Slaying is a Blow to a Rebounding Force (LA Times 102007) Police Arrest Man Suspected of Killing SWAT Officer (SF GATE 102007)

BS Ranch Perspective

The healing for the Rialto Police Department is a hard one, Since Serg's Murder, it has been hard for people to come to work, I cannot say that I blame them, It is just to much for one to bear, especially for someone that was so much to so many people on the Department!! If you were to stand each of the Officer's for Rialto in the place where the most fit, Serg, would have been clost to were the Heart connects to the Soul! So, what I am saying is that for now the Police Department has lost its communication between its Heart and Soul!!

I had the Opportunity to meet Sergio many times through his working career at Rialto Police Department. I met him when he was pretty new and still on training at the P.A.L. Center. (Baseline Ave @ Sycamore Ave.), then again later when he was off of training during the time that the Rialto Police Department was going to be closed Forever, after being a Department since 1911. Sergio, Corporal Black, his wife, Sergent Shawn O'Connel, were talking in front of the Rialto Civic Center, and I got the opportunity to hear his great personality at that time, It is such a devastation to the Department!!

I volunteered on the last Baker to Veges Marathon Run, and  Sergio was in  the  third or  fourth leg, which was one of the most difficult legs of that run. All or most of it was uphill with a headwind. He was did great and made great time, as did his Graveyard Partner Whom Sergio called "Kobe" also Ran a Very Difficult leg of the race. (Both of their Legs were most if not all uphill legs). You could tell that Sergio and his partner were very close and shared a great deal of their lives together not just their time at work! They were so close that the Officer who I cannot remember his Name, but I remember his 'nick name' of "Kobe" Spoke on behalf of Sergio Carrera Jr., they were very close from the time that they were sworn in to the time that Sergio had past. The Stories told of Sergio's personality was was great, I was only privileged to only a very small part of his personality, My only regret is that I didn't get to know Sergio Carrera Jr better!!

My prayers are going out to Sergio's Family, His Mother, Father, & Siblings. I am also praying for his Wife, Son, and Daughter. I am also praying for the one thing that I always pray for, and that is the Men & Woman of the Rialto Police Department! The prayer that I had prior had failed earlier, as  Sergio was called to Heaven! But I know that It isn't my place to say that or to look at this situation like this, The better way to look at this, the more healing way is to look at it this way. Even though I prayed a great prayer for the Rialto Police Department, God in all his wisdom had a much greater job for Sergio, he Must have been needed in Heaven for the SWAT entries against the Devil, in Heaven, and that is why he was called away!!

BS Ranch

Slaying is a blow to a rebounding force

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A new police chief is turning around a department that Rialto City Council members once voted to disband.

By David Kelly and Maeve Reston, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
October 20, 2007

When Officer Sergio Carrera Jr. was shot and killed while serving a search warrant Thursday, he was part of a revamped Rialto Police Department, an aggressive force under new leadership looking to put a controversial past behind it.

So while the community and fellow officers mourned the death of the 29-year-old SWAT officer Friday, there were vows to keep moving forward and not return to the days when a fed-up City Council voted to liquidate the department.

"Things have improved 100% since the new chief came in," said Mayor Grace Vargas. "They are doing what they are trained to do, getting gang members off the street. We wish things like yesterday didn't happen, but our department is now in better hands."

In 2005, Vargas was the only member of the City Council who didn't vote to disband the police and bring in the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department to patrol the streets.

"I really didn't know what was going to happen. All I knew is, I wanted my Police Department based in the community," she said. The council's decision, eventually overturned by a court order, was an expression of public exasperation with a police force in turmoil for more than a decade.

Its own officers filed more than 100 lawsuits against the department, many alleging racism and sexual harassment.

In two federal lawsuits, officers accused former Chief Michael Meyers and former Deputy Chief Arthur Burgess, both black, of discrimination against non-black officers.

The police were also accused of slow response times and letting a drug and gang culture flourish in the city of 100,000.

While crime rates fell elsewhere in San Bernardino County, they jumped 71% in Rialto between 1998 and 2004, according to FBI statistics. Mayor Vargas said 27 police officers quit during this time of turmoil.

"I didn't think so much we wanted to disband the police but I thought we needed a change," said City Councilman Ed Scott, who voted to dissolve the force.

The first thing they did was hire Mark Kling as chief. Kling had been chief in Baldwin Park.

"I think we had a lot of management problems before and the leadership was bad," Scott said. "Now morale is really good, and we are almost fully staffed."

Kling did not return calls seeking an interview.

The crime rate has dropped over the last few years, although there have been several recent shootings, including the deaths of a 16-year-old boy and Carrera.

Late Thursday, police arrested Jaranard Thomas, 32, of Rialto and booked him on suspicion of murder of a police officer. He is being held without bail and is expected to be arraigned early next week. Carrera was killed during a struggle with Thomas while serving a warrant at Thomas' house.

Yet not everyone likes new police tactics, which have included several major sweeps in the last year aimed at suspected drug dealers, similar to the one Carrera was involved in.

Around West Cascade Drive, where the officer was shot, the police came in for harsh criticism from residents Friday.

At the Whipp Appeal barbershop, several customers were concerned that the officer's death would bring more of what they described as harassment of Rialto's black residents.

Barber Ricky Davis, who counted Thomas among his weekly customers, said that during his 20 years in Rialto he had often seen officers hassle residents just because they lived in neighborhoods with drug and gang problems. "I don't think [the police] have gotten better; they've gotten worse," he said.

Customer Jay Scott said police had stopped him three times in the past two weeks while walking home. "They don't have permission to search me, but they do it anyway," said Scott, as he left the barbershop after his 4-year-old son Jermele's haircut. "They've been to my house so many times, and I'm not even doing anything for them to come to my house."

Longtime Rialto resident Mark Robinson Sr., an associate minister at Greater Faith Bible Church, supports the police but said the department needs to involve the community more.

"I still see crime as very bad," he said. "You have high functioning gang members and drug dealers who came and set up shop here and the police weren't ready for it." In response to the gang problem, Robinson is sponsoring a town hall meeting at 3 p.m. today at his church.

"I think the shooting of the police officer is going to spark even more people to come," he said. "And whatever officials don't come, they need to step out of office."

Elsewhere in Rialto on Friday, police officers tried to deal with Carrera's death. He is survived by his wife, a 2-year-old son, a year-old daughter, two sisters and his parents

Several of Carrera's former partners struggled with their emotions as they returned to work. "He was a really good street cop, soft-spoken, in control and very low key, very observant," Sgt. James Gibbons said. "He was well on his way to being an outstanding gang officer. He had a flair and a knack for identifying gang members."

Officer Robert Morales, who worked the graveyard shift with Carrera, remembered him as a diligent but funny colleague.

"He was a confident jokester who liked to stir a lot of stuff up," he said. "When he was around, everyone was smiling and laughing. He made sure everybody was laughing."

david.kelly@latimes.com

maeve.reston@latimes.com
____________________________________________________________________________________

Police arrest man suspected of killing SWAT officer

Thursday, October 18, 2007

(10-18) 23:23 PDT Rialto, Calif. (AP) --

Police have arrested a man suspected in the fatal shooting of a SWAT officer during a narcotics raid at an apartment building Thursday, authorities said.

Officers arrested Jaranard Thomas, 32, a Rialto man and booked him on suspicion of murder of a police officer, said Police Chief Mark Kling. It was immediately clear if Thomas yet had an attorney.

Sergio Carrera, 29, died after being shot in the upper body while serving a search warrant during the Thursday morning raid.

Carrera was rushed to Arrowhead Regional Medical Center after the 7 a.m. shooting, but did not survive surgery, Rialto police Capt. Raul Martinez said.

"We've suffered a great loss today," Martinez said.

Carrera had been with the department four years.

