Ignorant remarks by county supervisor proving valuable lobbying tool
Date: 12/18/2009
The ignorant and insulting remarks of San Bernardino County Supervisor Neil Derry are serving as more drumbeats in the battle to get Department of Mental Health Director Stephen Mayberg to increase hospital police staffing and arm his officers.
On December 16, CSLEA legal representatives David De La Riva and Ryan Navarre, Legislative and Political Liaison Coby Pizzotti and Hospital Police Association of California President Lorenzo Indick visited Patton State Hospital to collect additional information for Pizzotti's and Indick's meeting with Dr. Mayberg on Monday, Dec. 21 in Sacramento.
In commenting on staffing cuts to correctional officers, Derry said, "The state of California made a promise to the people of San Bernardino and Highland that this facility [Patton] would be adequately guarded to protect public safety. I am not going to sit back and allow the only buffer between a violent felon and an innocent civilian be an untrained, unarmed Department of Mental Health employee." In a November 11 article in the Riverside Press Enterprise, Derry went as far as to call the police at Patton as a group of "rent-a-cops."
After CSLEA applied some media heat, Derry backed off, but only slightly, wondering in another Press-Enterprise report on Nov. 19 if hospital police were as effective as other law enforcement officers.
After touring Patton, the CSLEA crew learned that cutting 13 correctional officers doesn't seem to be the real issue at hand, but rather the staffing levels of hospital police officers should be of greater concern to Derry. Patton's budget calls for 48 hospital police officers, but there are only 25 currently on duty. This shortage of HPO's has forced hospital administrators to resort to minimal coverage, especially during graveyard shifts. In fact, during one four-hour period in the early morning, there is only one HPO on duty to cover the entire hospital.
This dangerous lack of staffing not only leaves patients in critical danger from attacks by other patients, but also the absence of care staff on duty during this period further exacerbates the situation. Although CSLEA didn't expect he would, Derry has not accepted its sincere offer to join forces in order to lobby for the safety of the communities he publicly worried about. Were his concerns real and not merely posture, he would be actively lobbying the administration to increase the pay of hospital police officers so the Department of Mental Health could recruit HPO staff to fill vacant positions not only at Patton, but at other state hospitals as well.
CSLEA representatives also discussed other issues with Patton officers. Pizzotti gave an update on the state's fiscal climate and looming $20 billion budget shortfall and provided an analysis on the crucially important governor's race in 2010. Navarre and De La Riva fielded questions regarding working conditions and grievances that CSLEA has filed on properly equipping officers, and they discussed furloughs and overtime.
Check this Web site for a report on the Dec. 21 meeting with Dr. Mayberg.
| contactus@cslea.com | (800) 551-1414 | 2029 H Street • Sacramento, CA 95811 |