I
will post information about one of my favorite Attorneys from California,
Michael A. Ramos from Wikipedia and other links.
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| Michael A. Ramos |
INTERNET SOURCE:
Michael
Ramos is the San Bernardino County District Attorney - On January 4, 2011,
Michael A. Ramos was sworn in as District Attorney of the County of San
Bernardino for a third term. In his address, he noted the importance of
continuing his mission to fight violent crime and corruption and make victims’
rights a priority. In June 2014, Ramos was reelected to his fourth term which
officially begins in January 2015.
No stranger to the local area, District Attorney Ramos was born and raised in Redlands, California. He has been married to his wife Gretchen for 30 years. He has two grown children, Michele and Michael and a grandson, Christian.
After attending local schools in Redlands and graduating from Redlands High School in 1976, Ramos earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology from the University of California in Riverside in 1980 and a Doctorate of Jurisprudence from Citrus Belt Law School in Riverside in 1988.
Ramos’ government service began in 1980, where he started as a group counselor with the Probation Department and then later became a Probation Officer. He started his career with the District Attorney’s Office in June 1989, as a Deputy District Attorney.
In addition to his work in general prosecution and the narcotics unit, he served with the Major Crimes Unit for four years, until 2002, when he was elected District Attorney for San Bernardino County.
His civic services have included serving as a school board member from 1995 – 2002; member of the California Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board; and President of the California District Attorney Association Board Member, to name a few.
Recently, Ramos was elected to represent the State of California on the National District Attorney’s Association Board of Directors and serve as co-chair of the NDAA’s committee for corrections and prison re-entry.
“Because of my work as president of the CDAA with Governor Brown on AB 109 this past year, I have been noticed as an expert in this area,” said Ramos. “Having this opportunity will give me the chance to highlight the successes and models of our office with my colleagues across the country. Ultimately, though, this will allow me to be a leader on all issues that affect public safety and victims of crime.”
A firm believer in serving his community, Ramos has been recognized with such awards as the Inland Empire Hispanic Image Awards recipient for Influential Latino of the Year (2005); the Victim Service Award San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office Victim/Witness Assistance Program (2000); and M.A.D.D. Prosecutor of the Year Award (1998).
During his tenure, he has added a Public Integrity Unit to handle political corruption and a Lifer Parole Hearing Unit to ensure that violent prisoners serve their maximum prison terms. He has also expanded Gang Units to all three of his major offices, as well as Fontana.
Since 2005, when the Gang Unit was created, there have been 3,902 state prison commitments secured for a total of 25,840 years plus 108 life terms in state prison.
“The rise of criminal street gangs in this county is a real threat to our communities, but I refuse to allow these local terrorists to determine how we live our daily lives,” said Ramos. “I’ve said it before and I will continue to say that coming down hard on gang crime and keeping our communities safe will always be an important mission of this office.”
To further combat gangs, in 2007, Ramos implemented a Gang Injunction Unit, which targets gangs in unincorporated areas of the county and uses civil abatement methods to assist in ridding the county of gangs. The most recent gang injunction was filed in July 2011 against a criminal street gang in the City of Rialto. The injunction will serve to disrupt the gang's activities and make it harder for them to intimidate community members by prohibiting members from congregating and loitering in an area designated as the Safety Zone.
Ramos has also expanded the Cold Case Unit to deal with the increase in cold cases that are being solved due to new technology, such as DNA. “These are important cases, said Ramos, “because to a victim or a victim’s family, a case is never ‘cold.’”
Ramos has also established an Identity Theft Unit with attorneys in his three major offices, as well as the Victim Services Unit, which provides assistance to victims as they make their way through the criminal justice system. Additionally, he has expanded the Family Violence Unit with attorneys who are cross-trained in elder abuse, domestic violence and crimes against children.
“Ultimately, our job is to represent the people in the criminal justice system for the County of San Bernardino,” said Ramos. “As long as I am district attorney, I will continue to ensure that we do just that in a manner that is consistent with our mission and the ethical responsibilities that we are sworn to uphold as prosecutors.”
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| Michael A. Ramos |
35th
San Bernardino County District Attorney
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Incumbent
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Assumed
office
January 4, 2002 |
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Personal
details
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Born
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August 5, 1957
Redlands, California, U.S. |
Political party
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Republican
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Residence
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Redlands, California
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Alma mater
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University of California in Riverside
Citrus Belt Law School |
Website
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Michael A. Ramos
(born August 5, 1957) is an American attorney. He is the 35th and current
District Attorney of San Bernardino County following the 2010 countywide
elections. He was first elected in 2002, defeating incumbent District Attorney
Dennis L. Stout, and he was reelected in 2007. He has been a prosecutor for 24
years. Ramos is the first Hispanic district attorney in San Bernardino County.
