By Emerson Drake
4/5/10
Just wanted to you to be aware of some reported abuses within the Stanislaus County Sheriff's Office where taxpayer's money is being wasted.Apparently, some individuals are using their county assigned vehicles for personal use. For example:Approximately one week ago, Capt. Tim David was involved in a vehicle accident in his county issued car.
The problem is, he was in Pacific Grove, where he has a residence, anda member of his family was also in the car. According to sources, it has been known for some time that he has been driving his county issued car for long weekend trips from Modesto to Pacific Grove.
He is driving approx. 120 miles, one way, on our dollar for his personal benefit.It has also be said that for quite some time a Lieutenant assigned to the City of Patterson has also been using his county vehicle to make weekly trips to his vacation home in Tahoe.
Lastly, it has been said there is a Sgt. assigned to the City of Riverbank who is using a county vehicle to drive from Riverbank to his home in the bay area.The first argument will be that they are "on call".
But if they are 2,3, or more hours away what could they possibly contribute to any situation once they drove back and arrived at whatever emergency they were called to. If they are on call, then they should stay at least within the County.
Apparently, there is department policy that dictates a "take-home " vehicle can be driven no more than 3 miles outside of the county to an employee's residence. If this policy is still in place then it is being violated daily by these and other individuals within the Sheriff's Office, and nobody is doing anything about it.
If these abuses are going on, this is very disturbing, and the people of Stanislaus County should be outraged at the flagrant misuse of taxpayer dollars, especially in these tough economic times, when the Sheriff is looking at laying off deputies.
Why is Sheriff Christianson allowing these abuses to go on?Has he given his approval for certain individuals to get "free rides" on the citizens of Stanislaus County?It should be noted that Capt. David is a retired Lieutenant from the Modesto Police Department and Christianson hired him as his Captain.
Both Capt. David and the Lieutenant from Patterson are political supporters of Christianson.Is this payback from Christianson???
This needs to be investigated.If these claims are found to be true, all the abusers and those who allowed this breach of ethical behavior and theft of hard earned taxpayer money need to be exposed and held accountable.A Concerned Taxpayer
