Riverside County will soon have a new Sheriff as Chad Bianco will take over for Stan Sniff, who lost his re-election bid after serving as Riverside County Sheriff since 2007. According to Bianco, the transition is not going well.
“There is not a transition,” sheriff’s Lt. Chad Bianco told the Press Enterprise. “It is very unfortunate. We are now in the process of trying to work around that … The current sheriff is doing nothing to make this at all seamless.”
Bianco told the paper that Sniff is “acting like a child” and is refusing to meet with him during the transition. Bianco made his comments after Sniff’s department cancelled the annual Blue Light ceremonies, which honor Riverside County peace officers who died in the line of duty.
Note: It has since been announced that the ceremonies will now be held by the Riverside and Palm Springs police departments, with the Sheriff’s Department taking on a supporting role.
In an email to the Press Enterprise, Sniff said, “I think … it’s pretty clear we’re cooperating pretty well on the transition, I’m not sure where they’re coming from on that. It sounds like they’re still in campaign (mode).”
