2009 VCDSA Survey Results

VCDSA Survey Results: 2010 Sheriff's Election

In mid-February, the VCDSA Board of Directors decided to survey bargaining unit members regarding their thoughts and opinions regarding the upcoming election for Ventura County Sheriff. It was discovered that Sheriff Brooks may not be seeking re-election in 2010 and four potential candidates were subsequently identified. These candidates included Chief Deputy Dennis Carpenter, Chief Deputy Geoff Dean, Oxnard Police Chief John Crombach, and Glendale Police Chief Randy Adams. VCDSA verified each candidate was interested in the position of Sheriff and wanted to be included in the survey.

Survey Population

VCDSA represents Deputy Sheriffs, Senior Deputy Sheriffs, and Sergeants from the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department. VCDSA also represents District Attorney Investigators I, District Attorney Investigators II, District Attorney Investigators III and Senior District Attorney Investigators from the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office. There are 756 active VCDSA members from these various ranks in the bargaining unit and VCDSA has current mailing addresses for each member. As such, it was decided to conduct a mail-survey to collect the data for this study.

Survey Methodology

On February 25, 2009 surveys were sent to all 756 members. The surveys included a cover letter from VCDSA President Matt Findlay which explained the reason for the survey, guaranteed individual confidentiality, and provided information as to where the results would be published. The letter also indicated that returned surveys needed to be postmarked by March 9th to be included in the analysis. The packet also included a pre-addressed stamped envelope for returning the completed survey. A total of 415 completed surveys were returned to VCDSA representing a 54.9% rate of return. The data was entered by VCDSA staff into a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet and was analyzed by VCDSA Board Member Jeff Barry, DM, MBA (Note: to ensure objectivity, this individual did not participate in the survey).

Twenty-five (25) of the returned surveys were eliminated from the final analysis due to errors on the ballots by the respondent, incorrect completion of the survey by the respondent, or no responses at all. For Question #2 and Question #3 the write-in results did not develop trends and were inconsistent so they were removed from the analysis. To ensure accuracy between the database and the actual surveys, approximately 50 returned surveys were randomly audited. No errors or discrepancies were discovered between the actual completed survey and the data entered into the database.

Survey Results

The first question of the survey asked the respondent to indicate whether they would be more likely to support a candidate for Sheriff from inside of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department or outside the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department. A total of 390 respondents answered this question. Of these, 80.5% (314 votes) indicated they would support a candidate for Sheriff from Inside the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department; 12.6% (49 votes) indicated they would support a candidate for Sheriff from outside of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department; and 6.9% (27 votes) indicated no response for this question. See Table #1.

Table 1

The second question of the survey asked the respondent if they responded “Yes” to Question #1, whom they would support for Sheriff. The options were Chief Deputy Dennis Carpenter, Chief Deputy Geoff Dean, or a write-in candidate. A total of 349 respondents answered this question. Of these, 27 responses were write-in results and they did not develop any consistent trends so they were eliminated from the final analysis. The analysis revealed 75.2% (255 votes) indicated they would support Chief Deputy Geoff Dean and 24.8% (84 votes) indicated they would support Chief Deputy Dennis Carpenter. See Table #2.

Table 2

The third question of the survey asked the respondent if they selected “No” Question #1, whom they would support for Sheriff. The options were Oxnard Police Chief John Crombach, Glendale Police Chief Randy Adams, or a write-in candidate. A total of 41 respondents answered this question. Of these, 3 responses were write-in results and they did not develop any consistent trends so they were eliminated from the final analysis. The analysis revealed 71.1% (27 votes) indicated they would support Oxnard Police Chief John Crombach and 28.9% (11 votes) indicated they would support Glendale Police Chief Randy Adams. See Table #3.

Table 3