Two weeks ago, California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced that he was opening an investigation to determine whether the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office has engaged in a pattern or practice of unconstitutional policing.

While he did not mention any specific incidents, he did refer to “… concerning levels of in-custody deaths, troubling allegations of excessive force and misconduct.” Also, he stressed that he was reacting to community concerns about the sheriff’s office.

“When some communities don’t see or feel they are being treated equitably by law enforcement,” Bonta said in his press release, “it contributes to distrust and hurts public safety.”

But he didn’t refer to a September 2021 letter to his department from the Southern California unit of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Foundation that specifically requested, “… [he] initiate a pattern or practice investigation into the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department (RSD).”

“For years, this Department has demonstrated a pattern of racist policing practices, rampant patrol and jail deaths, and a refusal to comply with recommendations from oversight agencies and a court-mandated consent decree. Riverside County residents, particularly residents of color and low-income residents, have suffered immeasurably as a result,” the ACLU wrote as the reason and need for such an investigation.

The nine-page letter then enumerated eight areas and several specific incidents the ACLU felt were intolerable and examples of inappropriate law enforcement behavior.

The ACLU said the sheriff’s office had rejected previous grand jury recommendations. The ACLU stated that since 2014, different county juries had issued eight separate reports about the sheriff’s operations.

“The RSD has rejected nearly every recommendation made by the County’s Civil Grand Jury to improve the Department’s operations over the last several years,” the ACLU stated and attributed the refusal to adopt grand jury recommendations to both former Sheriff Stan Sniff and current Sheriff Chad Bianco.

The ACLU also criticized the sheriff’s office for how it responded to COVID-19’s threat to prisoners. In April 2020, only a month after the pandemic was seizing the country, Prison Law Office, a Berkeley nonprofit public interest law firm, filed an emergency motion to protect county inmates from the virus.

The U.S. District Judge granted the motion to have the sheriff’s office develop a plan for the safety and care of prisoners. The sheriff and Prison Law Office filed a joint plan in July.

Between March 2020 and May 2021, nine people died in Riverside County jails, but it is not known if any died from COVID-19 or its complications, according to the letter.

In February 2021, the Desert Sun reported, “State corrections officials say they’re confident the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department is doing all it can to correct previous violations related to inmate safety and ensure the incarcerated are protected during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic,” and added that inmates had been provided masks and cleaning supplies, “all of which helps limit the transmission of COVID-19.” At that time one inmate and two officers had died from COVID.

Besides fatalities within the jails, the ACLU included fatal shootings attributed to deputies making arrests or responding to calls. The ACLU alleged that most of these deaths did not involve threats with a dangerous item to the officers nor involved a mental health crisis.

Other issues and incidents were cited in the letter. It is not known to what, if any, extent this was Bonta’s motivation to initiate the investigation, which is just beginning. The ACLU’s Southern California unit did not respond to requests for comment about the letter or Bonta’s recent action.