Nearly 50 sworn Alameda County Sheriff's Office deputies are now on desk duty after being told their pre-employment psychological evaluations scores are too low to allow them to continue as law enforcement officers.
At least 30 of the 47 deputies are assigned to the jail, with the rest spread out across various divisions at the Alameda County Sheriff's Office.
"It's been heartbreaking to have to bring in these individuals, especially the ones who have been here a long period of time since 2016 - and basically telling them we're suspending your peace officer duties," Alameda County Sheriff's Office Lt. Ray Kelly said.
The sudden loss of nearly 50 sheriff's deputies comes after former Santa Rita Jail Deputy Devin Williams Jr. was arrested in connection to the murders of a Dublin couple.
In the wake of the arrest, the Sheriff's Office audited all hires since 2016 and sent a letter to all 47 deputies telling them that since they received a "D. Not Suited" evaluation they "cannot serve as a peace officer."
Kelly said the 47 affected deputies had to be taken off the streets and out of the jail immediately.
Get Tri-state area news delivered to your inbox. Sign up for NBC New York's News Headlines newsletter.
U.S. & World
"We had no choice but to suspend their peace officer powers, which would ultimately open up the individual officers, and the agency and the county to liability," Kelly said.
Dean Johnson, a Bay Area legal expert, said the discovery could have big legal repercussions.
"You can certainly see where some of the people who were deemed as not suited were to use excessive force, or violate someone's civil rights, or God forbid kill somebody in the course of their employment," Johnson said. "The liability for Alameda County could be horrendous."
Kelly said officials at the State Peace Officers Standards and Training Commission had previously said the sheriff's office could hire deputies as long as they did not get an "F" on the evaluations.
"Every year they audit our background files," Kelly said. "They did not tell us that we were doing anything wrong. We were even given permission by a member at the post commission that said we could hire the 'D. Not Suited' candidates."
The department plans to have all of the deputies re-evaluated by a private psychiatrist, something they can do just once under California law.
The Alameda County Sheriff's Office would not disclose whether Deputy Devin Williams Jr. was one of the deputies who was hired after 2016 and got a "D" grade on their psych evaluation - the Sheriff's Office is citing HIPAA privacy protections.
