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| Interview with Jay LaSuer 9-12 Candidate for Sheriff San Diego County, CA |
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He always says “Why not?” And I think he has come up with some great ideas. He’s saved the taxpayers a tremendous amount of money
and taken criminals off the street this way.
Host: Now, I’ve got to ask you this question. Would the California inmates also wear pink underwear, or are you going to pick up another
color?
Candidate: Well, you know what? Imitation is I guess the greatest form of flattery, and Sheriff Joe has started putting the pink underwear on
the inmates because when they would get out of jail, they would steal his underwear. And that’s just another way of cutting costs if you’re not
continually replacing underwear. And I’ve run a jail before in my life and I know that you have to be very, very careful with regards to what is
smuggled out of the jail and also with regards to what is smuggled in to jail. So I don’t see a problem with pink at all.
Host: You know, I always say that there’s a reason to my madness, but I’m glad to see that with Sheriff Joe there’s also a reason to his
because I bet that a lot of people are still scratching their head and wondering, “Why on earth did he choose pink?” But there is a good
reason.
Candidate: Well absolutely. Absolutely it’s a good reason and there’s a very valid reason.
Host: Do you have…. You know we’ve got plenty of land here in the state of Arizona to do such a thing. Do you have the same kind of land
opportunity in your county?
Candidate: Well San Diego County is a county of over 4,000 square miles so we have a great deal of property out there. And I’ve already had
people come to me and offer me to lease land for a dollar an acre. I mean a dollar a year, I’m saying. So that would be something that I don’t
see a problem in locating it.
Host: Okay, let’s go to immigration. It’s no secret that the Federal government has dropped the ball on illegal immigration and because of
your geographic location, you are facing that problem really from a front row seat. Now, we tend to talk about illegal immigration in terms of
national security, but at a local level, it causes additional concerns such as everyday security for children, for families, and for businesses.
How do you plan to address that issue?
Candidate: When I was a young police officer and also a young deputy sheriff, we worked and cooperated directly with the border patrol. And
law enforcement has gotten away from that over the years. I can’t figure out for the life of me why. Now, we just had a border patrol agent
murdered protecting our borders down here by dope smugglers and human traffickers and the like. This isn’t only about security of our
country, this is about safety of our families. These people that are coming up here today are coming from all over the world. And we have two
borders here in San Diego. We have a western border that they’re coming and using boats. They’re smuggling in people, they’re smuggling
in illegal drugs. And even though they’re in the process of erecting a rather substantial fence there, and I do believe that fences make good
neighbors, it’s a situation where we have got to stop this crime before it gets into our country. We can do that simply by working with and
cooperating with the agencies that are down here because our county goes right to the borders, so it is also part of our responsibility. In crime
prevention, is an extremely important part of any law enforcement officer’s duties and responsibilities.
Host: When we think about crime, one of the first things we think about is guns, and a lot of people are saying, “We have crimes because we
allow citizens to have guns.” So let’s talk about guns.
Candidate: Okay, let’s talk about it.
Host: Someone in law enforcement faces the potential for gun violence at all time and some even blame the Second Amendment in the
Constitution for the crime rate. What is your position on gun control?
Candidate: Gun control is good sight alignment. But let me just, joking aside here, you know the founding fathers of this country had reason
for putting the Second Amendment in there. That is how our country obtained its freedom. We have right now I believe it’s, and I might be off
one or two, but I believe we have 39 states that have shell issue laws on concealed weapons permits. And there was the hand-wringing and
the shrill voices in the background saying that crimes of violence were going to go up and all this if the states enacted these laws. In fact, the
opposite is exactly true. The crime rates went down. And I can tell you this, after 31 years in law enforcement I can tell you that if we put a law
enforcement officer on every corner, we could not protect the public. I think that there was a ruling out of a court that basically said that very
same thing. That law enforcement can’t protect you. Well, there’s a situation going on right now in Sacramento, California, where the sheriff
came out, it’s was in the newspaper about a week ago, and said they are relaxing the standards on concealed weapons permits. That is they
are going to allow more of the law-abiding citizens to have them simply because of the budgetary cuts and the fact that they can’t put the
manpower out and they can’t protect the public, so the public is going to have to get in a situation where they can protect themselves. I
support the Second Amendment. I believe it is a right to protect yourselves and to live a life in peace and to make sure your family is always
safe also. That’s a God-given right. That’s not given to you by government and the only thing I’ve seen government do is try to take rights like
that away. And I believe that law-abiding citizens most definitely should have that right.
