Update: Riverside Count CCW Permits

Riverside County residents,

CRPA is aware that the Riverside Sheriff’s office has been overwhelmed with an increased number of CCW applications since the December 2^nd terrorist attacks.

CRPA representatives are in contact with the Riverside County Sheriff’s office about this and other CCW issues. The Department is working hard to process applications as quickly as possible and regrets the unavoidable delay.

Unfortunately, the Sheriff’s Department cannot use civilian volunteers for this sensitive process, but the Department recently added another full-time clerk to assist with processing of applications, so that should speed things up a bit. Also, the CCW unit staff are seeing signs that the backlog is beginning to ease up.

The Sheriff is seeking more funding during next month’s budget review with the County Board of Supervisors to fill some of its hundreds of staff vacancies. So If you live in Riverside County you should call the Supervisors’ offices and urge them to give the Sheriff’s Department the resources it needs and has requested for this next fiscal year starting in July. The County’s current budget challenges are severe, but the Sheriff currently feels that the Sheriff’s Department may not face additional cuts in staffing next year — but that will become clearer over the next month.  Appointments for applicants may be moved up if more funding becomes available, or the proposed additional cuts to staffing under consideration by the County are avoided.

Much of the backlog is caused by the fact that the Sheriff’s Department is really the only CCW issuing agency in Riverside County, even though nearly half of the county’s population is served by separate city police departments that can also issue CCWs. Nothing prohibits these city police chiefs from issuing CCWs in addition to the County Sheriff. Their reluctance is not necessarily a reflection of the police chiefs in these cities being against issuing CCWs. It is more a reluctance to take on the administrative burden and cost to process applications. So if you know the chief in your city, maybe a polite communication is in order.

Please keep in mind that adjustments to Riverside Sheriff’s CCW policy and practices since 2007, as well as the public being encouraged to apply by the Sheriff over the years, have resulted in nearly 2000 active CCWs currently under issuance by the Sheriff’s Department in Riverside County. That is a record number of CCW holders, and the number keeps growing. It represents a fourfold increase from when current Sheriff Stan Sniff took office in 2007. At least an additional 450 applications are currently being processed, and CRPA members in Riverside are reporting that, although there are delays to get an initial appointment for an interview with the Department’s CCW representative, there does not seem to be much difficulty in satisfying the “good cause” requirement to get a CCW approved, and renewals for currently approved CCW-holders remain department priority and are not being held up.

CRPA will keep Riverside members in the loop as things develop, and welcomes your comments and suggestions through contact@crpa.org.

Thank you!