 Sheriff John D’Agostini is nearing the end of his 3rd term in office. He noted that he had only 239 days left as Sheriff of EDC, as of May 5. He spoke to us about the current state of crime in El Dorado County and about the new facilities that the sheriff's office now occupies, and some about his take on the future. As far as crime statistics, the Sheriff noted that it is mostly still flat, with small increases here and there. His biggest regrets from his time in office include losing Deputy Ishmael due to a shooting in 2019 and losing a deputy to suicide last October. He is pleased with his office's budget management, returning a $5M fund to the county commissioners. For the future, Sheriff D'Agostini is hoping that the county can acquire a $3.1M helicopter to help with criminal pursuit, fire suppression and search and rescue. He thinks the time is right. The new Sheriff's Office is "Heaven" to work in and to see how much more efficient the staff is being all in one place instead of spread over several buildings. He believes that the efficiencies are saving one hour per deputy per day. For retirement activities, the Sheriff is looking forward to bird hunting and catching up on a 12 year backlog of "Honey-do list" items. But there's a good chance that he may come back as a RSO to manage the shooting range. Bob Dorr asked about the Gang Situation in the county. The Sheriff responded that in the Tahoe region, there are 15 ex- or current gang members on the radar of the department. They try to keep tabs on when officers of the Hell's Angels or Russian organized crime are passing through. The members gave Sheriff D’Agostini a nice send-off as he approaches the end of his last term and at least partial retirement. |
