The New Command Staff
Posted by: Jubal | 07/23/2008 2:00 PM
Press conference just started. Here's the new Command Staff:
As Undersheriff: John Scott (her guy from the LA Sheriff's Department, from which he had retired).
As Assistant Sheriffs:
Jack Anderson (in charge of administration)
John B. Davis (in charge of investigations)
Mike Hillman (in charge of operations; a Deputy Chief from the LAPD)
Mike James (in charge of jails)
Acting Executive Director of Special Services Rick Dostal was confirmed in that post.
Assistant Sheriff Charlie Walters will be retiring.
Hutchens said she looked inside the OCSD first for talent, and then went outside to fill out her Command Staff.
John Scott, in response to a media query, said there was no one else he would have come out of retirement.
Sheriff Hutchens cautioned that Scott and Hillman would not be with OCSD "forever" but were part of a "transition' of indeterminate length, and wanted talented OCSD personnel to know there would be opportunities fro promotion in the future.
UPDATE (4:20 p.m.): Here are brief bios on the various members of the new Command Staff, as well as an organization chart:
As Undersheriff: John Scott (her guy from the LA Sheriff's Department, from which he had retired).
As Assistant Sheriffs:
Jack Anderson (in charge of administration)
John B. Davis (in charge of investigations)
Mike Hillman (in charge of operations; a Deputy Chief from the LAPD)
Mike James (in charge of jails)
Acting Executive Director of Special Services Rick Dostal was confirmed in that post.
Assistant Sheriff Charlie Walters will be retiring.
Hutchens said she looked inside the OCSD first for talent, and then went outside to fill out her Command Staff.
John Scott, in response to a media query, said there was no one else he would have come out of retirement.
Sheriff Hutchens cautioned that Scott and Hillman would not be with OCSD "forever" but were part of a "transition' of indeterminate length, and wanted talented OCSD personnel to know there would be opportunities fro promotion in the future.
UPDATE (4:20 p.m.): Here are brief bios on the various members of the new Command Staff, as well as an organization chart:
CATEGORY:
OC Sheriff's Department
The Transformator
The Sheriff has billed herself as a transformation agent – she is indeed keeping her word!
She has transformed herself into the leading Sheriff’s candidate, and her transformation plan is very SMART
Specific – win election
Measurable – obvious
Attainable – Look, no hands!
Realistic – What part of attainable you do not understand?
Time bound – not only that, have plenty of time!
So what about transforming the OCSD? – Well that is contained in not so SMART 120-Day Plan for the Plan. Staff is now in place to blame….err. to execute.
What about transforming corporate culture, whereby observable symbols and signs of culture are physical structures, ceremonies, language, stories (as in the black book, for example) Transformation already started – look, no hands!
Well...
Sandra Hutchens is as incompetent as we feared.
Sandra said she looked inside the OCSD first for talent, and then went outside to fill out her Command Staff. Sheriff Hutchens actions are telling everyone that she does not trust or think highly of any of the men and women currently in the OCSD when she had to recruit two of her old cronies from LA. Yet in Sandra’s infinite wisdom of picking her old cronies from LA – it appears Sandra learned nothing from Carona’s mistake of cronyism. Oh, BUT – Sandra’s LA guys are “qualified”, sure they are … because Sandra’s press release says so? Ok, Sandra Hutchens has proven her incompetency in judging management talent within “her” agency. Strike one…
The positions she filled with current OCSD personnel were good choices, however, those choices were “no brainers” since they were extremely qualified for command staff. Sandra Hutchens should not receive the gold stars for making a correct “no brainer” decision.
Sandra Hutchens inability to fill all of the positions from current OCSD Sheriffs is a definite slap in the face to many qualified men and women in the OCSD who have dedicated their careers to serving the citizens of Orange County and were deserving of the opportunity to serve as Command Staff. There is no way to understate the stupidity and ineptitude of that decision. That proves Sandra Hutchens is not qualified to be elected, or even appointed, as Sheriff of Orange County. Strike two…
If Sandra Hutchens believes that Mike Carona tainted everyone in the OCSD, so only a “couple of OCSD sheriffs” could serve on her command staff and her second in command position had to go to someone outside the department, Sandra Hutchens deserves to be insulted. Stating that the she could not find management talent among the current OCSD sheriff talent pool is defective, detective work and flawed character judgement.
Sandra Hutchens was a crummy political appointment, especially since the voters were entitled to a special election to fill the vacated post. The political process the County Supervisors employed is exactly why the Sheriff is an elected position by State law and not a political appointment reeking with the horrible stench of questionable motives. Sandra Hutchens will be one stupid political appointment that the voters will have to correct in the next election.
Well...
Sandra Hutchens is as incompetent as we feared.
Sandra said she looked inside the OCSD first for talent, and then went outside to fill out her Command Staff. Sheriff Hutchens actions are telling everyone that she does not trust or think highly of any of the men and women currently in the OCSD when she had to recruit two of her old cronies from LA. Yet in Sandra’s infinite wisdom of picking her old cronies from LA – it appears Sandra learned nothing from Carona’s mistake of cronyism. Oh, BUT – Sandra’s LA guys are “qualified”, sure they are … because Sandra’s press release says so? Ok, Sandra Hutchens has proven her incompetency in judging management talent within “her” agency. Strike one…
The positions she filled with current OCSD personnel were good choices, however, those choices were “no brainers” since they were extremely qualified for command staff. Sandra Hutchens should not receive the gold stars for making a correct “no brainer” decision.