Early
Life and Education
The
second of two children, Ramos was born at Redlands Community Hospital in
Redlands, California, in 1957. Ramos attended Redlands High School. After
graduating from high school in 1976, Ramos earned his Bachelor’s Degree in
Sociology from the University of California in Riverside in 1980 and a
Doctorate of Jurisprudence from Citrus Belt Law School in Riverside in 1988. He
was admitted to the California bar in 1989. Ramos’ government service began in
1980, where he started as a group counselor with the Probation Department and
then later became a Probation Officer. He started his career with the District
Attorney’s Office in June 1989, as a Deputy District Attorney in the Major
Crimes Unit.
San
Bernardino County District Attorney
Ramos
was elected to his first term as District Attorney in 2002 by defeating
incumbent Dennis Stout and was reelected when he ran unopposed in 2006. In
2010, Ramos was reelected to his third term when he defeated Frank H. Guzman
and Bob Conaway. He has served as president of the California District Attorneys Association and
is currently the chair of the Corrections and Reentry Committee for the National District Attorneys Association.
Family
Ramos
has been married to his wife Gretchen for 30 years. He has two grown children,
Michael and Michele, and a grandson, Christian.
Issues
Death
Penalty
Ramos
is in favor of capital punishment, citing that the decision to pursue the death
penalty is perhaps the single most difficult decision he has to make. He has
long noted that he has nothing but respect for the entire process, and just as
much respect for the victims and their families who didn’t have a choice. In
November 2012, Ramos campaigned heavily against Proposition 34, also known as
the SAFE California Act. Proposition 34 sought to replace California’s death
penalty with a life sentence with no chance of parole as the maximum punishment
for murder. The initiative to repeal the death penalty failed by a narrow
margin of 52.8% to 47.2%.
Ramos
has expressed it takes far too long for convicted criminals to move through the
justice system, but the very people who are now crying foul, are the same
individuals who have bogged down the system for years with frivolous appeals.
He believes that rather than repealing the death penalty we need to enact
measures that would mend the current system and prevent countless motions and
appeals by the ACLU and its supporters from clogging up our justice system. One
solution to speeding up the process is to move forward with the single-drug
protocol for lethal injections that would replace the three-drug concoction
that federal courts have blocked. In an effort to continue his fight for victims
and their families, Ramos met with California Governor Jerry Brown in May 2013
to voice his concern. Ramos noted that despite their philosophical differences
regarding the death penalty, the governor understands the vote of our citizens.
Victims'
Rights
Victims
and their families have always been a priority for Ramos. "Preserving the
dignity of victims and their families" is a part of the official mission
statement of the District Attorney’s Office in San Bernardino County. Ramos was
appointed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to serve on the Governor's Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board
on January 23, 2004. After being elected to his first term one of the first
actions that Ramos took was placing the supervisor in charge of victim services
on his executive staff, elevating the position to the role of a chief, and
creating the Bureau of Victim Services Unit. Ramos sees his role as lead
prosecutor one in which he is charged with the responsibility of representing
“the people" in the criminal justice system and those who fall victim to
crime and we take that charge seriously. In 2013, during Crime Victims’ Rights
Week, Ramos announced that his office had contracted with One Call, an
automated phone system, in an effort to reach crime victims and give them
information about their rights and possible compensation. Crime victims who
provide law enforcement with a land line phone number will get the recorded
message that tells them they have rights under the state’s 2008 Victims’ Bill of
Rights Act, passed by voters as Proposition 9. It is most often referred to as
Marsy’s Law. By utilizing this automated technology, Ramos noted that his
office can better serve all victims not only because his office is obligated to
do so under Marsy’s Law, but because “it’s the right thing to do.” When Ramos
was sworn in to his third term he continued to highlight his commitment to
victims’ rights by stating that fighting for victims is “what drives me every
day.”
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Michael Ramos with the Three Musketeers of
California. [[PHOTO SOURCE: http://www.sbcountyda.org/AboutDARamos/AboutDistrictAttorneyMichaelRamos.aspx]
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Public
Corruption
In
April 2003, months after being elected to office, Ramos formed the Public
Integrity Unit to address the problem of public corruption in San Bernardino
County. In 2011, Ramos and then-Attorney General Jerry Brown jointly announced
that a criminal grand jury had indicted four men on 29 counts of crimes tied to
a $102 million bribery scandal involving Paul Biane, a former 2nd District
supervisor; Jim Erwin, former chief of staff for 3rd District Supervisor Neil
Derry; Mark Kirk, former chief of staff for 4th District Supervisor Gary Ovitt;
and Jeff Burum, general partner with Colonies Partners LP. Brown called this
case “one of the most appalling corruption cases ever seen in California.”
Human
Trafficking
In
2009, Ramos responded to this problem of human trafficking in San Bernardino County
and created the county’s Coalition Against Sexual Exploitation
(C.A.S.E.). C.A.S.E. brought together a partnership of county departments
including the District Attorney’s Office, Sheriff’s Department, Probation
Department, County Superintendent of Schools, Department of Children and Family
Services, Public Defender, and Department of Behavioral Health, to raise
awareness of this issue, and to provide enhanced county and community resources
to victims. Since that time, he campaigned heavily in favor of Proposition
35 which voters overwhelmingly passed in 2012 and created a Human
Trafficking Prosecution Unit. Formation of the unit was announced at the
premier of a short 45-minute documentary entitled Teenage $ex 4 $ale: Human
Trafficking in San Bernardino County. In an effort to reduce the demand for
victims of human trafficking, Ramos started the Stop the John Project in 2013
and began releasing the names and photographs of those defendants convicted of
solicitation in San Bernardino County.
