Guest Post by Mara Zebest
Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi ran for office claiming to be qualified.
Turns out that he lied about his qualifications, and according to California law, he is not allowed to possess a firearm, which in itself is grounds for termination from the Sheriff’s department. The Sheriff decided to skirt the law and attempted to gain qualification according to range standards. He failed the test and the range officer attempted to find out if it was even ethical to test the Sheriff due to a past domestic violence conviction. The Range Officer was demoted and transferred for attempting to find answers regarding these concerns.
As a side note, Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi is the same Sheriff who blames everyone except himself after releasing the illegal murderer Francisco Sanchez who later took the life of Kate Steinle. A video of the Sheriff here defending sanctuary city policy.
Below audio is from KSFO 560 Morning Show out of San Francisco in which two officers from the Sheriff’s department call in to offer more background details of the serious consequences of this Sheriff’s lack of ethics on the job.
The SFGate reports the following:
A sergeant under San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi who oversaw the department’s shooting range was transferred after he questioned whether the sheriff could take a marksmanship test in light of his domestic violence case, The Chronicle has learned.
Mirkarimi then took the test and failed it, preventing him from carrying a gun, department employees said.
Sheriff’s Department officials strongly denied Thursday night that the sergeant had been transferred because he potentially stood in the way of Mirkarimi’s being granted permission to carry a gun. They described his transfer as a budgetary move and said Mirkarimi had nothing to do with it.
For much of his term as sheriff, Mirkarimi was on criminal probation after pleading guilty in 2012 to a misdemeanor charge of false imprisonment stemming from an incident in which he bruised his wife’s arm during an argument.
In April, Mirkarimi had the conviction expunged after he completed his probation. Left unresolved was whether he could carry a gun on duty.
State law bars someone convicted of a domestic-violence-related offense from possessing a gun, even if the conviction is expunged. Nonetheless, soon after his case was expunged, Mirkarimi asked the Sheriff’s Department shooting-range master to schedule a marksmanship test, said Capt. Lisette Adams, head of the department association that represents supervisors and managers.
The range master, Sgt. Matt Haskell, asked the internal affairs division to consult with the state Department of Justice on whether Mirkarimi could take the test, Adams said.
Haskell, however, “could never get a direct answer from internal affairs about whether the sheriff is qualified,” Adams said. […]
In August, the 18-year veteran sergeant was transferred from the shooting range to a jailhouse post. Adams said Haskell was told that the shift was due to a shortage of supervisors in the jail. Haskell declined to comment for this story.
“It is interesting that Haskell was attempting to determine the sheriff’s legal authority to carry a weapon shortly before he was transferred,” said Adams, whose group has endorsed Mirkarimi’s opponent in the Nov. 3 sheriff’s election, former Chief Deputy Sheriff Vicki Hennessy. “It could be for a shortage of supervisors, but other supervisors were not moved from noncritical positions.” […]
On Sept. 18, Mirkarimi went to the shooting range at San Francisco International Airport, took the marksmanship test and fell short of the 80 percent score needed to qualify to carry a gun, Adams said.
Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman Kenya Briggs said in a statement, “The sheriff, like every other deputy, is entitled to practice at a firing range.”
Adams, however, said Mirkarimi wasn’t practicing. Sept. 18 was reserved for qualification tests, she said.
“He was not practicing — it was an official shoot,” Adams said.
Under Sheriff’s Department rules, no sworn officer can appear in public or be in public buildings in uniform without a firearm. Mirkarimi, however, has repeatedly appeared in public in his uniform without a gun since failing the marksmanship test.
“In public and on duty, you are to have your firearm on you,” Adams said.
Horne, however, disputed that the rule applies to Mirkarimi. “There is no state, local or department law or policy that requires the elected sheriff to carry a firearm whether in uniform or not,” she said.
These are the same gun laws that would be aggressively enforced upon citizens… yet somehow Mirkarimi is immune from these laws?
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