Board approves $150,000 discretionary funds to boost sheriff’s armed-prohibited-persons operations

Vice Chair Doug Chaffee introduced a supplemental allocation of $150,000 in his district discretionary funds to support the Orange County Sheriff's Department's work with the statewide Armed Prohibited Persons (APS) system. He said prior DOJ grants were reduced and that county funding would restore targeted enforcement efforts for two years.

Sheriff Don Barnes told the board the APS system maintains a database of individuals prohibited from possessing firearms and that the sheriff's department has used education and compliance measures to recover firearms and, when necessary, make arrests. "The people who are part of the APS system is roughly 24,500," Barnes said, and the sheriff's department has recovered several hundred firearms in previous grant-funded efforts.

Barnes said the county effort recovers firearms through a combination of education, compliance and targeted operations, and that the discretionary funds would be used to provide overtime resources to allow more targeted enforcement without drawing on existing overtime budgets. He pledged to report outcomes to the board and said two-thirds of compliance outcomes are resolved through voluntary surrender rather than arrest.

Supervisors asked clarifying questions about the term (two years), the use of funds (overtime), and how the program coordinates with local police departments; Barnes said the effort is countywide and that the sheriff's office will coordinate with local jurisdictions when necessary.

The board moved and unanimously approved the allocation.