Shout out to Sarah Rabanales, former SJPC intern, for her hard work on this piece!
The Sacramento Board of Supervisors with the help of the Community Review Commission (CRC) has finally appointed a candidate to fill the Office of Inspector General (OIG) position that has been vacant since February 1st, 2021. Although this is not a very well known position, the OIG position is very important because it oversees complaints made by the public in regards to the Sacramento Sheriff's Office (SSO).
Read more about this position in a previous blog piece of ours.
Image below pulled from this KCRA article
The search for an OIG candidate first started when the County contracted Bob Murray & Associates to execute a nationwide search for candidates for the position. Once they acquired candidates, the CRC formed their own panel to interview potential appointees. The CRC panel consisted of Chair Khaim Morton, Vice Chair Paul Curtis, Commissioner Odette Crawford and Commissioner Theresa Riveria. An additional panel consisted of Supervisor Don Nottoli, Sheriff Scott Jones, and representatives from the Law Enforcement Management Association (LEMA) and the Sacramento County Deputy Sheriff’s Association (SCDSA). These two groups came together on July 21st to conduct interviews, and came to the final consensus to appoint Francine Tournour.
Tournour, on paper, seems very qualified for this position due to her extensive experience and level of education. Her experience working within the City of Sacramento Office of Public Safety Accountability (OPSA) as Deputy Director and then as OPSA Director is comparable to the OIG position as she oversaw and conducted complex and sensitive investigations brought forward regarding City of Sacramento employees. Tournour also has a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice, and a Master’s Degree in Emergency Management. Presumably due to this experience and education, the Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to approve her appointment on August 23rd.
Although Tournour’s qualifications and recent experience may make it seem as though she is a good fit for this position, it is important to note that she started out in law enforcement, and served as a Deputy Sheriff in Contra Costa County (source linked here)
It is imperative that we, as a community, continue to INSIST on accountability from this very important office. Tournour will oversee public complaints made about the SSO, and we know this is important because we KNOW about law enforcement's current and historical abusive actions, especially to marginalized communities. As readers, we can demand that she do her job impartially and with the best interests of the public in mind, and NOT the interests of law enforcement.