The shooting happened 45 miles east of Los Angeles. No further details were released about the search warrant.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/10/18/state/n092553D10.DTL

Rialto Police Officer is Shot During Raid, dies (LA Times Oct, 19, 2007)

BS Ranch Perspective

I Sergio Carrera Jr about four years ago when he was still on training, I didn't get to talk to him that much, but when the City Council in their FAILED ATTEMPT to CONTRACT with the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department, I got to Talk to Sergio for longer periods of time in front of the Police station, and hew as a very nice guy, He was one that truly didn't want to see Rialto (Back at that time) go to the County of San Bernardino for Law Enforcement Duties the jobs for many that were at Rialto didn't know what or where they would be assigned by the Sheriff's Department if they were taken over or Contracted with by them.

Sergio, the little that I got to know him was a man that you could obviously tell loved his family, and he just wanted what ever was best for him and his family!!

I am Truly broken up over the fact that there was such a young family that has been torn apart now, it is going to be hard for the family to adjust to the loss of the main man of the family. My prayers have been flowing for them, the children and his wife. My Gracious Lord God, it is going to be a hard for them to pick up the pieces and try to go on without Sergio!!

BS Ranch

Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times

Jessica DeMoet, a San Bernardino County sheriff's crime scene investigator, inspects Rialto Officer Sergio Carrera Jr.'s gun Thursday on West Cascade Drive in Rialto .

Rialto police officer is shot during raid, dies

Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times

Jessica DeMoet, a San Bernardino County sheriff's crime scene investigator, inspects Rialto Officer Sergio Carrera Jr.'s gun Thursday on West Cascade Drive in Rialto .

A resident of a home being raided is arrested on suspicion of murder in 4-year veteran's death.

By Maeve Reston and David Kelly, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
October 19, 2007

A Rialto police officer was shot and killed Thursday as authorities from local and federal agencies swarmed over a troubled stretch of the city serving search warrants for illegal drugs.

Sergio Carrera Jr., 29, a four-year veteran of the force and a member of the SWAT team, was shot in the chest while he and other officers struggled with a man inside one of the targeted homes.

Shooting

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Investigation

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Late Thursday night, Rialto Police Chief Mark Kling announced that they had arrested Jaranard Thomas, 32, of Rialto on suspicion of murder of a police officer.

He said speculation earlier in the day that another SWAT team officer had shot the fallen officer was incorrect. Kling took no questions and said the investigation was ongoing.

Police Capt. Raul Martinez did not offer details on how the shooting occurred. The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department was investigating.

Carrera was airlifted to Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton, where he died. He was married with a 2-year-old son and a year-old daughter.

The incident began about 7 a.m. when neighbors reported smoke, explosions and shouting. SWAT teams from the Colton and Rialto police departments, along with a few agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, raided four homes on West Cascade Drive simultaneously.

Nashalla Bell was in the house with Thomas when the shooting occurred. She said she heard the front door jiggling and was worried it was the same people who did a drive-by shooting of the house Sunday morning.

Bell woke Thomas moments before police burst through the door, she said. Her 3- and 5-year-old sons ran from the kitchen where they were getting ready to eat breakfast. She said the police ordered everyone to the floor at gunpoint.

"I couldn't see anything after that, but apparently my boyfriend got up and ran to the back and another officer went after him," she said. "I heard the shot, and I heard them say, 'Officer down.' "

Neighbors reported seeing a police officer kneeling beside Carrera, crying and embracing him.

Bell said she couldn't believe Thomas shot the officer but said he had been on guard since the drive-by shooting. "I think he probably thought the same thing I thought -- that the people who shot on Sunday was coming back," she said. "I don't think he realized it was the police."

Bell said she could not see who fired the gun or whether her boyfriend had a gun. She said police told her later they recovered firearms from the house. Martinez would not say whether Thomas was armed.

Neighbors described Thomas as nonviolent and a neighborhood chef who cooked soul food in his kitchen and sold it for $10 a plate on weekends.

Myrtle Bush said Thomas held neighborhood cookouts and was planning a surprise birthday party for one of his children later Thursday. "He's more into his kids and wife than anything," said Bush, 58.

Akeyauna Brown, 18, said that when she was at Thomas' home Wednesday braiding his cornrows, he was worried about his family's safety because of the drive-by shooting.

Carrera is the second Rialto policeman to die in the line of duty. An officer was shot and killed at a gas station in 1986.

Police gathered outside department headquarters to comfort one another Thursday. Flags were lowered to half-staff. A number of squad cars, lights flashing, escorted Carrera's body from the hospital to the coroner's office.

"He was a great officer, very well liked, very well respected. It will be extremely difficult for all of us to get over this," Martinez said. "Members of our department are in shock."

City Councilwoman Deborah Robertson met with Carrera's family at the hospital.

"It really hurts that he was a young man who was really outgoing and energetic," she said. "He was fun and everyone loved him."

Robertson said childhood friends of Carrera, who grew up in the Moreno Valley area, rushed to the hospital.

The California Highway Patrol flew his wife to the hospital in a helicopter. "She's in a daze right now," Robertson said. "She is trying to care for her kids as well as support her family."

His death shocked a city struggling to get its police force back on track and trying to rein in a crime problem that has included a recent shooting death of a 16-year-old boy at a mall.

Over the last decade, its own officers have sued the department, accusing it of widespread racism and sexism. It has been criticized for slow response times and failing to curb violent crime. The City Council voted to disband the department last year and let the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department patrol the city of 100,000. A court order overturned that decision.

Robertson said the department had been trying to rebuild. "The morale and camaraderie at the department is great," he said.

Those living on West Cascade Drive tell different stories about the neighborhood. Some say it's under siege by overzealous police; others describe it as a place of drug sales and escalating crime.

Bush said police had made it so uncomfortable to be outside over the last year that she was moving out of the neighborhood.

"They come over here and make this street seem like the worst street in Rialto, which it's not," she said. She said officers believe there is gang activity in the neighborhood because young men gather on the street. But others, including Maria Herrera, said violence in Rialto had become progressively worse since she moved into her home 12 years ago.

There are still bullet holes in the side of her house from a drive-by shooting less than a year ago. "It used to be more relaxed, more calm," Herrera said. "But lately it's been getting a lot of violence."

maeve.reston@latimes.com

david.kelly@latimes.com

Rialto Police Department No Stranger to Turmoil (Press Enterprise, Oct. 19, 2007)

BS Ranch Perspective

You know that I have been with Rialto Police Department since the beginning of 1988, and back then the Police Department was in minor Turmoil compared to what happened shortly after Edward Scott was Elected into Office. between the antics that he stirred up with his pen, and his voice at the meetings, and you know as long as I can remember he would aways say that it was never anything that he did, it was aways something that he was "forced to do" because of something that somebody on the Police Department with whom Ed Scott always pointed out, at the City Council Meetings. There for a while it was Then Raymond Farmer's Fault, & Ed Scott's plan was that Chief Farmer had to loose his job!! It was then that, we the people at Rialto Police Department were educated on what kind of a person Ed Scott was back then!! Raymond Farmer Sued "Wrongful Termination" & asked for his job back!!

It was only a short Two weeks or maybe it was three that the outcome of the Investigation on the City Council's Investigation was done. Chief Raymond Farmer, Won his case, and earned the right to be called Chief of Police for Rialto PD again, but to save FACE, The Rialto City Council got together and, asked and begged Chief Farmer to Take the following Deal and save them the heart of having to confuse the Idea of the People at Rialto Police Department, Learning to call him, Their Direct Boss again.

Chief Farmer was asked to take a "Golden Handshake Retirement" He would be paid to be a consultant to the City Administrator for the remainder of his Contract as Police Chief, and he Would also be allowed to Drive a City Automobile with a City Mobile phone (Which was very expensive back then).  Chief Farmer would take a Settlement also for the golden Handshake in the amount of one years Salary, with no taxes removed, and well it was just to much not to pass up. I mean it isn't often that you are offered a Car to drive for a year, all gas & Auto mechanics paid for, and you get a sum of cash that is estimated to equal almost 1/4 of a million dollars or $250, 000.00. I would have taken the cash too, No responsibilities, Oh, and they would pay full medical, and give a full retirement as well, even though you were a few years out from your retirement age!!! Chief Raymond took the deal I don't blame him, and in the end, Rialto was considered to the be losers, and well they viewed it as they were the winners, I cannot figure out the way that they work. But I am just a young adult....

