What?
He’s not qualified for Sheriff with his record.
Jonsen can’t control the unreasonable use of force in his own police department.
This is bizarre.
We need a credible candidate to replace Laurie Smith.
And we need a Chief who will clean up the PAPD.

Felix is spot on. Jonson does not belong in the Sheriff's position nor in Palo Alto. We need a new police chief here that will get rid of officers that use unreasonable force, will show transparency, not encrypted radio, or limiting reporters from questioning officers etc. etc. etc.

Palo Alto taxpayers money is needed elsewhere rather than paying for PAPD misdeeds.

In 2019, this story ran in the Palo Alto Weekly: Web Link

Since that time, the only serious substantive consequences for the officers involved or the Police Department, or City staff is that they have made it harder for victims to obtain communications such as the dispatch calls with police that were informative in this matter.

Chief Jonsson has presided over a department that has paid millions in settlements to victims like this victim, who did not sue but chose to take the matter to the press instead in the vain hope that exposure would force changes. Sadly our City Council is terrible, weak, and useless and so far as the public knows nothing happened. Jonsson is still in his job, as is Ed Shikada.

Should Jonsson take the ill advised step of running for Sheriff, I am sure that this case involving the PAPD and others will become widely discussed matters of public concern, as they should be.

From the story:
"It was one of many actions by the police during the incident that violated city policy, including an unexplained five minute stop by the responding officer three blocks from the woman's house, the absence of body-worn camera footage of a police sergeant, missing GPS data for the sergeant's patrol car, a search of the woman's house and the sharing of confidential information about the incident by a police officer with her spouse, who then conveyed it to others.

For more than two months, the Weekly as well as the woman and her husband have sought answers from the city about the handling of the incident. City staff initially refused to disclose any information, forcing the family to engage an attorney for help. Eventually, the city provided some, but not all, time-stamped police audio and body-worn camera video, fire dispatch tapes and logs, recordings of the 911 call and fire department reports."

I'll be taking a very serious look at the other candidates. We can most likely do far better than Jonsen, who has failed to reign in a culture of racism and needless brutality against minorities by the PAPD.

I agree with each of the above posts; have had concerns about this chief for quite some time.

Editor: PLEASE return the like button so that readers have that avenue for weighing in on important community issues such as this.

It would be one way for Palo Alto to get rid of him!

As a Saratoga resident whose neighborhood is patrolled by the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department, the preceding comments by Palo Alto residents speaks volumes and it appears that the current PAPD Chief of Police leaves something to be desired.