I recently met on the phone with Bill Flores, a friend of Joe Cordero. Joe thought that Bill had a good understanding of a lawsuit filed by 3 minority-based organizations who had jointly filed suit against the County of San Diego. The suit alleged that blacks, Mexican Americans, Asians, and women were being discriminated against by the County of San Diego in terms of employment, job assignment, and promotion. The suit was filed in 1977 and a settlement was reached in 1978, where the County agreed to comply with several of the requirements including the three issues listed above.
Flores explained that the agreement required the County (which included the Sheriff’s Dept., as well as other County depts.) to begin hiring members of the groups listed above. Flores explained that at this time, he was stationed at the Encinitas Station where he was assigned as a patrol deputy. When news of the settlement by the County with the listed minority groups, many deputy sheriffs were alarmed and angry. “Affirmative Action” was thought to be a wrong way to handle the obvious results of the way things were being handled (i.e. hiring, assignments, and promotions).
Flores had several experiences with tenured patrol deputies that gave him pause. He recounted an incident, where he was a trainee accompanied by a tenured patrol deputy. They were driving southbound on the Hwy 101 in the Cardiff flats area when a vehicle traveling in the other direction passed them. Flores and the training deputy noted that the driver was a black man. The training officer then asked Flores if he had seen the driver of the car going in the opposite direction and Flores responded that yes, he did. The training officer then told Flores that he needed to turn around and stop the driver in the car proceeding in the opposite direction. Flores proceeded to turn, caught up to the car, and contacted the driver. At the completion of the contact, Flores was admonished by the training officer that blacks are to stopped for any legal reason if they are seen on the coast. Flores said to me that this stop still haunts him today.
Getting back to the situation of the lawsuit settlement, Flores was promoted to sergeant and assigned to the Central Jail, where he had worked as a jail deputy before being transferred to the Encinitas Station. Flores then told me of an experience he had soon after being promoted. He said that he recalled being called to a court next door to the jail to explain a certain jail procedure that an inmate/defendant was complaining to the judge about. While looking for the courtroom, Flores saw a deputy walking towards him in the hallway. Flores asked the deputy where that particular courtroom was, and after being informed, the deputy extended his hand to congratulate him on his promotion, whispering in his ear,”Don’t you ever tell me what to do” as he continued to shake his hand. Flores said that he felt an anger emitting from this deputy and others resulting from the court settlement.
Before Flores was transferred out of patrol and back into the jail he related another incident that caused him some consternation. He had been working the afternoon patrol shift and stopped at the station for lunch. While there, he had occasion to use the men’s room where he noted that a copy of the court-order and its requirements, to be taped on the wall in front of the urinals. Thinking that it had been another angry deputy, Flores removed the order and placed it on the Capt.’s desk so that the Capt. can understand what some deputy(s) might be doing. The next day, Flores found the same order taped on the same wall. Flores did the same thing and returned it to the Capt. On the third day, Flores discovered that the Capt. had issued a directive to all male personnel that the court order was to remain taped to the wall above the urinals and he wanted to know who was removing it.
While on patrol this third day, the Capt. called over the radio that a specific deputy return to the station to speak with him. The deputy did that, and informed me that the Capt. is searching for the person responsible for removing the court order and placing it on the Capt.’s desk. Flores listened to this deputy’s recount of his interview with the Capt. and it disturbed him. The next day Flores spoke to the Lieutenant telling him that he (Flores) had been removing the order and returning it to the Capt. The Lieutenant told Flores to sit in his office while he left to report to the Capt. that the person responsible had been found. Flores felt sure that his law enforcement career might end on this day.
Upon walking in to the Capt.’s office Flores noted that both men (Capt. and Lt.) were visibly angry. The Capt. began by asking Flores why he continued to remove the order from the wall. As Flores began to explain, he was cut off by the Capt. who angrily asked if he(Flores) supported affirmative action and if he (Flores) understood that it was the Capt.’s order that it be displayed in the men’s room. Flores said that he felt his law enforcement career was ending very soon, and then asked both ranking officers if they thought that the men’s restroom wall was the appropriate place to display such an important document or that it be hung on the bulletin board with other important information. They both looked at each other asked that I wait until they had a chance to talk. Flores said afterward that they both saw his point, and directed him back out to complete his patrol duties.
Mr. Flores retired from the Sheriff’s Department in 2003 after serving 29 years. He had received 5 promotions during his tenure including Sergeant, Lieutenant, Captain, Commander, and Assistant Sheriff. During that time Flores saw other incidents of discrimination and try to point them out when they occurred. One such incident that should be mentioned was the situation involving filling an opening for the position of Captain. A group of ranking officers met to discuss the candidates vying for the promotion. This group was comprised of white males, except for Mr. Flores. Candidates for the promotion included mostly white males. There were twenty Captain positions with one vacancy. Flores relates that the discussion focused almost exclusively on white male candidates. All of these candidates were qualified, but there was no mention of the single black candidate. Flores was the last ranking officer to speak and he spoke of his preference for the black candidate, who had a documented work history of being an excellent lieutenant. This meeting included the Sheriff, who was listening intently to the input from his command staff. After a few long moments of consideration, the Sheriff decided to promote the black candidate to Captain.
Mr. Flores made clear that his input may or may not have been the factor that caused the Sheriff to make the selection he ultimately made, Flores was very happy he (the Sheriff) made the choice he made. Among some of his achievements, Flores is particularly proud of serving as chairman of the San Diego Regional Hate Crimes Coalition for 2 years. Mr. Flores was not only in law enforcement, but he also ran and was elected to his neighborhood high school Board of Trustees, where he served for 8 years.
Regarding the period of time after the consent decree, if you faced an incident or similar situation and would like to share it with me please Email it to: m10gotoy@aol.com & Thank you for your help, Maria