Seventeen is the police radio code for an off-duty officer. It’s also the username of a new social media account that strongly criticizes the leadership of the San Diego Sheriff’s Department — and the anonymous account that follows is growing rapidly.
In just two weeks, the Instagram user who impersonates Deputy.TenSeven has garnered over 1,400 followers.
A series of posts have raised criticism of the leadership of Sheriff Anthony Ray, who was named to his acting post earlier this year, and his top aide, Deputy Kelly Martinez, who collected the highest number of votes in the June primary election. and could be elected sheriff this fall.
The account’s profile describes its owner as a “deputy San Diego sheriff tired of not being heard” and asks, “Can you hear me now undersheriff and sheriff?” The beatings will continue until the leadership improves.
The message is repeated in a recent post accompanied by a photo of a shirtless man tied to a pole and whipped in the back by another man.
The sheriff’s department said it was aware of the Instagram account but did not read or monitor its posts. Officials are also not working to determine who is behind it, a spokeswoman said.
“No public resources have been expended to identify the author or anyone involved in the account,” Lt. Amber Baggs said via email.
“The Sheriff, Undersheriff and other leaders are focused on our hiring priorities of relieving overworked staff, providing the best public safety to all the communities we serve, and investing in prisons to ensure everyone has peace of mind. safest possible environment,” she wrote.
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Many of the posts, which have collectively generated hundreds of likes and comments, speak directly to Ray and Martinez.
Among other issues, they deal with years of mandatory overtime, what the account sees as a lack of consistency in internal misconduct reviews, and the idea that the assistants’ union is too close to management.
“Do I lie and rest and spend time with my family or do I make sure my partners don’t get killed?” says a post linked to rules requiring MPs to work at least 12.5 hours overtime a month.
Another post is for Association of Deputy Sheriffs President David Leonhardi. ‘Any time you want to do your real job and speak on behalf of MPs that would be great,’ it read.
The union president did not respond to a request for comment.
The account suggests that followers are respond in another way: by sharing information about the practices and decision-making of the service.
“Thank you to everyone who reached out and offered their support,” Deputy.TenSeven said a few days ago. “The information you provided from your facilities and patrol stations is excellent.”
Deputy.TenSeven has not identified themselves, but department employees and retirees are confident that the account holder is an active sworn deputy, based on inside information he or she is discussing.
“I believe this person is a deputy currently working in the department with a body of knowledge that shows the consistency of someone on the inside,” said David Pocklington, who retired as a sergeant in December after 28 years in the sheriff’s department.
Pocklington said members of the public should be concerned about the effectiveness of the department once MPs start talking openly about their internal grievances.
“You have front line staff starting to call command,” he said. “It makes the system less functional and shows signs of deterioration. Without a cohesive department, you begin to lose the ability to deliver your most fundamental priority – which is the safety of citizens and prison inmates.
Criminal justice experts agree.
“The impact of some of these (public complaints) can be enormous,” said Paul Sutton, a professor emeritus at San Diego State University and a recognized criminal justice expert.
“I guess dissatisfaction with leadership confuses issues like mandatory overtime with general dissatisfaction with how the job is defined,” he said.
In recent days, Ray and Martinez have been posting department-wide messages to staff aimed at boosting morale.
Each of these, an email from the sheriff and a video from the undersheriff, aims to assure employees that leaders are hearing and responding to concerns.
“In many ways, we have been a divided department, working in offices and silos,” Ray wrote in a department-wide email last Wednesday. “…We are ONE department and we all act together to accomplish our common mission of public and prison safety.”
In a video message posted on Vimeo earlier this month, Martinez said the department’s priority was to end mandatory overtime.
“We’re taking real steps to add staff, and we’ve started to see our hiring numbers increase,” she said.
Three months ago, Ray was appointed by the County Board of Supervisors to fill the vacancy left by former Sheriff Bill Gore, who resigned in February.
Martinez, who stepped in as acting sheriff and was Ray’s supervisor between February and April, now faces former San Diego police officer and district attorney John Hemmerling in the November ballot.