Ever since then, when Ed Scott has been in office there has been turmoil in the City Police Department! There is a reliable Roomer that has been coming down these days that the Fire Department is now under the same weird Scrutiny, and there isn't any end in sight!! I guess there has to be an unwritten rule with the Police Department with problems or the Fire Department has problems, but either way, it is one or the other, Now that the Police Department is in order the Rialto Fire Department is Taking it in the Back side!!!

BS Ranch

Rialto Police Department no stranger to turmoil

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07:40 AM PDT on Friday, October 19, 2007

By MARY BENDER
The Press-Enterprise

Thursday's shooting death of Officer Sergio Carrera Jr., a four-year veteran assigned to the SWAT team, was a tragic loss to the 112-officer department, which had been enjoying a rebirth since city leaders decided not to disband it.

After dropping to as few as 87 members, the department is now just three officers away from returning to full strength, Chief Mark Kling told the City Council this month in introducing the latest two recruits.

"The department has really blossomed," said Fontana City Councilman Frank Scialdone, who served as Rialto's interim police chief for nine months, until Kling took office in August 2006. "Chief Kling came in and he's doing a fabulous job."

The City Council hired Scialdone, who retired as Fontana's police chief in 2004 after a 31-year career there, in December 2005 with the intention that he would guide the Rialto department's transition to being run by the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department. Two years earlier, San Bernardino County Sheriff Gary Penrod had told the council that the city could save $3.2 million if it contracted with his department.

The council's vote to disband the Police Department came in September 2005, less than a month after the police union gave Chief Michael Meyers and Deputy Chief Arthur Burgess a vote of no confidence. Officers complained that they had to fight to get updated equipment, and union officials described the pair as disengaged and intolerant of people who disagreed with them.

Scialdone remembered the tumultuous days after the decision to dissolve a police force that had been established in 1911, the same year Rialto became a city.

Story continues below

Kurt Miller / The Press-Enterprise

Serafin Dimas delivers flowers to the Rialto Police Department as Liz Rocha opens the door to help. Flags outside the building are flying at half-staff in honor of Officer Sergio Carrera Jr.

"The first week we were there, we had six officers leave to go to Riverside P.D.," Scialdone recalled Thursday. The Rialto Police Department had "tons of great employees who felt stymied," he said.

But in March 2006, city leaders did an about-face, deciding to keep the Police Department.

"Then we had to go in a 180-degree direction," Scialdone said. His task became one of rebuilding the police force.

"The department has made a transformation from when I got there in December 2005 to today," he said.

"When we got there, there was no gang unit. This was at the time that San Bernardino had just started their big gang push," he said. "Where are (gang members) going to go if you push them out of one place? They'll go someplace else."

And that gang migration came straight to Rialto, Scialdone said.

Scialdone gave credit for the improvements to a more harmonious relationship between the police union and police management, and a better working relationship between the police department and the rest of the city government.

"There was a huge amount of animosity between the union and the former (police) administration," Scialdone said. "When we went to Rialto, the police department was an island. It didn't get along with anybody."

Reach Mary Bender at 909-806-3056 or mbender@PE.com

DEPARTMENT HISTORY

SEPTEMBER 2005: Rialto City Council votes to disband the Rialto Police Department and contract with the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department.

OCTOBER 2005: Residents and police employees start a petition asking that residents be allowed to vote on the issue.

NOVEMBER 2005: Residents launch a recall effort against two City Council members who had advocated contracting with the Sheriff's Department.

DECEMBER 2005: The city appoints Councilman Frank Scialdone as interim police chief; Chief Michael Meyers and Deputy Chief Arthur Burgess retire.

March 2006: City Council ends its efforts to disband the police department.

MAY 2006: Council approves contract with police union.

AUGUST 2006: Mark Kling is sworn in as Rialto police chief.

INLAND OFFICERS KILLED IN THE LINE OF DUTY

According to the Web page of California Peace Officers' Memorial in Sacramento, these are the Inland-area officers who have been killed, both on duty and off. For more information, visit www.camemorial.org, The latest death was added from news reports.

Officer John Baird, Riverside Police Department, Jan. 1, 1912

Officer Del MacIntyre, Riverside police, Jan. 1, 1912

Marshal Grant C. Alexander, Corona Police Department, Dec. 22, 1913

Officer Ralph Maple, Colton Police Department, Sept. 16, 1916

Deputy Henry F. Nelson, Riverside County Sheriff's Department, Sept. 22, 1921

Deputy Theodore Crossley, Riverside County sheriff, Sept. 22, 1921

Officer George E. Estes, Colton police, April 13, 1923

CHP Officer Jack E. Marks, San Bernardino, April 11, 1933

CHP Officer Oscar D. McMurry, San Bernardino, March 5, 1934

Officer Henry F. "Dinty" Moore, San Bernardino Police Department, Jan. 1, 1937

Officer Clinton Burtner, Riverside police, Jan. 1, 1938

Officer Edward Bertino, Riverside police, Jan. 1, 1940

Officer Edwin A. Blakely, San Bernardino police, Jan. 3, 1942

Officer Arthur Simpson, Riverside police, Jan. 1, 1944

Officer Frank A. Rogers, San Bernardino police, Sept. 27, 1947

Officer Harris R. McCullough, San Bernardino police, Sept. 29, 1947

Officer Bernard Green, Ontario Police Deptarment, June 14, 1951

CHP Officer John W. Armatoski, Barstow, May 1, 1953

Reserve Officer Louis Dulisse, Ontario police, March 17, 1954

Deputy Howard R. Scheffler, Riverside County sheriff, Feb. 29, 1956

CHP Officer Raymond A. Geiger, Riverside, Aug. 10, 1956

Detective Russell G. Grower, Ontario police, Feb. 2, 1958

Deputy Billy R. Heckle, San Bernardino County sheriff, Jan. 1, 1960

CHP Officer Richard D. Duvall, Victorville, Feb. 23, 1960

Officer Gale G. Eldridge, Palm Springs Police Department, Jan. 18, 1961

Deputy Roger A. Strong, Riverside County sheriff, Aug. 7, 1961

Officer Lyle W. Larrabee, Palm Springs police, Jan. 1, 1962

CHP Officer Ronald E. Davis, Barstow, Aug. 18, 1962

CHP Officer William C. Isaacs, San Bernardino, Aug. 25, 1966

Sgt. William J. Rutledge, Riverside County sheriff, May 14, 1969

Investigator William F. Carter, Riverside County sheriff, May 20, 1969

CHP Officer Ambers O. Shewmaker, Banning, Nov. 24, 1969

Sgt. Darrell Keith Lee, Rialto police, July 24, 1970

Officer Paul C. Teel, Riverside police, April 2, 1971

Officer Leonard A. Christiansen, Riverside police, April 2, 1971

Lt. Alfred E. Stewart, San Bernardino County sheriff, March 9, 1973

CHP Officer Larry L. Wetterling, San Bernardino, March 9, 1973

Officer William C. Prettyman, Riverside police, Dec. 12, 1973

Deputy Edward M. Schrader, Riverside County sheriff, July 1, 1974

Officer Larry E. Walters, Riverside police, Nov. 13, 1974

Deputy Frank M. Pribble, San Bernardino County sheriff, July 6, 1975

Officer Richard M. Hyche, Ontario police, Oct. 15, 1975

CHP Officer Edward Parker III, Riverside, May 2, 1977

Deputy James B. Evans, Riverside County sheriff, May 9, 1980

Deputy Dirk A. Leonardson, Riverside County sheriff, Oct. 4, 1980

CHP Officer George R. Carey, Barstow, Feb. 24, 1982

CHP Officer Kenneth L. Archer, Barstow Feb. 24, 1982

Officer Dennis C. Doty, Riverside police, May 13, 1982

Officer Philip N. Trust, Riverside police, May 13, 1982

Investigator Michael O. Lewis, San Bernardino County district attorney's office, March 30, 1985

