it was to get to the truth. Everyone - from then DA Jim Fox and current DA Steve Wagtsaffe, to the Board of Supervisors, just passed the buck.
I recommend that voters contact Congresswoman Speier- who has not endorsed Mr. Bolanos- and ask her to endorse Mark Melville for Sheriff
For voters who are not familiar with Operation Dollhouse, where former Sheriff Munks and current appointed Sheriff Carlos Bolanos were caught and detained in an FBI sting at a brothel with trafficked minors, the best place to start is to read a story by former Bay Area News Group reporter Michael Manekin, "Lawmakers Demand Probe of Sheriff's Las Vegas Brothel Visit" April 18, 2008. It is the best piece of investigative reporting on Dollhouse. I think voters will have a clear view of who to vote for after reading this.
https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2008/04/18/lawmakers-demand-probe-of-sheriffs-las-vegas-brothel-visit/
Key Excerpts:
Munks and Bolanos ended up that night at 3474 Eldon St., a ranch home fitted with barred windows and furnished sparsely with a couch and TV in the front room and nothing but mattresses on the floors of the bedrooms, according to police.
There was no business sign on the outside of the building, which sits two miles off the Strip in a gritty residential neighborhood.
Inside, there were large boxes of condoms and great quantities of lubricant, said Lauren Hermosillo, a social worker with the Salvation Army who assisted the women inside once police arrested the people accused of selling their bodies.
Describing the house, Hermosillo said, “It smelled like urine, it smelled like feces, it smelled like cigarette smoke. It didn’t look like a massage parlor. It was very obviously not a massage parlor."
“I believed I was going to a legitimate business — it was not,” Munks told reporters in Redwood City three days after the raid.
“I’ll let your sheriff and undersheriff answer to questions about how they were found in one of our city’s brothels,” said Lt. Karen Hughes of the Las Vegas Police Department’s vice section.
Although two officers from the Las Vegas Metro Police Department- Bill Cassell and Detective Karen Hughes on the Vice squad - who was on the scene the night that Munks and Bolanos were detained, have stated that Mr. Bolanos was at the brothel, whether or not Mr. Bolanas "set foot" in it is a red herring and not relevant. He wasn't a mile away or down the street. He was THERE, on the property at a place that even neighbors in the run down neighborhood have stated to reporters that they knew there were bad things happening at that house. Bear in mind there had already been one bust on the house already. But the point is the FBI found SUFFICIENT cause to detain Mr. Bolanos along with Mr. Munks at a place where trafficked MINORS were found . That is all you need to know. Here's a very telling passage from the Redwood City Daily "News Stunned in Sin City Vice Bust" April 18 2008
http://www.topix.com/forum/source/redwood-city-daily-news/T7LQEL8UFFQB657QT/stunned-in-sin-city-vice-bust
Redwood City Daily News:
Las Vegas police broke down the door to an illegal brothel, caught San Mateo County Sheriff Greg Munks inside and marched him at gunpoint out of the building and into the street.
It was shortly after 9:30 p.m. on April 21, 2007, that Munks and Undersheriff Carlos Bolanos were detained during the climax of "Operation Dollhouse," a two-year investigation targeting an alleged ring of sex traffickers.
Officers lined the sheriff up alongside a row of "Johns" who had also visited the bordello in a gritty residential neighborhood about two miles off the neon-lit Las Vegas Strip. At the sheriff's side stood his right-hand man and best friend Bolanos.
I have recently gone out of my way to get in touch with a neighbor and a couple other people who work for the San Mateo County sheriff's department. One mentioned to me, morale is in the garbage. He told me he has never seen it so low. I heard the same complaint in regards to morale from the others I spoke with.
He actually laughed as he told me about the "pointed to a good working relationship with the union as an indication morale would remain very good for the months to come" and that is just not true. He mentioned that the deputy sheriff union board single handedly made the decision to endorse Carlos Bolanos.
The vote should have gone out to all of the members of the union to get a "true" endorsement. Each of the board members are either in specialty positions or have remained in sought after positions for many years. He said on top of all that, had they not endorsed Carlos Bolanos there would have been a "price" to pay. With Carlos Bolanos "retaliation" is the name of the game. People want to speak up, but for fear of losing their job they remain silent.
Then they told me about the sergeant's union. The union had told Mark Melville that he and Carlos Bolanos would both be interviewed then a decision would be made on an endorsement.
Out of the blue (on February 2nd) , it was announced that the sergeant's union would be endorsing Carlos Bolanos. Once again just the sergeant's union board made the decision, not involving the troops.
These people all said that had a vote been taken involving the troops, there was no way Carlos Bolanos would have gotten the endorsement.
However, for the sergeants union board members a carrot was dangled. Just three days after them endorsing Carlos Bolanos (February 5th) , new, lower, qualifications for the position of Lieutenant were implemented. The qualifications that were changed were level of education and experience as a sergeant.
The level of education went from Bachelor's degree down to no degree required / but preferred.
The experience as a sergeant went from 2 years experience down to 1 year experience as a sergeant. That would mean this person would not even be off of probation, yet able to promote to lieutenant.
