Overview: Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, who announced plans to run for governor, has been criticized for his department’s poor performance in solving violent and property crimes. A report by the Center on Crime and Criminal Justice shows that the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department is ranked worst in the state in this regard, and violent crime has risen in the county since the 2020 COVID shutdown. Bianco’s budget per sheriff’s jurisdiction residents in 2024 was also found to be 29% higher than the other sheriff departments in the state, despite his department’s poor performance.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!S.E. Williams
“Our criminals are being coddled, the punishment is next to nothing if anything. I’m not saying we have to put everybody in prison, but we need to get rid of the soft-on-crime policies that we have in Sacramento right now and start holding people accountable,” said Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco during an interview in February, 2024. Nearly a year later he announced plans to run for governor.
Now we know why he spoke with such authority about soft on crime policies–obviously he was speaking from experience since we now know he was failing to perform his due diligence in this regard. I guess he believes it’s enough to talk the talk because a new report shows he certainly isn’t walking the walk.
The report, published by the Center on Crime and Criminal Justice (CCCJ), shows the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department is ranked worst in the state when it comes to solving Part 1 violent and property crimes. Think about it. Mr. “we need a revolution of competence in government” Bianco, who can’t keep those confined to his jails alive—17% of the state’s jail homicides have occurred in Riverside County, despite this county housing only 6% of the state’s jail population. Obviously, he is not focused on this issue.
Meanwhile, violent crime has risen in the county since the 2020 COVID shut down–so apparently he is not focused there either.
This all begs the question: If he wasn’t focused on these issues and he obviously wasn’t focused on solving violent and property crimes, what was he doing to earn all the money he’s paid as the county’s highest-paid government official according to the CA State Controller? Not only that, he is also paid more than any other sheriff in the state. Obviously, Riverside County is being ripped off.
I say this because with all of the things he is not doing, he should have lots of time on his hands to do other parts of his job like clearing Part 1 violent crimes and property offenses, for example. But apparently this is not among his priorities either. According to the report, Riverside County cleared an average of just 9.2% of reported crimes in this category. This is less than half the state average and the very “last among the state’s 57 sheriffs with arrest authority” among CA’s 58 counties.
The phrase “You can’t make this up,” is used when a situation is so bizarre or unbelievable that even fiction wouldn’t come close. In other words, reality surpasses imagination.
The Free Dictionary
Part I offenses are a category of crimes considered serious and are reported to the FBI as part of the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program. “They include violent crimes like murder, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault.” In addition this category includes property crimes like “burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson.”
What makes Bianco’s dismal performance even more insulting to the residents of this county is the reality that this county’s Sheriffs Department budget–according to the State Comptroller–in 2024 averaged $243 per county resident. Looking at this in a vacuum with nothing to compare it to, the number may seem reasonable. But when you look at it in relation to all of the other sheriff departments across the state you realize it is grossly out of proportion–the other 56 sheriff departments average $195 per county resident–nearly 25% less than what Riverside County averages.
In addition, Bianco’s budget per sheriff’s jurisdiction residents in 2024 was 29% higher per sheriff’s‑jurisdiction resident than the other sheriff departments in the state, $1,498 versus $1,163.
Bianco apparently has all the time and all the money he needs to run a quality operation and yet, he continues to fail miserably to do so by a number of key measures. Let’s also not forget he remains under a Civil Rights investigation by the CA State Attorney General.
So, if Bianco is not doing his job effectively, what is he doing—running for governor on the county’s dime. Follow this link to view his campaign event schedule. Many of these activities occur through the week, often in distant parts of the state.
While campaigning in June, Bianco declared, “We will reopen every prison that Gov. Newsom has closed, and I vow to build more prisons to keep these criminals off of our streets and out of our neighborhoods.” At the rate people are dying in Riverside County jails the very idea is enough to send a chill down your spine.
In a social media post in February 2024, Bianco declared, “[C]alifornia public safety is in crisis. Crime is steadily on the rise and our public safety policy is one of the worst, if not the worst in the nation. I wanna make this clear and I want there to be no mistake in what I am saying. This is not by accident.”
You’re right, Chad, it’s not by accident. It may be partly due to the sheriff of Riverside, California’s fourth largest county, who has failed to do his job.
Of course, this is just my opinion. I’m keeping it real.