San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo is calling for the resignation of Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith, citing a myriad of issues that the department has been dealing with under her leadership.
Liccardo, a former criminal prosecutor, is the first elected official to call for Smith’s resignation in the wake of several scandals in the last half-dozen years of Smith’s 23 years in the position.
Smith was first elected in 1998 and won her sixth term in 2018. She was the first elected female sheriff in California. Her current term ends in 2022.
The sheriff's office has been implicated in repeated severe beatings of inmates resulting in death and serious injury, repeated concealment of facts relating to those incidents, and persistent noncompliance with independent oversight.
Tens of millions of taxpayer dollars have been paid to litigants for civil rights violations by deputies under Smith's watch, including two consent decrees resulting in $450 million in public expenditure to improve jail operations and conditions.
There's also been an ongoing bribery criminal investigation which has resulted in three indictments of two of her top aides and a campaign fundraiser, and a play-to-pay scandal relating to $300,000 in union contributions for her 2018 re-election.
In a news conference on Monday, Liccardo outlined Smith's repeated mismanagement of the jail, "violating the most basic of civil rights of its inmates," he said. This mismanagement included the death of Michael Tyree in 2015, severe head injuries to Andrew Hogan in 2018, severe spinal injury to Martin Nunez in 2019, and a seven-minute beating of a man by 31 other inmates in 2020.
Liccardo also said that he has since learned that for "several years," Smith required officers from other police departments to turn off their body cameras when bringing combative arrestees into the county jail.
In doing so, Liccardo said, that would preclude any video evidence of potential abuses by correctional officers that might come from the body cameras. Finally, he said, in June of this year, Smith halted that mandate.
Liccardo has no official say over the sheriff's position, any action must be taken by the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors.
"I think it's important for me to start," Liccardo said, as someone to call for the sheriff’s resignation. "Obviously, I represent the majority of residents in this county, my role and someone who has spent part of his career in law enforcement. I think I have some insights into the challenges that law enforcement agencies have had routinely with the department under her leadership."
Smith's office told KCBS Radio she will respond to Liccardo and hold a press conference at the Sheriff's Office headquarters on Tuesday at 9:30 a.m.
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