Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith responded Tuesday to calls from the Mayor of San Jose for her to resign from office, declaring she had no intention of doing so.
Both Supervisor Joe Simitian and San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo on Monday urged the sheriff to step down, pointing to a myriad of scandals in recent years including multiple reported abuses of mentally ill inmates and an ongoing bribery scandal involving her top aides.
In her first public comments since the mayor’s call, Smith, standing alongside other county officers, pushed back and said reform is happening despite the challenges they face.
"We are severely understaffed, and that’s not only a danger to our staff, but a danger to those that we’re charged with caring for," she explained at a press conference Tuesday, adding that they need $350 million for a new jail. "It’s a staggering number but it really is much needed. A lot of it is because we need treatment areas and we also have provided some information about what the new jail system will consist of."
"Mayor Liccardo needs to focus on what it is he’s doing instead of being a mouth piece for the Mercury News," Smith, who has been in office 23 years, said.
The sheriff refused to answer a reporter’s question about whether or not she knew top aides were asking for campaign contributions in exchange for concealed gun permits.
Criminal defense attorney Paula Canney, who appeared alongside Smith at the Tuesday briefing, said it’s ridiculous to target the sheriff when the mental health of inmates is on the table.
"We have a fundamentally broken system, and that system is broken because we criminalize mental illness," Canney said. "Mental illness is a public health crisis, it is not a criminal justice problem."
"Hurting Sheriff Smith doesn’t help mentally ill people. The only thing that’s going to help mentally ill people is to fund public health mental health facilities. That’s what’s going to solve this problem," she added.
Liccardo has no official say over the sheriff's position, any action must be taken by the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors.
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