Gangs
With
help from the Board of Supervisors, the District Attorney’s office was able to
double the size of its gang unit in 2005. It is a vertical prosecution unit
composed of 13 deputy district attorneys spread out across the county. These
specially trained prosecutors seek gang-enhanced charges whenever possible,
which increases the penalty against the offenders and keeps them off the street
for a longer period of time. By closely monitoring gang offenders’ performance
on probation, gang prosecutors ensure that repeat offenders go to state prison.
Gang deputies also work closely with gang officers in the affected communities.
They attend monthly meetings to share information with law enforcement,
probation, corrections and other agencies that deal in the area of gang crime.
Since the office’s Gang Program began in July 2005, 7,673 gang-related gang
cases have been filed. Two of those charged are now on California’s Death Row.
There have been 4,583 state prison sentences adding up to 31,893 years, plus
153 life terms.
Despite
the increasing number of filed cases, the number of gangs doubled to 719 in San
Bernardino County in early 2008 from estimated 360 in 2005. Active gang member
numbers also rose to 16,193 from about 13,000 in the same time frame. In
October 2011, San Bernardino County had the third highest gang population of
any county in America, according to a report released by the FBI.
Prevention
and Intervention
Early
on in his career Ramos recognized that if he only focusses on adult offenders,
the crime problem will never be fully addressed. He realized that most
criminals started by getting into trouble as juveniles and eventually dropped
out of school. As a result, Ramos has made prevention and intervention programs
a cornerstone to the way he effectively addresses crime in San Bernardino
County.
Thanks
to the state’s Juvenile Justice Crime Prevention Act (JJCPA), his office
implemented the “Let’s End Truancy” (L.E.T.) Project, which works to improve
school attendance for previously truant students, discourage future truancy and
helps to make education a priority for at-risk youth. In 2008, Ramos, along
with the then-District Attorney Kamala
D. Harris and Sacramento Police Chief Rick Braziel, testified before the
California Senate Public Safety Committee to discuss the public safety threat
from truancy, which has been linked to dropping out of school. One step that
Ramos has taken to address the problem of truancy is arresting parents for
failure to address the issue.
Ramos
also has various other programs such as Camp Good Grief and the Gang Resistance
Intervention Partnership (GRIP) which are both making significant strides with
our children.
Camp
Good Grief is a three-day grief camp for children and teens whose lives have
been shattered due to an act of murder or suicide.
San
Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office, in partnership with Loma Linda
University Children’s Hospital, offers this unique three day camp that provides
a relaxed, supportive and safe environment for children to enjoy the typical
activities of a summer camp, as well as to have opportunities to work with
professionals to share their feelings related to their loss, learn new ways to
cope, and interact with other children and teens in an atmosphere of love and
acceptance.
The
Gang Resistance Intervention Partnership (GRIP) is a program designed to
provide second- and fifth-graders strategies for steering clear from gangs and
drugs over a period of several weeks.
Animal
Cruelty
Ramos
is regarded as an advocate for animal rights by local and national Animal
Rights groups. The National District Attorneys Association praised his
aggressive efforts to prosecute those who participate in cockfighting and raise
awareness. In 2011, in conjunction with the Humane Society of the United States
and Fontana Animal Services, Ramos released a short film to increase awareness
about the dangers of cockfighting. To better focus on animal abuse, in 2012,
Ramos created the San Bernardino County Illegal Animal Fighting and Abuse Task
Force, a multi-disciplinary collaboration designed to promote community
awareness, education and prosecution of animal fighting and abuse in San
Bernardino County.
One
of the most significant animal abuse cases in the history of San Bernardino
County took place in 2008. As a result of undercover video footage captured by
the Humane Society of the United States, the San Bernardino County District
Attorney’s Office filed criminal charges. In the video, workers at the
Westland/Hallmark Meat Co. of Chino are seen ramming “downed” cows that are too
sick to walk with the blades of a forklift. At one point, a worker can be seen
jabbing a cow in the eye with a baton, while another worker blasts water up the
nose of another cow with a powerful hose—all in an attempt to force the injured
animals back onto their feet and off to the slaughter.
As
a result of the footage, the USDA ordered the largest beef recall in U.S.
History—143.4 million pounds—and said the meat had been used in school lunches
and food assistance programs.
References
36. Cassie
MacDuff
48. Three Fontana school
district parents arrested for failure to address truancy - DailyBulletin.com
50. DA’s
Office Holds 6th Annual “Camp Good Grief” – Special Victims’ Program (SVP) -
Inland Valley News
53. Animal Abuse
57. ChinoHills.com
External
links
PLEASE GO TO THIS PREVIOUS BLOG POST TO HEAR HIS QUOTES.
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