Host: Now no system is ever perfect and there’s always room for improvement. I think we’ll all agree on that. Law enforcement, of course, is
no exception. What are some of the first things that come to your mind that should be improved and would you have a solution to go along
with that?
Candidate: Well, one of the first things that come to mind, you know let’s be honest. Law enforcement has two main duties. The main duty is
that they have to try to do everything in their power to make sure that you can live a quality of life, and that you can live in peace, and you can
live and not fear for your safety. But they also have to do it in a cost effective way. There’s a lot of waste, a tremendous amount of waste, and
my experience in government and I had ten years on my own city council, I spent six years in state legislature, and 31 years in law
enforcement. My experience is that there is such a tremendous amount of waste and most organizations have a tendency to build
bureaucracies, and then we have built a bit of a bureaucracy here with our sheriff’s department, I believe. And I think that’s a waste of
money. I think we have to go back. We have to make a very, very complete audit and take the frivolous or the exorbitant moneys that are
being spent and we have to get rid of that. Get rid of the bureaucracies and put the deputies back in the field where they’re protecting your
family and my family and everybody else’s family, and so people can live a little safer. When I was a kid, we didn’t worry about leaving the
keys in your car at home. Your kids could go play all day. Now you have to take the keys in and lock the car up, and you have to watch your
kids even in a fenced yard because a lot of the criminals have no fear of the law and that is absolutely unacceptable.
Host: Well you know, when you talk to just basic folks just like I and my neighbors and all of that, you know, a lot of people now tend to believe
that the law is on the side of the criminals. You’re in law enforcement. Do you agree with that?
Candidate: I will tell you what. I will answer that one step further. In the time that I spent in the state legislature, I served as a vice-chair of a
public safety committee for six years and I have to tell you when I hear legislators getting in to talking about the fact that sex deviants and
child molesters aren’t criminals, that they’re sick and they need to be treated that way when in fact, no they are, they’re criminals of the worst
kind. And my personal belief is, if you’re a child molester, if you’re a rapist and all this, you ought to be thrown in jail and the keys thrown
away. I don’t think you belong out with society when you have so flagrantly violated the norms of good citizenry and the laws of the land that
have been laid down. We can’t continue and go on and dilute these laws. We have to make sure they are enforced and I think the legislature
sometimes sets the wrong tone and paints the wrong picture.
Host: Talking about the legislature since you have been part of that process, let’s look at some of the laws on the books. Isn’t it time to
update some of those laws? Maybe throw some away and replace them with new ones or just plain update them so that they make sense
for the 21st Century?
Candidate: Well, that’s a yes and a no also. There are laws on the books that are absolutely ridiculous. There are laws on the books that
shouldn’t be there. But I think we also have to remember that the supreme law of the land is the Constitution and I don’t believe that our
Constitution is a living breathing document. I believe it says what it means and it means what it says and a lot a people want to make sure,
well we can go back because these times have changed and the Constitution shouldn’t mean this, it should mean this, this and this. That’s
not right. When they say that, you know, the right to keep and bear arms should not be infringed, that’s exactly what it means. And when they
give freedom of speech and they make sure that illegal searches cannot occur, all these things, I think that’s what it means and it means that
for a reason because we’re trying to live in a civilized country. In the state legislature, I saw people after 9/11 want to enact all kinds of laws
that would have taken our basic freedoms away and they said so in the vein that this was going to make it safer. No it’s not going to make it
safer. Living in a police state will not make us safer at all. We have to guard against those things on a constant basis. So that’s kind of my
take on where the laws are and what they’re doing. But any rate, that is my take on the laws. Yes, there are some laws that are ridiculous and I’
ve seen some. And I’ve seen laws that are ridiculous passed and they serve absolutely no purpose. And we have to make sure we do not
allow this to occur and that we elect people that will not allow them to occur. And we’ve got to get rid of this gerrymandering of districts and all
so we can have a fair representation of the people. When districts are gerrymandered, like they are in California, you do not represent the
people, you represent special interests.