Deputy Clifford E. Sanchez, San Bernardino County sheriff, April 6, 1985

Sgt. Gary W. Wolfley, Rialto police, March 3, 1986

Deputy Donald James De Meulle, San Bernardino County sheriff, July 31, 1986

Sgt. Timothy Littlefield, San Bernardino police, Sept. 14, 1986

Deputy Keith B. Farley, San Bernardino County sheriff, April 12, 1987

CHP Officer Michael A. Brandt, Indio, May 6, 1987

Investigator Michael D. Davis, Riverside County sheriff, Oct. 24, 1988

David Vasquez, Cathedral City police, Oct. 28, 1988

Deputy Randy R. Lutz, Riverside County sheriff, June 22, 1989

Deputy Kent A. Hintergardt, Riverside County sheriff, May 9, 1993

CHP Officer Larry J. Jaramillo, San Bernardino, June 22, 1993

Deputy Russell Roberts, San Bernardino County sheriff, Sept. 16, 1995

CHP Officer Reuben F. Rios Sr., San Bernardino, Oct. 27, 1996

Deputy Michael P. Haugen, Riverside County sheriff, Jan. 5, 1997

Deputy James W. Lehmann Jr., Riverside County sheriff, Jan. 5, 1997

CHP Officer Saul Martinez, Indio, May 16, 1997

CHP Officer Daniel J. Muehlhausen, Indio, June 1, 1997

Officer Claire N. Connelly, Riverside police, July 12, 1998

Deputy Eric A. Thach, Riverside County sheriff, Oct. 8, 1999

Officer Russell M. Miller Sr., Chino police, Feb. 1, 2000

Officer Gerald Silvestri, San Bernardino police, Oct. 15, 2000

Detective Charles D. Jacobs III, Riverside police, Jan. 13, 2001

Deputy Brent C. Jenkins, Riverside County sheriff, March 18, 2003

Deputy Bruce K. Lee, Riverside County sheriff, May 13, 2003

CHP Officer Shannon L. Distel, Riverside, Aug. 27, 2003

CHP Officer James M. Goodman, San Bernardino, June 3, 2004

Deputy Ronald W. Ives, San Bernardino County sheriff, Sept. 1, 2004

Officer Manuel A. Gonzalez, California Department of Corrections, Chino, Jan. 10, 2005

Deputy Greg Gariepy, San Bernardino County sheriff, June 22, 2005

Deputy Daniel Lobo Jr., San Bernardino County sheriff, Oct. 11, 2005

CHP Officer G. John Bailey, Rancho Cucamonga, Feb. 25, 2006

Deputy Manuel Villegas, Riverside County sheriff, March 19, 2007

Officer Sergio Carrera, Jr., Rialto police, Oct. 18, 2007

California Officer Fatally Shot, Serving Warrant! (Officer.com Oct. 22, 2007)

BS Ranch Perspective

There isn't much to say here except, I have lost a part of my extended family, and I have to say that it hurts, Even though I met with and talked with Sergio many times over the years that he was with Rialto, but it is still hard knowing that the light that was known as Sergio Carrera Jr.'s light has been dimmed!!

I am in constant prayer for his family, his children, & his wife, all of whom have a difficult challenge ahead without Sergio. God Bless you all and Sergio is and will always be missed.

BS Ranch

______________________________________________________________

California Officer Fatally Shot Serving Warrant

Funeral information below

Updated: October 22nd, 2007 09:28 AM PDT

 

Rialto Police Department Officer Sergio Carrera Jr.

MAEVE RESTON and DAVID KELLY
Los Angeles Times

A Rialto police officer was shot and killed Thursday as authorities from local and federal agencies swarmed over a troubled stretch of the city serving search warrants for illegal drugs.

Sergio Carrera Jr., 29, a four-year veteran of the force and a member of the SWAT team, was shot in the chest while he and other officers struggled with a man inside one of the targeted homes.

Late Thursday night, Rialto Police Chief Mark Kling announced that they had arrested Jaranard Thomas, 32, of Rialto on suspicion of murder of a police officer.

He said speculation earlier in the day that another SWAT team officer had shot the fallen officer was incorrect. Kling took no questions and said the investigation was ongoing.

Police Capt. Raul Martinez did not offer details on how the shooting occurred. The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department was investigating.

Carrera was airlifted to Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton, where he died. He was married with a 2-year-old son and a year-old daughter.

The incident began about 7 a.m. when neighbors reported smoke, explosions and shouting. SWAT teams from the Colton and Rialto police departments, along with a few agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, raided four homes on West Cascade Drive simultaneously.

Nashalla Bell was in the house with Thomas when the shooting occurred. She said she heard the front door jiggling and was worried it was the same people who did a drive-by shooting of the house Sunday morning.

Bell woke Thomas moments before police burst through the door, she said. Her 3- and 5-year-old sons ran from the kitchen where they were getting ready to eat breakfast. She said the police ordered everyone to the floor at gunpoint.

"I couldn't see anything after that, but apparently my boyfriend got up and ran to the back and another officer went after him," she said. "I heard the shot, and I heard them say, 'Officer down.' "

Neighbors reported seeing a police officer kneeling beside Carrera, crying and embracing him.

Bell said she couldn't believe Thomas shot the officer but said he had been on guard since the drive-by shooting. "I think he probably thought the same thing I thought -- that the people who shot on Sunday was coming back," she said. "I don't think he realized it was the police."

Bell said she could not see who fired the gun or whether her boyfriend had a gun. She said police told her later they recovered firearms from the house. Martinez would not say whether Thomas was armed.

Neighbors described Thomas as nonviolent and a neighborhood chef who cooked soul food in his kitchen and sold it for $10 a plate on weekends.

Myrtle Bush said Thomas held neighborhood cookouts and was planning a surprise birthday party for one of his children later Thursday. "He's more into his kids and wife than anything," said Bush, 58.

Akeyauna Brown, 18, said that when she was at Thomas' home Wednesday braiding his cornrows, he was worried about his family's safety because of the drive-by shooting.

Carrera is the second Rialto policeman to die in the line of duty. An officer was shot and killed at a gas station in 1986.

Police gathered outside department headquarters to comfort one another Thursday. Flags were lowered to half-staff. A number of squad cars, lights flashing, escorted Carrera's body from the hospital to the coroner's office.

"He was a great officer, very well liked, very well respected. It will be extremely difficult for all of us to get over this," Martinez said. "Members of our department are in shock."

City Councilwoman Deborah Robertson met with Carrera's family at the hospital.

"It really hurts that he was a young man who was really outgoing and energetic," she said. "He was fun and everyone loved him."

Robertson said childhood friends of Carrera, who grew up in the Moreno Valley area, rushed to the hospital.

The California Highway Patrol flew his wife to the hospital in a helicopter. "She's in a daze right now," Robertson said. "She is trying to care for her kids as well as support her family."

His death shocked a city struggling to get its police force back on track and trying to rein in a crime problem that has included a recent shooting death of a 16-year-old boy at a mall.

Over the last decade, its own officers have sued the department, accusing it of widespread racism and sexism. It has been criticized for slow response times and failing to curb violent crime. The City Council voted to disband the department last year and let the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department patrol the city of 100,000. A court order overturned that decision.

Robertson said the department had been trying to rebuild. "The morale and camaraderie at the department is great," he said.

Those living on West Cascade Drive tell different stories about the neighborhood. Some say it's under siege by overzealous police; others describe it as place of drug sales and escalating crime.