The people I spoke to all had the same saying, "Welcome to the good ol' boys network."
It's been 25 long years since an election for sheriff in this great county of ours. Let's make our vote count by finally getting someone in the position of Sheriff that has integrity, is honest, and will improve the sheriff's office. It has a long way to go.
Vote Mark Melville - The People's Sheriff
Please watch this video, I presented FBI documents to the SMC Board of Supervisors on March 13, 2018, it was about SMC appointed Sheriff Carlos G. Bolanos.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nh0h-v6PYg
Keyes' family was the target in OPERATION DOLLHOUSE, no other group of pimps were involved, Keyes was or is a caucasian man with a wife and extended family of Asian descent.
These sex slave women and children would be rotated from house to house, meaning sex slave brothel. The FBI report that SMDJ now has, states on page 12&13 there was a minor at the brothel. I hope the SMDJ will print it. I presented the FBI report to the SMC Board of Supervisors on March 13, 2018. I had put in a FREEDOM of INFORMATION request with the FBI on March 5, 2015, It was sent to me on Jan. 8, 2018, two months shy of three years.
April 12, 2018, the show ABC NIGHTLINE. A 15 year old teen named Jessika was sold on the Web page BACKPAGE. Jessika now a young woman has a new life, and she feels she is a survivor.
New Federal Legislation has been signed on this day to prevent such SEX TRAFFICKING on the internet.
Sadly, this did not help the sex slaves (women and children) of OPERATION DOLLHOUSE. I believe the attention was hindered because these children and women of OPERATION DOLLHOUSE were not American Citizens, they were from Asia, Mexico, Central America and South America.
DOMESTIC MINOR SEX TRAFFICKING Las Vegas, Nevada-Report By Dr. Kennedy-States on Page 9 -column 4 ---Similarly, in April 2007, there was minimal local coverage in Las Vegas when the San Mateo County under Sheriff Carlos G. Bolanos was found at an illegal brothel during Operation Dollhouse and allowed to leave the scene without arrest. Media seemed to accept without question the response when he stated that he thought the establishment, located in a private home in Clark County, was a “legitimate business. Additionally, most media failed to highlight in their coverage of Operation Dollhouse that minors were also found among the prostituted women in one of the illegally operating brothels.
WHEN ARE THE CURRENT ENDORSERS OF CARLOS G. BOLANOS GOING TO REMOVE THEIR NAMES FROM HIS WEBSITE FOR SAN MATEO COUNTY SHERIFF -ELECTION JUNE 5, 2018. SO FAR THERE HAS BEEN 4 ELECTED OFFICIALS.
SEE LINK TO DR. KENNEDY’S REPORT.
http://alexiskennedy.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Las-Vegas-SH-Assessment.pdf
I am a registered voter in San Mateo County and I do not feel like Sheriff Bolanos has been transparent or honest with the public. I am not comfortable with how he has addressed the FBI having probably cause to detain him as "election noise" or "not much to say about nothing".
With all of the news stories coming out in neighboring counties about misconduct by the sheriff, I feel that Mr. Bolanos is skirting the concerns of the constituents. I want to vote for a sheriff who will address embarrassing incidents with transparency. SFPD has been holding and advertising town halls where they meet with constituents and delve into the embarrassing and controversial actions of the department. I think Sheriff Bolanos should be available and willing to answer to the public when they ask because, unlike in San Mateo County, a sheriff is normally elected by the people. Since the sheriff is elected, I feel whoever holds that title needs to be present and forward with hearing all peoples complaints, instead of looking at them as "distractions from running the department". The sheriff has a dual responsibility to both the people and to operate a department.
As a voter, I see these articles where he was on the trip to Vegas for a public event, was detained, and is shrugging it off as nothing. As one resident in a county, if my Sheriff thinks detainment by the FBI is nothing, then how can I trust my voice or the voices of my neighbors on a major community issue will actually be addressed?
We want our next sheriff to cooperate with ICE. I would like to know their views of cooperation with Federal partners.
Who is 'we' here, Chris? Given that the vast majority of SMC voted against our cheeto-in-chief, I would say that most of us certainly do not want that.
I too expect our Sheriff to follow immigration laws.
Most people do not support releasing criminal, untracable illegal aliens into the community to strike again.
"Having served as sheriff since he was appointed in 2016"
No mention of the Illegal Appointment to Sheriff July 12, 2016, Carlos Bolanos did not fill out an application to be appointed, nobody did. Supervisor Don Horsley led this dishonest act.
"even though he confirmed with the Daily Journal a previous statement that he did not step foot in the brothel." That statement is in direct conflict with the statements from LVMPD Spokesperson Bill Cassell and Lt. Karen Hughes, two law enforcement officers who where working the night of April 21, 2007. The SMDJ has had 11 years to interview them. They both placed Bolanos INSIDE the single family residence. A question for the SMDJ to ask Mr. Bolanos is how long after the initial contact and handcuffs was it before he was released? A few minutes or several hours?
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