Families of people who died in Riverside County jails are pushing for independent oversight of the Sheriff’s Department, while pointing to over $100 million in taxpayer-funded settlements and a disturbing surge of in-custody deaths.

One answer activists are pushing is the plan to skip the Board of Supervisors entirely, and go straight for a ballot initiative and the community to force real change.

“This is a campaign of the people, by the people, and for the people, and we’re leaving no community behind in our push for 35,000 signatures,” said Fidel Chagolla on behalf of Riverside All of Us or None and Starting Over Strong.

“Truth matters”—at least that’s what Sheriff Bianco claimed last week when he dismissed oversight as “pro-criminal.” But the truth he refuses to face is the one Riverside County lives with every day: a sheriff who smears grieving families as “anti-law enforcement,” dismisses data when it doesn’t serve him. While he denies and distorts reality: every Riverside County resident is still living with the fallout of leading the nation in in-custody deaths in 2022, and the continuing deaths, lawsuits, and misconduct that show how deeply the system is failing.

The groups are 'united by the simple belief that public safety must be accountable to the public it serves,' said one activist

A coalition of Riverside County advocacy groups wants voters to decide whether an independent sheriff's accountability committee should be established to provide civilians an opportunity to investigate jail deaths, possible misconduct and propose changes.