Bush said police had made it so uncomfortable to be outside over the last year that she was moving out of the neighborhood.

"They come over here and make this street seem like the worst street in Rialto, which it's not," she said. She said officers believe there is gang activity in the neighborhood because young men gather on the street. But others, including Maria Herrera, said violence in Rialto had become progressively worse since she moved into her home 12 years ago.

There are still bullet holes in the side of her house from a drive-by shooting less than a year ago. "It used to be more relaxed, more calm," Herrera said. "But lately it's been getting a lot of violence."

Funeral Information

Visitation for Officer Carrera will be held Thursday, Oct. 25 at 6 p.m. at St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church, 14085 Peyton Drive, Chino Hills, Calif.

Funeral services will be Friday, Oct. 26 at the church at 10 a.m. with interment following at Montecito Memorial Park and Cemetery, 3520 E. Washington, Colton, Calif.

Rialto Police Dept. no stranger to turmoil by Mary Bender Press Enterprise

Rialto Police Department no stranger to turmoil

07:40 AM PDT on Friday, October 19, 2007

By MARY BENDER
The Press-Enterprise

Thursday's shooting death of Officer Sergio Carrera Jr., a four-year veteran assigned to the SWAT team, was a tragic loss to the 112-officer department, which had been enjoying a rebirth since city leaders decided not to disband it.

After dropping to as few as 87 members, the department is now just three officers away from returning to full strength, Chief Mark Kling told the City Council this month in introducing the latest two recruits.

"The department has really blossomed," said Fontana City Councilman Frank Scialdone, who served as Rialto's interim police chief for nine months, until Kling took office in August 2006. "Chief Kling came in and he's doing a fabulous job."

The City Council hired Scialdone, who retired as Fontana's police chief in 2004 after a 31-year career there, in December 2005 with the intention that he would guide the Rialto department's transition to being run by the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department. Two years earlier, San Bernardino County Sheriff Gary Penrod had told the council that the city could save $3.2 million if it contracted with his department.

The council's vote to disband the Police Department came in September 2005, less than a month after the police union gave Chief Michael Meyers and Deputy Chief Arthur Burgess a vote of no confidence. Officers complained that they had to fight to get updated equipment, and union officials described the pair as disengaged and intolerant of people who disagreed with them.

Scialdone remembered the tumultuous days after the decision to dissolve a police force that had been established in 1911, the same year Rialto became a city.

Story continues below

Kurt Miller / The Press-Enterprise

Serafin Dimas delivers flowers to the Rialto Police Department as Liz Rocha opens the door to help. Flags outside the building are flying at half-staff in honor of Officer Sergio Carrera Jr.

"The first week we were there, we had six officers leave to go to Riverside P.D.," Scialdone recalled Thursday. The Rialto Police Department had "tons of great employees who felt stymied," he said.

But in March 2006, city leaders did an about-face, deciding to keep the Police Department.

"Then we had to go in a 180-degree direction," Scialdone said. His task became one of rebuilding the police force.

"The department has made a transformation from when I got there in December 2005 to today," he said.

"When we got there, there was no gang unit. This was at the time that San Bernardino had just started their big gang push," he said. "Where are (gang members) going to go if you push them out of one place? They'll go someplace else."

And that gang migration came straight to Rialto, Scialdone said.

Scialdone gave credit for the improvements to a more harmonious relationship between the police union and police management, and a better working relationship between the police department and the rest of the city government.

"There was a huge amount of animosity between the union and the former (police) administration," Scialdone said. "When we went to Rialto, the police department was an island. It didn't get along with anybody."

Reach Mary Bender at 909-806-3056 or mbender@PE.com

DEPARTMENT HISTORY

SEPTEMBER 2005: Rialto City Council votes to disband the Rialto Police Department and contract with the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department.

OCTOBER 2005: Residents and police employees start a petition asking that residents be allowed to vote on the issue.

NOVEMBER 2005: Residents launch a recall effort against two City Council members who had advocated contracting with the Sheriff's Department.

DECEMBER 2005: The city appoints Councilman Frank Scialdone as interim police chief; Chief Michael Meyers and Deputy Chief Arthur Burgess retire.

March 2006: City Council ends its efforts to disband the police department.

MAY 2006: Council approves contract with police union.

AUGUST 2006: Mark Kling is sworn in as Rialto police chief.

INLAND OFFICERS KILLED IN THE LINE OF DUTY

According to the Web page of California Peace Officers' Memorial in Sacramento, these are the Inland-area officers who have been killed, both on duty and off. For more information, visit www.camemorial.org, The latest death was added from news reports.

Officer John Baird, Riverside Police Department, Jan. 1, 1912

Officer Del MacIntyre, Riverside police, Jan. 1, 1912

Marshal Grant C. Alexander, Corona Police Department, Dec. 22, 1913

Officer Ralph Maple, Colton Police Department, Sept. 16, 1916

Deputy Henry F. Nelson, Riverside County Sheriff's Department, Sept. 22, 1921

Deputy Theodore Crossley, Riverside County sheriff, Sept. 22, 1921

Officer George E. Estes, Colton police, April 13, 1923

CHP Officer Jack E. Marks, San Bernardino, April 11, 1933

CHP Officer Oscar D. McMurry, San Bernardino, March 5, 1934

Officer Henry F. "Dinty" Moore, San Bernardino Police Department, Jan. 1, 1937

Officer Clinton Burtner, Riverside police, Jan. 1, 1938

Officer Edward Bertino, Riverside police, Jan. 1, 1940

Officer Edwin A. Blakely, San Bernardino police, Jan. 3, 1942

Officer Arthur Simpson, Riverside police, Jan. 1, 1944

Officer Frank A. Rogers, San Bernardino police, Sept. 27, 1947

Officer Harris R. McCullough, San Bernardino police, Sept. 29, 1947

Officer Bernard Green, Ontario Police Deptarment, June 14, 1951

CHP Officer John W. Armatoski, Barstow, May 1, 1953

Reserve Officer Louis Dulisse, Ontario police, March 17, 1954

Deputy Howard R. Scheffler, Riverside County sheriff, Feb. 29, 1956

CHP Officer Raymond A. Geiger, Riverside, Aug. 10, 1956

Detective Russell G. Grower, Ontario police, Feb. 2, 1958

Deputy Billy R. Heckle, San Bernardino County sheriff, Jan. 1, 1960

CHP Officer Richard D. Duvall, Victorville, Feb. 23, 1960

Officer Gale G. Eldridge, Palm Springs Police Department, Jan. 18, 1961

Deputy Roger A. Strong, Riverside County sheriff, Aug. 7, 1961

Officer Lyle W. Larrabee, Palm Springs police, Jan. 1, 1962

CHP Officer Ronald E. Davis, Barstow, Aug. 18, 1962

CHP Officer William C. Isaacs, San Bernardino, Aug. 25, 1966

Sgt. William J. Rutledge, Riverside County sheriff, May 14, 1969

Investigator William F. Carter, Riverside County sheriff, May 20, 1969

CHP Officer Ambers O. Shewmaker, Banning, Nov. 24, 1969

Sgt. Darrell Keith Lee, Rialto police, July 24, 1970

Officer Paul C. Teel, Riverside police, April 2, 1971

Officer Leonard A. Christiansen, Riverside police, April 2, 1971

Lt. Alfred E. Stewart, San Bernardino County sheriff, March 9, 1973

CHP Officer Larry L. Wetterling, San Bernardino, March 9, 1973

Officer William C. Prettyman, Riverside police, Dec. 12, 1973

Deputy Edward M. Schrader, Riverside County sheriff, July 1, 1974

Officer Larry E. Walters, Riverside police, Nov. 13, 1974

Deputy Frank M. Pribble, San Bernardino County sheriff, July 6, 1975

Officer Richard M. Hyche, Ontario police, Oct. 15, 1975

CHP Officer Edward Parker III, Riverside, May 2, 1977

Deputy James B. Evans, Riverside County sheriff, May 9, 1980

Deputy Dirk A. Leonardson, Riverside County sheriff, Oct. 4, 1980

CHP Officer George R. Carey, Barstow, Feb. 24, 1982

CHP Officer Kenneth L. Archer, Barstow Feb. 24, 1982

Officer Dennis C. Doty, Riverside police, May 13, 1982

Officer Philip N. Trust, Riverside police, May 13, 1982

Investigator Michael O. Lewis, San Bernardino County district attorney's office, March 30, 1985

