LAKEPORT — Marty McCarthy of Lakeport plans to implement a total quality management system, give power back to the deputies to make decisions and create a citizen review board if he”s elected sheriff.
McCarthy, 55, joined the race for sheriff along with Jack Baxter, Francisco Rivero and incumbent Sheriff Rod Mitchell.
McCarthy said the Sheriff”s Office has management issues with the decisions that were made and how they were made. He said he can change that.
Before Mitchell was elected, McCarthy said there was low morale in the department because of a problem with “good ole boys,” but in 16 years of Mitchell in office it “hasn”t changed, there”s just different good ole boys.”
“I don”t want yes men around me,” McCarthy said. “I want people with diverse views.”
McCarthy first came to Lake County in 1988 and ran for sheriff against Mitchell in 1994. McCarthy has a bachelor”s degree in criminal justice administration from Pacific Union College in Angwin. He started his law enforcement career as an officer from 1980 to 1985 with the Santa Clara Police Department. In 1985, he moved to the Santa Rosa Police Department. In 1990 he started working with the Clearlake Police Department and became a sergeant.
McCarthy left Lake County in 1999 for Sacramento and worked as a quality control supervisor for L3 Communications and a security screener for the Transportation Security Administration. Starting in 2003, he worked for a year as a sergeant with the Hopland Tribal Police Department. In 2004, he worked in as a chief of guards at Beale Air Force Base. He became the assistant director of public safety at McGeorge School of Law in 2006. In 2007 he started working with All Phase Security as vice president of operations. In late 2007, he came back to the Hopland Tribal Police Department as chief of police, where he worked until September.
“For the first time in my life I was terminated due to political reasons, the new tribal chairman perceived I was in cahoots with the old tribal chairman,” McCarthy said.
He said days before he was fired, he gave a letter to the council informing them they were violating tribal code and the Constitution. McCarthy coaches basketball and football. He is married with three adult children living in Santa Rosa and a 13-year-old.
McCarthy works with the Center for Life Choices in Ukiah, an organization that counsels pregnant women about the alternatives to abortion, he said.
He also attends the Grace Evangelical Free Church, he said. If elected, McCarthy wants to develop a mission statement with Sheriff”s Department staff to guide decision-making.
He said he would not tolerate racial profiling or discrimination of any type and that officers found to be doing so could be fired.
“I believe in training mistakes and disciplining deliberate acts,” McCarthy said.
McCarthy said paid administrative leave is a tool used to take officers out of the loop while investigators gather facts. He said he would review the staff on administrative leave and make a decision if he”s elected. In order to monitor and manage the staff, McCarthy said initially he would sit with the dispatchers, read the log and follow cases from beginning to end.
McCarthy said he would boost morale in the department by giving deputies control and leading by example.
“Feeling like your part of an association is a better morale booster than money,” he said.
Contact Katy Sweeny at kdsweeny@gmail.com or call her directly at 263-5636, ext. 37.
