CLEARLAKE — A decision by the Lake County Sheriff”s Office (LCSO) to conduct an undercover operation within the City of Clearlake without notifying area law enforcement created some chaos Thursday.
According to the Clearlake Police Department (CPD), the event presented a potentially dangerous situation and at one point in the operation, CPD officers had weapons drawn on members of the LCSO.
Lake County Sheriff”s Narcotic Task Force Sergeant Jim Samples said “the entire incident was blown way out of proportion.”
“It was exaggerated,” He said. “The entire incident lasted 10 to 15 seconds.”
According to CPD, officers responded at approximately 8:48 p.m. Thursday to a report of a possible hostage situation on 19th Avenue.
However, upon contact with one of the alleged suspects at the front door of the home, one member of the CPD recognized the man at the door as a deputy of the LCSO and members of the CPD lowered their weapons and retreated.
“The CPD and LCSO identified themselves. CPD acted appropriately; they did a great job based on the 9-1-1 call. They quickly recognized us,” Samples said. “It was an unfolding event that happened really fast. It”s unfortunate and the incident had some potential to go bad. My guys and their guys all did the right thing. The outcome and the overall investigation were good.”
CPD Interim Chief of Police Craig Clausen, said the situation presented possible danger to both the officers and the deputies.
“The LCSO had undercover personnel involved in an activity and we were responding to multiple 9-1-1 calls of either a kidnapping or home invasion with a handcuffed victim. The officers were approaching the house with that in mind,” Clausen said. “We did not know that deputies were inside. We believed there was a possible crime in progress.”
According to a report by Clearlake Sgt. R. Joseph, dispatch informed him via cell phone that a woman called and reported that three men entered Michael Mitchell”s residence on 19th Avenue; Joseph stated he was familiar with Mitchell and the woman from previous arrests.
The woman told dispatch that the men had walkie-talkies and had handcuffed Mitchell. She further reported that the men told her to grab her child and leave the home as “something bad was going to happen.” The woman left the home and called 9-1-1.
Several officers rendezvoused in the area and developed a tactical plan to proceed. Joseph stated while leaving the rendezvous point, he noticed two LCSO patrol cars parked in an “odd” place in the parking lot at St. Helena Hospital Clearlake. Joseph stated prior to continuing to the residence he requested that dispatch contact the LCSO to determine if it had deputies at Mitchell”s residence. Clausen said response was provided by the LCSO sometime after contact was made by the officers at the residence. Joseph noted in his report, that at no time during his shift did anyone from the LCSO notify him, another other officer or dispatchers about any operations they were conducting in Clearlake.
According to Joseph, officers approached the residence with weapons drawn.
Joseph stated that the home was dimly-lit inside and that the entry unit observed the silhouette of a person standing at a window on the west side of the home.
He said the person was moving and appeared to looking out the window.
Joseph stated the person appeared to be a “lookout.” He stated the officers watched the person for a period of time with their weapons pointed at him.
Joseph stated that another officer approached and knocked on the door of the residence while saying “Clearlake Police Department.” He stated that the front door swung open and he saw a man wearing a red shirt standing in the doorway. He stated the man said, “It”s the (expletive) Sheriff”s Department.” Joseph said at that point he recognized the man as a deputy of the LCSO and saw that he was wearing a badge around his neck. Joseph stated that the deputy did not say anything further and closed the front door.
“We then stood down, holstered and secured our weapons and cleared the scene,” Joseph stated in his report. “It should be noted, had any of the deputies inside the home noticed the four of us approaching the home (not knowing we were police officers) and had pointed their weapons at us, we would have likely began firing our weapons at the deputies as they were not clearly identifiable and we had no notice from LCSO that they were conducting an operation in the City of Clearlake.”
Clausen said that his officers followed protocol and that had the department been notified of the LCSO operation, officers would not have responded following the 9-1-1 call from the woman.
“It is standard procedure for an agency to inform local jurisdictions of any planned enforcement activity in order to ensure officer safety and, if we get calls like this, we can reserve our valuable resources to respond to other emergencies. We actually had to pend another disturbance call to respond to this call,” Clausen said.
In a supplemental report of the incident, CPD Officer A. Collier noted that at approximately 11:21 p.m. he observed two marked LCSO patrol vehicles illuminating houses with spotlights in what appeared to be some sort of police investigation.
Collier further noted that at 11:52 p.m. during routine patrol he observed two marked LCSO vehicles and what appeared to be two unmarked police vehicles parked in front of a residence on Vista Street, partially blocking the roadway.
Collier also stated that at no time was the CPD notified of any LCSO activities in the City of Clearlake.
The incident on Thursday, according to an LCSO press release, began when narcotics detectives developed information from a case that originated in the county that a narcotics transaction involving a large amount of methamphetamine was going to occur that evening on the grounds of the Yuba College in Clearlake.
“I take great pride in the accomplishments of my Narcotics Task Force,” LCSO Sheriff Rivero said. “The investigation, which lasted more than 20 hours, allowed the narcotics task force to take six methamphetamine and marijuana traffickers off of the streets, seize a large amount of methamphetamine and marijuana, take two handguns off the street and secure a wealth of intelligence and information that will help combat drug trafficking in the City of Clearlake, unincorporated Lake County and beyond.”
Rivero said that Clausen “has publicly criticized the Sheriff”s Narcotics Task Force for failing to notify his agency.” Rivero said, “I was taken aback by Chief Clausen”s allegations when I heard them from the media, because he had not called me or anyone on my staff.”
Rivero said he attempted to contact Clausen Monday by calling his office, but was told he (Clausen) was not in.
Rivero said he also left a message for Clausen with CPD dispatch, but had not received a return call as of press time.
“I would like to meet with Chief Clausen and resolve this matter immediately, I am willing to discuss establishing protocols and guidelines to avoid any future unexpected encounters with CPD officers and Sheriff”s detectives, but I must retain the ability to conduct narcotics investigations in Lake County, including Clearlake and I will maintain a strong anti-narcotics program,” Rivero said.
Rivero said he previously offered to contribute $40,000 of CalMET grant money toward having a CPD officer on the narcotics task force, which, Rivero said, “might alleviate Clausen”s concerns.”
To date, Rivero said Clausen has declined the offer, which Rivero said, “is still on the table.”
A full account of arrests and charges will appear in Wednesday”s Record-Bee.
Mandy Feder contributed to this report.
