New Director of IOLERO Survey Needs Public Response

The following commentary was provided by Susan Lamont

John Alden, Director of IOLERO (Independent Office of Law Enforcement Review and Outreach) has resigned and there is an interim director while the county searches for a permanent director. The interim director is Matthew Chavez. He has applied for the position. The less said, the better, but he is not the one we want in this position.

I am forwarding a survey from the County’s Human Services Dept. They are seeking input from the public for selecting the new director. I hope you’ll want to fill this out. The deadline is this coming Sunday, August 30th, not much time. Feel free to ask me questions. I’m very busy with some events I’m organizing, but I will try to answer.

First, let me give you the Mission of the office, which is absolutely NOT what the public seeking justice for Andy Lopez wanted. “IOLERO’s mission is to strengthen the relationship between the Sheriff’s Office and the community it serves through outreach and the promotion of greater transparency of law enforcement operations.” We said from the beginning, if the Sheriff’s Office wanted a better relationship with us, they had many years, lots of money and a public relations office to work on that. They didn’t. A public, that does not trust the Sheriff’s Office, wants that office to prove to us that they are trustworthy. Without serious changes, that’s not possible. Though we have gotten policy tweaks, that won’t cut it. We wouldn’t have needed Measure P if they were and, even then, more is needed. Those of us working on this have differed in our desires, from serious policy changes to the elimination of law enforcement, but no matter, no one is satisfied.

This change to the mission of IOLERO came from County staff, not the Board of Supervisors – this is what the County CEO, Counsel, Sheriff, and more wanted. We fought it. Got some of what we wanted, but not nearly enough.

I’m trying to make a long story short (not succeeding), but when Jerry Threet became the first director and had to operate with one hand tied behind his back, he was enthusiastic about setting up an office that could investigate potential law enforcement abuse, but also enthusiastic about the public’s role in helping to create policy changes. This did not sit well with some supervisors (and, I assume the County) and they made life very hard for him behind the scenes. He quit.

So the next director was deemed unqualified by the hired search team and they wanted to search further, but the Supervisors said, “No, she’s just what we want.” She was totally on the side of the Sheriff and she tried to eliminate the public’s role in policy changes. We fought back and we won that one, but she didn’t leave until she got a judicial appointment.

Somehow, we ended up with a qualified director – Alden – third time around. There actually aren’t that many qualified oversight people – it’s a relatively new field and governments and law enforcement make one’s life as hard as possible. Alden and Sheriff Engram got along pretty well until Measure P. Engram was mouthing the mantra “I support law enforcement oversight, but….” Measure P passed in 2020. It’s almost 6 years later and it still has not been fully implemented. Because of Alden’s persistence, the ugly work began behind the scenes and he resigned.

So, I’m asking you to fill out this survey, knowing that the County is unlikely to want what we want. We need to do it anyway. Your responses are anonymous.

I would like to say that I am very proud of our current civilian Community Advisory Council (CAC). They have been pressured by the County Counsel to do what he says. But they have refuted his interpretation of the law (the County Counsel’s Office has been wrong before). By the way, he used to be the lawyer for the Sheriff’s Office. Enough said.

And the CAC will have an advisory role in the selection of the new director.

Susan Lamont

Here’s the email from the Human Services Dept. and the links to the survey in English and Spanish.

Good afternoon,

In September, the County of Sonoma will launch a recruitment to select the next Director of the County’s Independent Office of Law Enforcement Review and Outreach (IOLERO). Before the search begins, county officials want to solicit community feedback, through a short survey, on the work performed by the office and the knowledge, skills, abilities, and expertise the County is seeking in the next director.

The survey should take approximately 10-15 minutes to complete. Survey responses are due by 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, August 30, 2026, and will be anonymous. The survey is available in both English and Spanish through the following links:

Director, IOLERO Survey (English)
Director, IOLERO Survey (Spanish)