While we hear candidates talk of “public safety” as their top priority, Mission Viejo’s newest council member (elect) Cathy Schlicht put those words into action less than 48 hours after her victory on Tuesday.
Cathy and I were invited to attend the monthly meeting of the non partisan activist group Residents Voice in Laguna Woods Village by president Pamela Grundke. Sitting in the front row with us was Alice Chandler, OC’s First Woman Deputy Sheriff (1949) who was given a huge bouquet of flowers by Pam.
Before turning the program over to OC Sheriff-Coroner Sandra Hutchens, Pam introduced Mission Viejo council member elect Cathy Schlicht to the 100 plus members in attendance who were there to meet the new sheriff and discuss their public safety concerns within this huge gated community of 18-20,000 residents.
Prior to taking almost an hour of questions from the local residents the Sheriff shared her experiences beginning in the LA sheriff’s department as a secretary in 1976 and her decision to get involved in the area of police service. Over the next 30 years she served in just about every department leading up to her becoming Division Chief in charge of Homeland Security. As a member of the LAPD Sheriff Hutchens told us that she has traveled to Israel, Pakistan and Russia where they have experience in hate crimes.
As many of our neighborhoods are gated, Cathy stated “I saw this as a great opportunity to hear concerns from those who live inside a gated community and the answers provided by Sheriff Hutchens.” She added that “in addition to Casta and Palmia we have several other gated communities in Mission Viejo whose residents might have similar concerns.” Many of the comments expressed last night related to the management company and the firm selected to provide internal protection.
Prior to taking questions from the two dozen residents who lined up she stated: “I am so proud to be your sheriff.” She later added that “when deputies don’t perform I want to know about it. I will deal with those who don’t.” She even mentioned transfers which we personally experienced in Mission Viejo before she took office. As she sat next to me during the meeting Cathy said “I am pleased to learn that the Sheriff has an open door policy and hope to explore ways to have a direct connection to the sheriff’s department similar to the council representation on OCTA and the fire authority.”
For those not familiar with the OCSD let me add some facts about this department whose annual budget is $700 million dollars. In addition to 4,200 sworn and professional staff they have 800 volunteers responsible for providing protection at the dozen Orange County cities under Contract with the OCSD. In addition they are also responsible for security at the Superior Court, John Wayne Airport, OCTA and three harbors. Our jails, which currently house 6,600 inmates, of which 80% are felons, were designed to house 70% who were guilty of misdemeanors.
Ryan informed me that as a result of their inmate screening they detained 4,683 inmates last year and provided their names to ICE.
Many of the questions to sheriff Hutchens related to Laguna Woods Village internal security rather than the jurisdiction of the OCSD. I am told that the city of Laguna Woods annual Contract with the OCSD is $1,290,825, representing roughly 12 percent of their overall city budget.
In addition to meeting Sheriff Hutchens, who congratulated Cathy on her election, Cathy later discussed “emergency preparedness” with Ryan K. Burris, Assistant to the Sheriff. Council member elect Schlicht asked Ryan if he can provide any information that she can share with the residents of Mission Viejo. One example being www.readyoc.org “Be prepared, be aware, be involved.”
Over 100 of Cathy’s flyers promoting the www.AlertOC.com program were taken by the Residents Voice members.
After the meeting I did ask the sheriff about the upcoming Board of Supervisors meeting where she confirmed that they will discuss a major audit of the entire operation and policies. Ryan said the Agenda will also include a discussion of CCW, concealed carry weapons.
On leaving the meeting Cathy said “since the Assistant to the Sheriff is a Mission Viejo resident I did ask him about getting “emergency preparedness” information out of City Hall and into the community.”
All in all I will report that Cathy is not wasting any time pursuing her “emergency preparedness” Agenda for every MV resident and business establishment.
A special thank you to Connie and Pamela Grundke for their invitation. To learn more about their grass roots group simply go to www.RVOICE.ORG
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