Host: Now still the vast majority of people are law-abiding citizens and at the end of the day, all they want and care about is really a safe
environment for them and their families. As their sheriff, how will you be able to provide that in your own county?
Candidate: The first thing is we’ve got to go out and start enforcing the laws. If a person…. Enforce it and be a law enforcement officer of the
old style. And when we went out and we actually patrolled and we talked to people on the street and we knew the people on the street. We
knew who lived in these neighborhoods. We knew who the good people were and who the bad people were. So we were familiar with what
was going on there. It’s very hard to go and enforce an area where you move people around constantly and they never get to know the
territory. They never get to know the families. They never get to know the people that are the law violators, so we need to go back to some old
fashioned policing. And we need to make sure that when a person calls and they have a complaint and they want a deputy sheriff, that that
deputy sheriff shows up on their porch and the person or the person on the other end of the line don’t go, “You can go on line to a computer
and you can fill this report out.” Sometimes they notice that maybe a dollar wise is a pound foolish. And I’ve had people complain to me
about the fact that they’ve had law enforcement officers come to their house to investigate major crimes and they did not do any type of a
preliminary investigation, by that I’m talking about fingerprint dusting, I’m talking about photographs and all such as this. And that’s basically
work, and that’s how crimes are solved.
Host: Alright, Mr. LaSuer, you are running for sheriff in your county, the county of San Diego. How may citizens of that county and supporters
help you and contact you or your campaign and maybe even try to contribute to it?
Candidate: That’s very simple. We have a website. It’s at www.sheriffjay.org. Very simple. And we put articles on there, some of the questions
that you’ve asked me are on there. I’ve talked about tent jails on there. I’ve talked about illegal immigration on there. I’ve talked about
concealed weapons permits and all these things because I’m up front. I don’t believe in hiding things. I think you should have an open door
policy. I always had that at Sacramento and I intend on having that here. And I think you should be very, very accessible to people.
Host: Wonderful. Again the website is Sheriff Jay dot org. Mr. LaSuer, good luck with your campaign.
Candidate: And thank you very, very much and all the best to you.
Host: Thank you for being on the program.
and taken criminals off the street this way.
Host: Now, I’ve got to ask you this question. Would the California inmates also wear pink underwear, or are you going to pick up another
color?
Candidate: Well, you know what? Imitation is I guess the greatest form of flattery, and Sheriff Joe has started putting the pink underwear on
the inmates because when they would get out of jail, they would steal his underwear. And that’s just another way of cutting costs if you’re not
continually replacing underwear. And I’ve run a jail before in my life and I know that you have to be very, very careful with regards to what is
smuggled out of the jail and also with regards to what is smuggled in to jail. So I don’t see a problem with pink at all.
Host: You know, I always say that there’s a reason to my madness, but I’m glad to see that with Sheriff Joe there’s also a reason to his
because I bet that a lot of people are still scratching their head and wondering, “Why on earth did he choose pink?” But there is a good
reason.
Candidate: Well absolutely. Absolutely it’s a good reason and there’s a very valid reason.
Host: Do you have…. You know we’ve got plenty of land here in the state of Arizona to do such a thing. Do you have the same kind of land
opportunity in your county?
Candidate: Well San Diego County is a county of over 4,000 square miles so we have a great deal of property out there. And I’ve already had
people come to me and offer me to lease land for a dollar an acre. I mean a dollar a year, I’m saying. So that would be something that I don’t
see a problem in locating it.
Host: Okay, let’s go to immigration. It’s no secret that the Federal government has dropped the ball on illegal immigration and because of
your geographic location, you are facing that problem really from a front row seat. Now, we tend to talk about illegal immigration in terms of
national security, but at a local level, it causes additional concerns such as everyday security for children, for families, and for businesses.
How do you plan to address that issue?