Deputy Clifford E. Sanchez, San Bernardino County sheriff, April 6, 1985

Sgt. Gary W. Wolfley, Rialto police, March 3, 1986

Deputy Donald James De Meulle, San Bernardino County sheriff, July 31, 1986

Sgt. Timothy Littlefield, San Bernardino police, Sept. 14, 1986

Deputy Keith B. Farley, San Bernardino County sheriff, April 12, 1987

CHP Officer Michael A. Brandt, Indio, May 6, 1987

Investigator Michael D. Davis, Riverside County sheriff, Oct. 24, 1988

David Vasquez, Cathedral City police, Oct. 28, 1988

Deputy Randy R. Lutz, Riverside County sheriff, June 22, 1989

Deputy Kent A. Hintergardt, Riverside County sheriff, May 9, 1993

CHP Officer Larry J. Jaramillo, San Bernardino, June 22, 1993

Deputy Russell Roberts, San Bernardino County sheriff, Sept. 16, 1995

CHP Officer Reuben F. Rios Sr., San Bernardino, Oct. 27, 1996

Deputy Michael P. Haugen, Riverside County sheriff, Jan. 5, 1997

Deputy James W. Lehmann Jr., Riverside County sheriff, Jan. 5, 1997

CHP Officer Saul Martinez, Indio, May 16, 1997

CHP Officer Daniel J. Muehlhausen, Indio, June 1, 1997

Officer Claire N. Connelly, Riverside police, July 12, 1998

Deputy Eric A. Thach, Riverside County sheriff, Oct. 8, 1999

Officer Russell M. Miller Sr., Chino police, Feb. 1, 2000

Officer Gerald Silvestri, San Bernardino police, Oct. 15, 2000

Detective Charles D. Jacobs III, Riverside police, Jan. 13, 2001

Deputy Brent C. Jenkins, Riverside County sheriff, March 18, 2003

Deputy Bruce K. Lee, Riverside County sheriff, May 13, 2003

CHP Officer Shannon L. Distel, Riverside, Aug. 27, 2003

CHP Officer James M. Goodman, San Bernardino, June 3, 2004

Deputy Ronald W. Ives, San Bernardino County sheriff, Sept. 1, 2004

Officer Manuel A. Gonzalez, California Department of Corrections, Chino, Jan. 10, 2005

Deputy Greg Gariepy, San Bernardino County sheriff, June 22, 2005

Deputy Daniel Lobo Jr., San Bernardino County sheriff, Oct. 11, 2005

CHP Officer G. John Bailey, Rancho Cucamonga, Feb. 25, 2006

Deputy Manuel Villegas, Riverside County sheriff, March 19, 2007

Officer Sergio Carrera, Jr., Rialto police, Oct. 18, 2007

Rialto Police Officer is Shot During Raid, Dies. (LA Times10-18-07)

BS Ranch Perspective

Oh my it has been a bad Day Today!! I didn't know Sergio as well as I would have liked to have known him because the little that I had gotten to know him he was a very nice person. I met him in the front of the Rialto City Council Civic Center Were the enterance is to the Rialto City Council Chambers over the Fight or the acceptance of the Rialto Police Departments Contract. I cannot remember.

My Prayers are now centered to that of Sergio's Family and his Wife & Children!! It is such a hard time for any Law Enforcement Family when one of our own Falls!!

Sergio will be missed forever from this time on.

BS Ranch

Rialto police officer is shot during raid, dies

Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times

Officers from the Colton Police Department guard a crime scene where a Rialto police officer was killed.

A resident of a home being raided is arrested on suspicion of murder in 4-year veteran's death.

By Maeve Reston and David Kelly, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
October 19, 2007

A Rialto police officer was shot and killed Thursday as authorities from local and federal agencies swarmed over a troubled stretch of the city serving search warrants for illegal drugs.

Sergio Carrera Jr., 29, a four-year veteran of the force and a member of the SWAT team, was shot in the chest while he and other officers struggled with a man inside one of the targeted homes.

Investigation

click to enlarge

Map

Late Thursday night, Rialto Police Chief Mark Kling announced that they had arrested Jaranard Thomas, 32, of Rialto on suspicion of murder of a police officer.

He said speculation earlier in the day that another SWAT team officer had shot the fallen officer was incorrect. Kling took no questions and said the investigation was ongoing.

Police Capt. Raul Martinez did not offer details on how the shooting occurred. The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department was investigating.

Carrera was airlifted to Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton, where he died. He was married with a 2-year-old son and a year-old daughter.

The incident began about 7 a.m. when neighbors reported smoke, explosions and shouting. SWAT teams from the Colton and Rialto police departments, along with a few agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, raided four homes on West Cascade Drive simultaneously.

Nashalla Bell was in the house with Thomas when the shooting occurred. She said she heard the front door jiggling and was worried it was the same people who did a drive-by shooting of the house Sunday morning.

Bell woke Thomas moments before police burst through the door, she said. Her 3- and 5-year-old sons ran from the kitchen where they were getting ready to eat breakfast. She said the police ordered everyone to the floor at gunpoint.

"I couldn't see anything after that, but apparently my boyfriend got up and ran to the back and another officer went after him," she said. "I heard the shot, and I heard them say, 'Officer down.' "

Neighbors reported seeing a police officer kneeling beside Carrera, crying and embracing him.

Bell said she couldn't believe Thomas shot the officer but said he had been on guard since the drive-by shooting. "I think he probably thought the same thing I thought -- that the people who shot on Sunday was coming back," she said. "I don't think he realized it was the police."

Bell said she could not see who fired the gun or whether her boyfriend had a gun. She said police told her later they recovered firearms from the house. Martinez would not say whether Thomas was armed.

Neighbors described Thomas as nonviolent and a neighborhood chef who cooked soul food in his kitchen and sold it for $10 a plate on weekends.

Myrtle Bush said Thomas held neighborhood cookouts and was planning a surprise birthday party for one of his children later Thursday. "He's more into his kids and wife than anything," said Bush, 58.

Akeyauna Brown, 18, said that when she was at Thomas' home Wednesday braiding his cornrows, he was worried about his family's safety because of the drive-by shooting.

Carrera is the second Rialto policeman to die in the line of duty. An officer was shot and killed at a gas station in 1986.

Police gathered outside department headquarters to comfort one another Thursday. Flags were lowered to half-staff. A number of squad cars, lights flashing, escorted Carrera's body from the hospital to the coroner's office.

"He was a great officer, very well liked, very well respected. It will be extremely difficult for all of us to get over this," Martinez said. "Members of our department are in shock."

City Councilwoman Deborah Robertson met with Carrera's family at the hospital.

"It really hurts that he was a young man who was really outgoing and energetic," she said. "He was fun and everyone loved him."

Robertson said childhood friends of Carrera, who grew up in the Moreno Valley area, rushed to the hospital.

The California Highway Patrol flew his wife to the hospital in a helicopter. "She's in a daze right now," Robertson said. "She is trying to care for her kids as well as support her family."

His death shocked a city struggling to get its police force back on track and trying to rein in a crime problem that has included a recent shooting death of a 16-year-old boy at a mall.

Over the last decade, its own officers have sued the department, accusing it of widespread racism and sexism. It has been criticized for slow response times and failing to curb violent crime. The City Council voted to disband the department last year and let the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department patrol the city of 100,000. A court order overturned that decision.

