Shortly after he took office, Orange County Sheriff Michael S. Carona and one of his top assistants deputized 86 friends, relatives, political contributors and others, giving them badges, powers of arrest and in some cases guns -- despite the fact that none had background investigations and some had not been fully trained.
Three years later, the state's Commission on Peace Officers Standards and Training removed all 86 of the reserve deputies from California's peace officer database, which meant the commission no longer recognized them as peace officers. Even so, 56 still have their badges and identification cards, and 14 have concealed weapons permits.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Wednesday June 15, 2005 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 39 words Type of Material: Correction
Orange County sheriff -- An article in the May 26 Section A about the Orange County sheriff's reserve program identified Sam Campolito as a former Huntington Beach police officer. He was a civilian employee of the city's Police Department.
A commission executive said he knows of no other case in which reserves have been removed from the database. The commission does not have the power to force a police agency to comply with its rules, but it can decertify a reserve program -- a step that would jeopardize the program's funding and credibility.
A Sheriff's Department audit, which is continuing, has determined that six of the volunteer deputies were performing police duties. Department officials ordered the six to stop performing police duties until background and training questions were resolved. The department had issued guns to four of the six, who have since returned the weapons.
In an e-mail responding to questions from The Times, Carona denied wrongdoing and said there was no public risk in allowing the reserve deputies to keep their badges. He said the appointments were not political favors, but acknowledged the group of reserve deputies included supporters, friends and family. Carona said he expected all of the reserve deputies to fulfill their duties.
"Like any organization, the first group of individuals we reach out to for support and assistance is friends and family of the members of the organization," Carona wrote.
Of the original 86 reserve deputies, 29 had contributed to Carona's inaugural election campaign in 1998 and his re-election campaign in 2002. Several others hosted fundraisers for him or the Mike Carona Foundation, a philanthropic group. The list includes physicians, lawyers, business owners and one of Orange County's top restaurateurs, who has hosted several Carona fundraisers.
Several of the reserve deputies had ties to former Assistant Sheriff Donald Haidl, who established the reserve program for Carona. Among them are Haidl's brother, sister, nephew and two other relatives. Haidl's private pilots, his personal secretary and other employees from his auction company also were deputized.