Candidate: When I was a young police officer and also a young deputy sheriff, we worked and cooperated directly with the border patrol. And
law enforcement has gotten away from that over the years. I can’t figure out for the life of me why. Now, we just had a border patrol agent
murdered protecting our borders down here by dope smugglers and human traffickers and the like. This isn’t only about security of our
country, this is about safety of our families. These people that are coming up here today are coming from all over the world. And we have two
borders here in San Diego. We have a western border that they’re coming and using boats. They’re smuggling in people, they’re smuggling
in illegal drugs. And even though they’re in the process of erecting a rather substantial fence there, and I do believe that fences make good
neighbors, it’s a situation where we have got to stop this crime before it gets into our country. We can do that simply by working with and
cooperating with the agencies that are down here because our county goes right to the borders, so it is also part of our responsibility. In crime
prevention, is an extremely important part of any law enforcement officer’s duties and responsibilities.
Host: When we think about crime, one of the first things we think about is guns, and a lot of people are saying, “We have crimes because we
allow citizens to have guns.” So let’s talk about guns.
Candidate: Okay, let’s talk about it.
Host: Someone in law enforcement faces the potential for gun violence at all time and some even blame the Second Amendment in the
Constitution for the crime rate. What is your position on gun control?
Candidate: Gun control is good sight alignment. But let me just, joking aside here, you know the founding fathers of this country had reason
for putting the Second Amendment in there. That is how our country obtained its freedom. We have right now I believe it’s, and I might be off
one or two, but I believe we have 39 states that have shell issue laws on concealed weapons permits. And there was the hand-wringing and
the shrill voices in the background saying that crimes of violence were going to go up and all this if the states enacted these laws. In fact, the
opposite is exactly true. The crime rates went down. And I can tell you this, after 31 years in law enforcement I can tell you that if we put a law
enforcement officer on every corner, we could not protect the public. I think that there was a ruling out of a court that basically said that very
same thing. That law enforcement can’t protect you. Well, there’s a situation going on right now in Sacramento, California, where the sheriff
came out, it’s was in the newspaper about a week ago, and said they are relaxing the standards on concealed weapons permits. That is they
are going to allow more of the law-abiding citizens to have them simply because of the budgetary cuts and the fact that they can’t put the
manpower out and they can’t protect the public, so the public is going to have to get in a situation where they can protect themselves. I
support the Second Amendment. I believe it is a right to protect yourselves and to live a life in peace and to make sure your family is always
safe also. That’s a God-given right. That’s not given to you by government and the only thing I’ve seen government do is try to take rights like
that away. And I believe that law-abiding citizens most definitely should have that right.
Host: Now no system is ever perfect and there’s always room for improvement. I think we’ll all agree on that. Law enforcement, of course, is
no exception. What are some of the first things that come to your mind that should be improved and would you have a solution to go along
with that?
Candidate: Well, one of the first things that come to mind, you know let’s be honest. Law enforcement has two main duties. The main duty is
that they have to try to do everything in their power to make sure that you can live a quality of life, and that you can live in peace, and you can
live and not fear for your safety. But they also have to do it in a cost effective way. There’s a lot of waste, a tremendous amount of waste, and
my experience in government and I had ten years on my own city council, I spent six years in state legislature, and 31 years in law
enforcement. My experience is that there is such a tremendous amount of waste and most organizations have a tendency to build
bureaucracies, and then we have built a bit of a bureaucracy here with our sheriff’s department, I believe. And I think that’s a waste of
money. I think we have to go back. We have to make a very, very complete audit and take the frivolous or the exorbitant moneys that are
being spent and we have to get rid of that. Get rid of the bureaucracies and put the deputies back in the field where they’re protecting your
family and my family and everybody else’s family, and so people can live a little safer. When I was a kid, we didn’t worry about leaving the
keys in your car at home. Your kids could go play all day. Now you have to take the keys in and lock the car up, and you have to watch your
kids even in a fenced yard because a lot of the criminals have no fear of the law and that is absolutely unacceptable.
Host: Well you know, when you talk to just basic folks just like I and my neighbors and all of that, you know, a lot of people now tend to believe
that the law is on the side of the criminals. You’re in law enforcement. Do you agree with that?