Robertson said the department had been trying to rebuild. "The morale and camaraderie at the department is great," he said.

Those living on West Cascade Drive tell different stories about the neighborhood. Some say it's under siege by overzealous police; others describe it as a place of drug sales and escalating crime.

Bush said police had made it so uncomfortable to be outside over the last year that she was moving out of the neighborhood.

"They come over here and make this street seem like the worst street in Rialto, which it's not," she said. She said officers believe there is gang activity in the neighborhood because young men gather on the street. But others, including Maria Herrera, said violence in Rialto had become progressively worse since she moved into her home 12 years ago.

There are still bullet holes in the side of her house from a drive-by shooting less than a year ago. "It used to be more relaxed, more calm," Herrera said. "But lately it's been getting a lot of violence."

maeve.reston@latimes.com

david.kelly@latimes.com

Rialto Lawsuits Raise more Questions (Inland Valley Daily Bulletin Oct. 09, 2007)

Rialto lawsuits raise questionsBy

By Jason Pesick, Staff Writer Inland Valley Daily Bulletin

RIALTO - Most people like to show up to fights with friends. But when Rialto finds itself in a court fight that could have a wide impact, it's often all alone. Rialto is not a rich city. In fact, officials are relying on voters to extend its 8 percent utility tax in November to avoid major budget cuts. But when it comes to taking people to court, the city has spared few expenses. "Well, I think we have to get a little bit smarter about how we take on legal battles," said City Councilman Joe Baca Jr. Recent lawsuits - one to get local water contamination cleaned up, another to gain a better theoretical understanding of state law - raise the question: Is Rialto a little trigger happy when it comes to going to court? Last week, word came from the Fourth District Court of Appeal that the city lost its appeal against its police officers' union. The case involved the minutiae of how a city can go about eliminating its police department. In September 2005, the Council voted to replace its Police Department with the San Bernardino County Sheriff's office. It went back on that vote less than a year later but kept fighting the lawsuit, even bringing in an outside law firm to help. The union beat the city in San Bernardino County Superior Court when it filed suit, saying Rialto broke the law in the way it went about abolishing the Police Department. Councilman Ed Scott said the League of Cities encouraged Rialto to pursue the case. "Basically, the main reason (Rialto continued with the appeal) is because it's a case that could affect a lot of cities," he said Friday. Baca disagreed. "I have a hard time paying for legal fees when the issue was already moot," he said. And then there's perchlorate, the toxic substance contaminating the local drinking water. A number of agencies are affected by perchlorate, but Rialto officials say they've been hit the worst and decided to clean up the Rialto Basin on their own. So instead of forming a coalition with those agencies or asking the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for help, the city decided to go after dozens of polluters in court and gather all the evidence against the suspected polluters on its own. So far, that's cost the city and its water department customers, who are paying a perchlorate fee on their bills, at least $15 million. "They're not experienced or in the business of cleaning up the basin," said Barry Groveman, an attorney for the West Valley Water District, another local water purveyor. Rialto's job is to provide clean water to its customers while other state and federal agencies exist to take care of extensive water pollution, he said. Councilwoman Winnie Hanson said the city has a special responsibility to pursue the suspected polluters in part because the source of the pollution is in Rialto. "We knew we had to," she said. Contact writer Jason Pesick at (909) 386-3861 or via e-mail at jason.pesick@sbsun.com. _______________________________________________________________________ BS Ranch Perspective It looks like the final word came down on the last bit of news regarding the Rialto Police Department/San Bernardino Sheriff Department's Battle for the Rights to serve as the Law Enforcement Protection for the people in the City of Rialto!!   The behind the Closed Door Deal that Ed Scott, & Joe Sampson did with the Sheriff of San Bernardino never was a done deal, even though it was a close call back in 2005, when the fight was pretty close. The only thing was that Owen's is not as good of a lawyer as he thinks that he is!! He showed that he was only good at slowing and interrupting and calling people names during a city council meeting. It was totally Embarrassing for the Representatives of the City Council, as they spent the next meeting appologising over and over, and then for the majority of the meeting when the public was allowed to make a presentation the cities Council was asked to vacate the meeting to not be so disruptive and cause so many arguments in violation of the Brown Act!! The whole problem was that Owen's was not doing his job well, and he lost every court case that he had when in court against the lawyers that were hired by the Rialto Benefit Association. Owen's didn't know if he was coming or going and he was running these long boring City Council meetings to show how the Crime was worse in Rialto since they had not been able to vote the San Bernardino Sheriff's Department into the Enforcement Roll for Rialto, however all the information that Owen's was pushing was all false and was a lie. The Crime Rate, that week according to the FBI Statictics had gone down, proving that Owens was telling a total lie in the whole thing. The whole 2.5 hours that he tied up to keep the People that wanted to make a presentation to the city, was all that much more later and people at home were in bed and well they would miss it. Well now the Appeal is done, and the Rialto Police Benefit Association is now the sole carrier of the benefits and the role of the sole of the Police Departments Up and Comings.. Now, The City Council is looking to another small problem, which for the City over all is a HUGE PROBLEM!! The Utility Tax that they are trying to despretly seek will be hard to get, there are a lot of Rialto Citizens that feel that they have mishandled the money that they received from the Current Utility TAX. The City Council Ed Scott, Debra Robertson, all say that they have been receiving all the money that they need to work on the filtration system to get the current wells that are shut down back up and running by charging the people a current PERCHLORATE FEE on their water bill of $15.00 dollars, and I have to that if you have almost 100,000 people paying $15.00 a month on their water bill for PERCHLORATE PROBLEMS..then what are they doing with the money that they are getting from there. Is hard to tell, They are Raising approxemently $1.47 Million Dollars a month for the Fee's that they are charging for the Perchlorate clean up fee, on the water bill, RE: $15.00 a bill @ approx 94,000 people. That is quite a sum of money that they are holding on to, and most of it is more then likely going directly into the pockets of the Lawyers that are handling the case that shouldn't be, since the EPA should have been the ones contacted first and they would have been the ones that were right there to clean it up, and if anyone that would be responsable for any wrong doing, then the EPA would be cleaning it up, and billing the right people!! With no courts, and no delayed EXPENSIVE METHODS OF REPAIR!! It is Just another way that Owen's has given his Client, the City of Rialto BAD ADVICE!! BS Ranch

Homeless Incresing Census (Inland Valley Daily Bulletin 101007) Census shines spotlight on county's growing problem....

BS Ranch Perspective

It seems that there is some kind of magnet that is bringing the homeless to the Inland Empire, and I am thinking that it is the Lack of Law Enforcement in the County Area that allows them to camp without any bother, since there is only one Deputy per 10,000 pr more people. Sad to say that is my belief!! My thoughts are this, If you live within a city that contracts Law Enforcement Duties to the Deputies of the Sheriff Department, have more Deputies per Ca-pita then the people that are "stuck" living in the County or Unincorporated Area's of the County where they have the most minimum Amount of Deputies to cover the Law Enforcement.

It really isn't so much the Sheriff's Fault, because he needs Deputies to run the Jail's in the County, A Jail System that is over crowded, and needs the extra Deputies, There is constant Overtime Available to Deputies who are working in the Jail, who want to work extra hours, they have even opened up those Jail Hours to the Deputies that are Assigned to Patrol Stations, Which was not allowed before!! For a Deputy working Patrol the 8-10 or 12 hours is an easy time compared to the constant reports that you catch working the same amount of time on a Patrol shift. Especially on Swing/Cover!!

The Lack of the Sheriff's Deputies to push or keep the Homeless moving or keep them vagrant they seem to stay!! and hang out and collect cans etc etc...  I pray that it doesn't get so bad that we end up so much of a tent city that it is so terrible that we walk into the mall and it is like walking on a street in Mexico City, where there are people forcing cups into your face and asking, begging for change, or money, and some get a little belligerent for your change, and that is not good...I pray that doesn't start with this added population!!!

