El Dorado County sheriff’s detectives unhappily reassigned to patrol
By Peter Hecht, Sacramento Bee
Five veteran El Dorado County sheriff’s investigators, including a detective who worked on the Jaycee Lee Dugard kidnapping case and the teen lovers’ murder saga of Steven Colver and Tylar Witt, have been reassigned to patrol units.
The reassignment of nearly half of the sheriff’s detective division has triggered the filing of a contract grievance by the deputy sheriffs’ association. And it fueled a media event Tuesday, in which union representatives and some advocates for crime victims blasted El Dorado County Sheriff John D’Agostini as undermining public safety by rotating undertrained officers into the coveted detective positions.
Among those sent to patrol was Detective Rick Fitzgerald, whose 18-year-tenure included the Dugard and Colver/Witt investigations and the cold case of Philip Arthur Thompson, who was convicted in 2008 in the killing of Elizabeth Marie “Betty” Cloe, a 22-year-old Oregon woman whose shot and bludgeoned body was found in Cameron Park in 1971.
Also reassigned was the entire five-member property crimes unit, with four going to patrol. A fifth member was reassigned within the investigative division, the deputy sheriffs’ association said.
Unfortunately the public suffers when employees don’t realize they are employees of someone else – the public in this case. If you want to make the rules then start your own company or find another job with more latitude. I’d find a way to fire every one of you if you brought in an attorney against me. I hope D’Agostini does the same.
Oh waaah waaaah waah! Those poor Deputies actually have to GO TO WORK FOR THEIR PAY! I feel so awful for them…..
Wow! Boy are you two ingnorant hate mongers! I live in this community, and this is a public safty issue! And those who have put in many years of service to the public, who have proven to be very competent in their job deserve better!