Candidate: I will tell you what. I will answer that one step further. In the time that I spent in the state legislature, I served as a vice-chair of a
public safety committee for six years and I have to tell you when I hear legislators getting in to talking about the fact that sex deviants and
child molesters aren’t criminals, that they’re sick and they need to be treated that way when in fact, no they are, they’re criminals of the worst
kind. And my personal belief is, if you’re a child molester, if you’re a rapist and all this, you ought to be thrown in jail and the keys thrown
away. I don’t think you belong out with society when you have so flagrantly violated the norms of good citizenry and the laws of the land that
have been laid down. We can’t continue and go on and dilute these laws. We have to make sure they are enforced and I think the legislature
sometimes sets the wrong tone and paints the wrong picture.
Host: Talking about the legislature since you have been part of that process, let’s look at some of the laws on the books. Isn’t it time to
update some of those laws? Maybe throw some away and replace them with new ones or just plain update them so that they make sense
for the 21st Century?
Candidate: Well, that’s a yes and a no also. There are laws on the books that are absolutely ridiculous. There are laws on the books that
shouldn’t be there. But I think we also have to remember that the supreme law of the land is the Constitution and I don’t believe that our
Constitution is a living breathing document. I believe it says what it means and it means what it says and a lot a people want to make sure,
well we can go back because these times have changed and the Constitution shouldn’t mean this, it should mean this, this and this. That’s
not right. When they say that, you know, the right to keep and bear arms should not be infringed, that’s exactly what it means. And when they
give freedom of speech and they make sure that illegal searches cannot occur, all these things, I think that’s what it means and it means that
for a reason because we’re trying to live in a civilized country. In the state legislature, I saw people after 9/11 want to enact all kinds of laws
that would have taken our basic freedoms away and they said so in the vein that this was going to make it safer. No it’s not going to make it
safer. Living in a police state will not make us safer at all. We have to guard against those things on a constant basis. So that’s kind of my
take on where the laws are and what they’re doing. But any rate, that is my take on the laws. Yes, there are some laws that are ridiculous and I’
ve seen some. And I’ve seen laws that are ridiculous passed and they serve absolutely no purpose. And we have to make sure we do not
allow this to occur and that we elect people that will not allow them to occur. And we’ve got to get rid of this gerrymandering of districts and all
so we can have a fair representation of the people. When districts are gerrymandered, like they are in California, you do not represent the
people, you represent special interests.
Host: Now still the vast majority of people are law-abiding citizens and at the end of the day, all they want and care about is really a safe
environment for them and their families. As their sheriff, how will you be able to provide that in your own county?
Candidate: The first thing is we’ve got to go out and start enforcing the laws. If a person…. Enforce it and be a law enforcement officer of the
old style. And when we went out and we actually patrolled and we talked to people on the street and we knew the people on the street. We
knew who lived in these neighborhoods. We knew who the good people were and who the bad people were. So we were familiar with what
was going on there. It’s very hard to go and enforce an area where you move people around constantly and they never get to know the
territory. They never get to know the families. They never get to know the people that are the law violators, so we need to go back to some old
fashioned policing. And we need to make sure that when a person calls and they have a complaint and they want a deputy sheriff, that that
deputy sheriff shows up on their porch and the person or the person on the other end of the line don’t go, “You can go on line to a computer
and you can fill this report out.” Sometimes they notice that maybe a dollar wise is a pound foolish. And I’ve had people complain to me
about the fact that they’ve had law enforcement officers come to their house to investigate major crimes and they did not do any type of a
preliminary investigation, by that I’m talking about fingerprint dusting, I’m talking about photographs and all such as this. And that’s basically
work, and that’s how crimes are solved.
Host: Alright, Mr. LaSuer, you are running for sheriff in your county, the county of San Diego. How may citizens of that county and supporters
help you and contact you or your campaign and maybe even try to contribute to it?
Candidate: That’s very simple. We have a website. It’s at www.sheriffjay.org. Very simple. And we put articles on there, some of the questions
that you’ve asked me are on there. I’ve talked about tent jails on there. I’ve talked about illegal immigration on there. I’ve talked about
concealed weapons permits and all these things because I’m up front. I don’t believe in hiding things. I think you should have an open door
policy. I always had that at Sacramento and I intend on having that here. And I think you should be very, very accessible to people.
Host: Wonderful. Again the website is Sheriff Jay dot org. Mr. LaSuer, good luck with your campaign.
Candidate: And thank you very, very much and all the best to you.
Host: Thank you for being on the program.
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