BS Ranch

Homeless increasing Census

Census shines spotlight on county's growing problem

By Andrea Bennett, Staff Writer Inland Valley Daily Bulletin

One glance at the homeless encampment at Jefferson Street and Cucamonga Avenue in Ontario, and it's evident the homeless population is anything but shrinking. Photo Gallery: Homeless Watch Video: Homeless When the city moved the homeless by the train tracks to a dirt parcel rigged with a water line and a portable toilet in July, there were less than 20 people. Three months later, the city-owned lot has earned the name "tent city." Close to 200 homeless people reportedly occupy the space, which is home to an array of tents, RVs and campers, dozens of dogs, and even its own weekly Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous meetings. According to the 2007 Homeless Census and Survey released last week, San Bernardino County's homeless population rose 39.1 percent since 2003. And in some areas of the county, it's risen much more than that. Homeless in the 4th District, which includes Ontario, Chino, Chino Hills and Montclair, jumped 122.2 percent in the same four-year period. "There's several factors contributing to the amount of people who are homeless," said Rowena Concepcion, manager of administrative support for Community Action Partnership of San Bernardino County, which led the study. "We've had an increase in population (in San Bernardino County). There's an increase in the cost of real estate, and a lot of people can't afford even apartment rentals," Concepcion said. The 4th District's 880 homeless is dwarfed by the 2,264 homeless counted in the 5th District, which covers San Bernardino, Rialto, Colton, Loma Linda and Grand Terrace. But the 5th District only increased 1.0 percent. There are few answers but several theories to account for the major increase in the 4th District. Rob Clark, Montclair community development director, said he hasn't seen evidence to support 360.7 percent more homeless people in his city since 2003. "I suspect 2003 was an undercount, and this one's an overcount," Clark said. "I haven't really seen any difference in the community." Chino Hills' homeless count went from 3 to 63 during the same period, according to the survey, which was conducted by Watsonville-based Applied Survey Research. Denise Cattern, Chino Hills public information officer, said the recent 63 count seemed too high. "I've been in the community 20 years," Cattern said. "Periodically, we have this fellow named Fred who sits by the side of the road ... It doesn't appear to me we have 63 homeless people." Peter Connery, vice president of Applied Survey Research, said the same methodology was used in the 2003 and 2007 counts. "When we do these reports, there is almost always a high level of denial by jurisdictions about the homeless in their areas," Connery said. "Homelessness is perceived as a person on the street corner with a shopping cart, and that's absolutely not the case," he said. "For very obvious reasons, the homeless choose to avoid the public spotlight, which is why the public thinks they don't exist." Connery said the survey revealed one striking change. "We found a large increase in people living in their vehicles along the Interstate 10 corridor and along the railroad tracks," he said. "That's countywide. It's a recent phase of homelessness. Typically, people live in their cars the first year." Patricia Nickols, chief executive officer for CAP, said most of the county's homeless are homegrown. One theory is the housing slump has produced many more of them in a short period of time. "We know there's a direct correlation between homelessness and poverty," Nickols said. "We saw the housing market change dramatically, and that displaced a lot of the working poor." Melvin Handke, 37, found himself in "tent city" one week ago. Handke said he had been living in Rancho Cucamonga when he lost his job 2 months ago and couldn't pay the rent. "I've never been homeless before this," he said. "I'm looking for a job and plan to be here just long enough to get back on my feet." The survey compelled the Board of Supervisors to initiate the Homeless Partnership, a public-private entity to pool resources and services in the county. Nickols said she is hopeful the new partnership will join cities and organizations to create a one-stop center for the county's homeless to receive a range of supportive services. Connery said the ratio of unsheltered to sheltered homeless in San Bernardino County is one of the highest in the nation, so more shelter beds and permanent housing are sorely needed, too. Presently, the county is 6,000 beds short. Pattie Barnes, 46, said when her husband died unexpectedly last year, she lost her mobile home in Fontana. Barnes said she and her 19-year-old son, Jon, and their two dogs were staying in her camper on Rancho Cucamonga streets before they heard about "tent city." "It's just so hard to find a place to live," Barnes said. "I get $830 a month SSI disability, and you have to make three times the amount of rent to get a place." "I thank God for this every day," she said of the city-sanctioned encampment. "I just hope one day I can get out of here." 2007 Homeless Census and Survey A few key statistics: Overall increase in those homeless from 2004 to 2007 in San Bernardino County: 39.1 percent Greatest percent increase: 122.2 percent, Supervisors District 4 (Ontario, Chino, Chino Hills and Montclair) Smallest percent increase: 1.0 percent, District 5 (San Bernardino, Rialto, Colton, Loma Linda and Grand Terrace) Where were they living when they became homeless? San Bernardino County: 71.9 percent Los Angeles County: 10.6 percent Riverside County: 6.3 percent Sources of income: Recycling: 43.8 percent Panhandling: 28.2 percent Disabling conditions affecting homeless population: Depression: 42 percent Mental illness: 26.3 percent Physical disability: 26.3 percent Source: Community Action Partnership of San Bernardino Count

K-9 Against Crime (SB Sun 10-1307) It is good that Rialto is back up to Four K-9 Teams!!

BS Ranch Perspective

It is wonderful to see that Rialto is coming back to the strength that it once was. Back in 1996, and leading into 1997, when I was assigned to the Rialto Traffic Division as a Motorcycle Officer. There was 4 K-9 Position's on Rialto Police Department. When Chief Michael Meyers took control of the Rialto Police Department. But then when there was a "Vote of "NO Confidence""  that came from the Rialto Police Benefit Association.  What I figure is that the K-9 that was cut to reduce the Unit down to 3 teams was when the City Council, and City Administration along with the City's Attorney Owens to cut everything that can be cut to make the people that were working there loyal employee's flee to make their job harder..  Make Everything that they did, Patrol, Traffic, Everything harder, double time!!

It almost worked, They Cut all the Probationary Employee's such as the well needed Emergency Dispatcher's and forced the City's Dispatch Supervisor going to other people within the department to ask for people that were trained to answer emergency phone calls, Lucky for the city that there was one Well Trained Emergency Dispatcher with 15+ years experience who was assigned as a Law Enforcement Technician (What used to be called Community Service Officer Before it was changed by ex chief Meyers). Along with another L.E.T. who had Emergency 9-1-1 Call Answering Experience!!

Per the Lieutenant they pulled the two L.E.T's from their positions and asked them to fill those Emergency Dispatcher positions for a short time until they hire and fill the positions that were lost when the Employee's that were still on probation were dismissed.   THE TWO LAW ENFORCEMENT TECHNITIONS ARE STILL TEMPERARY RE-ASSIGNED TO THE EMERGENCY DISPATCH POSITION, EVEN THOUGH IT HAS BEEN ALMOST 1.5 YEARS NOW, AND THERE ISN'T AN END IN SIGHT.

Rialto Police has only RUMORS that there is a Dispatcher that will be hired soon, other then that there isn't any news when the people that normally take reports to provide relief to the patrol Officer so that he can concentrate on active in progress crimes, are stuck now working on the paper crimes and reports that the L.E.T.'s would have been taking for them.

I knew that the Officer's Positions would take a Great deal longer to fill then many of the other positions, but the Emergency Dispatch Position that are trained internally by the other Emergency Dispatchers, to handle the calls before they go to the 9-1-1 Dispatcher's Academy, but when they are off of their training and working alone the two L.E.T.'s that have been Reassigned can go back to their assigned to their original jobs, and back to their original Lives!!

But it is wonderful that they are finally back up to four K-9 Teams, because A City the size of Rialto needs at least Four if not five...

BS Ranch

K-9 against crime

RIALTO - A fourth police-dog team will be riding around town.

The Rialto Police Department will be adding another team, thanks to Friends of Rialto Police K-9's.

Officer Glen Anderson will be the new leader of the team.

- jason.pesick@sbsun.com