Sandra Hutchens inability to fill all of the positions from current OCSD Sheriffs is a definite slap in the face to many qualified men and women in the OCSD who have dedicated their careers to serving the citizens of Orange County and were deserving of the opportunity to serve as Command Staff. There is no way to understate the stupidity and ineptitude of that decision. That proves Sandra Hutchens is not qualified to be elected, or even appointed, as Sheriff of Orange County. Strike two…
If Sandra Hutchens believes that Mike Carona tainted everyone in the OCSD, so only a “couple of OCSD sheriffs” could serve on her command staff and her second in command position had to go to someone outside the department, Sandra Hutchens deserves to be insulted. Stating that the she could not find management talent among the current OCSD sheriff talent pool is defective, detective work and flawed character judgement.
Sandra Hutchens was a crummy political appointment, especially since the voters were entitled to a special election to fill the vacated post. The political process the County Supervisors employed is exactly why the Sheriff is an elected position by State law and not a political appointment reeking with the horrible stench of questionable motives. Sandra Hutchens will be one stupid political appointment that the voters will have to correct in the next election.
TAKE2:
Consistent with the Betsy the Cow Syndrome, we see the issue completely different. We do not have evidence that Sheriff Hutchens is incompetent – quite the contrary. She is playing the system beautifully:
While we agree with your statement:
“Sandra Hutchens was a crummy political appointment, especially since the voters were entitled to a special election to fill the vacated post. The political process the County Supervisors employed is exactly why the Sheriff is an elected position by State law and not a political appointment reeking with the horrible stench of questionable motives” – We argue that a captain of industry would have done a better job – say someone like Paul Morabito– However the BOS should be the ones held accountable for the process used to select the Sheriff – Sheriff Hutchens cannot be held accountable for something she did not create.
On the other hand, the Transformator’s challenge with the OCSD is not talent availability. It is corporate culture. In a different environment, more heads would have rolled given the state of affairs. Kudos to The Transfomator for having the courage to bring in managers she know and feels comfortable with, and knowing that charges of Cronyism would surface immediately.
I agree that it was goood to bring in a few outsiders. It is at least theoretically possible (probably even likely) that given a command staff that consists solely of OCSD veterans that her command staff could control the flow of information and try and continue to maintain the status quo.
By brining in outsiders, this is prevented. And by brining in people she knows and trusts, she knows it will be prevented. Just because Mike Carona has bad friends doesn't mean that we should force the new Sheriff to run such a large agency with a group of people she's never worked with before. That works well in college projects when it is good to mix things up, but isn't the way it should be done in the real world.
Dear Hello LA - Bye OCSD,
What makes you qualified to assess the Hutchens' appointments? OCSD has an infamous legacy of appointing sycophants who were otherwise marginally competent. Do you think Brad Gates' command staff was stellar? Hell, he was wholly unable to find merely one to assume the helm of Station 18!
I think Hutchens is right on the money going outside of Station 18 for her command staff. It's about time law enforcement expertise become the primary criterion for Station 18 leadership.
Musing is 10-7
What passes as "Loyalty" within Sta 18 is merely obsequiousness wrapped up with a bow.
Once all the Kindgom building and derriere kissing fades from being the primary path of ascension within the agency, the better.
OCSD has been incestuous in its policies and procedures. They believe they are the premier LE Agency in the region, if not the state or nation. They have not stepped out to benchmark with anyone else. If they did, or they had some perspective from how things are done in other agencies, both good and bad, they would likely realize that they've been stuck in a circular family tree.
They are not accepting of any outside influence. An agency grows stronger from outside input. It's just like a gene pool, and OCSD's is in need of some fresh DNA.
What passes as "Loyalty" within Sta 18 is merely obsequiousness wrapped up with a bow.
The sooner all the Kindgom building and derriere kissing fades from being the primary path of ascension within the agency, the better.
OCSD has been incestuous in its policies and procedures. They believe they are the premier LE Agency in the region, if not the state or nation. They have not stepped out to benchmark with anyone else. If they did, or they had some perspective from how things are done in other agencies, both good and bad, they would likely realize that they've been stuck in a circular family tree.
They are not accepting of any outside influence. An agency grows stronger from outside input. It's just like a gene pool, and OCSD's is in need of some fresh DNA.
Believe me, Station 18 is far from a superior law enforcement agency. Its deputies are poorly trained. Many of the more on-the-ball deputies escape (have escaped) to police agencies. The result was (assuredly still is) that many OC agencies used to make Station 18 joke punch lines.
Hutchens would do well to get her agency up to speed in terms of law enforcement practice. I think she's committed to such an objective!
BTW, how many deputies have followed through on their threats of quitting were Station 18 become infused with "foreign" blood???
Musing
BIG BROOM
Operative word is benchmark - we have been working on a piece we call Auditing the Auditor, as in Chief Scott. Benchmarking comes up over and over again.
Amazingly enough, trying get information is like pulling teeth without anesthesia!