Safety and Accountability for All

An Initiative for Community Partnership to Advance Public Trust with the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department.

Riverside Sheriff Oversight Initiative Committee logo featuring a sheriff with a badge, holding a magnifying glass, and raising his other hand in a stopping gesture.
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Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.

California's second deadliest jail system.

Withholding of public records.

12+ wrongful death & civil rights lawsuits.

Retaliation against whistleblowers.

California's second deadliest jail system. Withholding of public records. 12+ wrongful death & civil rights lawsuits. Retaliation against whistleblowers.

For years, our community has paid the cost of the Riverside County Sheriff Department’s misconduct, which is facing multiple ongoing civil rights investigations, responsible for California’s 2nd deadliest jail system, mounting lawsuits, and nearly $100 million paid out in settlements. It’s clear the Sheriff’s Department is out of control - eroding trust in public institutions, refusing to answer to grieving families, and abusing their power with impunity.

Riverside’s community leaders, advocates, and justice-focused organizations have pushed our county leadership for change again and again, to no avail. On July 29th, after more than 70 residents spoke out, the Riverside County Board of Supervisors continued to refuse to take steps toward oversight, despite state legislation (AB 1185) giving them the power to do so.

That moment pushed us to take direct action: our committee is placing power in the hands of the people by bringing forward a petition for a sheriff oversight ballot initiative, letting the voters of Riverside County decide in the 2026 elections.

Press conference announcing Notice of Intent Filed with the Riverside County Registrar of Voters. Kathy Nigro, mother of Michael Vargas (d 2022) is speaking.

Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG

Michael Vargas and others who died in custody, awaiting trial, in Riverside County Jails.

Beloved sons, brothers, fathers, and community members Michael Vasquez, Cristian Miguel Viramontes, and Richard Matus Jr. All lost their lives while in Riverside County Sheriff custody.

Riverside Lives Lost: Read the Full Report
Featured
Oversight: Riverside County Groups Fight for Justice

Families of people who died in Riverside County jails are pushing for independent oversight of the Sheriff’s Department, while pointing to over $100 million in taxpayer-funded settlements and a disturbing surge of in-custody deaths.

One answer activists are pushing is the plan to skip the Board of Supervisors entirely, and go straight for a ballot initiative and the community to force real change.

“This is a campaign of the people, by the people, and for the people, and we’re leaving no community behind in our push for 35,000 signatures,” said Fidel Chagolla on behalf of Riverside All of Us or None and Starting Over Strong.

Op-Ed: Truth matters: Oversight is not pro-criminal, it is justice for all

“Truth matters”—at least that’s what Sheriff Bianco claimed last week when he dismissed oversight as “pro-criminal.” But the truth he refuses to face is the one Riverside County lives with every day: a sheriff who smears grieving families as “anti-law enforcement,” dismisses data when it doesn’t serve him. While he denies and distorts reality: every Riverside County resident is still living with the fallout of leading the nation in in-custody deaths in 2022, and the continuing deaths, lawsuits, and misconduct that show how deeply the system is failing.

INTERVIEW: Organizer Richard Giles on Sheriff Oversight
Riverside County social justice groups will take sheriff’s oversight proposal to voters

The groups are 'united by the simple belief that public safety must be accountable to the public it serves,' said one activist

Coalition seeks Riverside County Sheriff oversight ballot initiative amid jail deaths

A coalition of Riverside County advocacy groups wants voters to decide whether an independent sheriff's accountability committee should be established to provide civilians an opportunity to investigate jail deaths, possible misconduct and propose changes.