Mammoth Police Chief with Ingrid and Mike Braun when they were sworn in as Reserve Officers.
Early last year, former Los Angeles Police Department officer Ingrid Braun, who lives in Mammoth Lakes, had gone to work for the Mono County Sheriff’s Department. The deputy who trained her rated her above average, but Sheriff Ralph Obenberger terminated her one week before her probation period ended. Now, Braun has taken out petitions to run against Obenberger for Mono Sheriff.
Braun worked 21 years at the LAPD and retired as a Lieutenant. She worked as a watch commander, head of a gang and narcotics’ unit, an investigator and supervisor of an Internal Affairs unit and other tasks. Braun said she left with a good record. Her husband retired from LAPD after 26 years. The couple moved to Mammoth Lakes.
Last February, Braun said when she was terminated, Sheriff Obenberger told her “Looking at the big picture, this is best for my Department.” Braun said when she asked the Sheriff what the big picture is, he declined to say. We had asked the Sheriff for his comment. He said he could not say anything about termination of an employee.
In November, both of the Brauns were sworn in as Level One Reserve Mammoth Police Officers with duties of patrol shifts, special events, follow-up investigations and coordination of a Neighborhood Watch Program.
Now, Ingrid Braun will take the step to run for Sheriff. Sheriff Ralph Obenberger has also taken out papers to run for election. He holds his current position by appointment of the Board of Supervisors.
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Ingrid Braun is running on the platform of a lovable, sweet, kind, benevolent leader. If she wins, can you imagine the disintegration of discipline if she follows that philosophy? All law enforcement personnel have Alpha personalities, and it takes a hard nosed Alpha personality to keep them under control. This does not make LEOs evil, it simply takes an aggressive personality to even get through the law enforcement academy. The name of the game is to enforce the law, not to be a Mother Teresa or Mom and Apple pie personality. OB may not be a lovable guy to the field personnel, but show me someone who is, and I’ll show you an organization headed for the cliff.
I am currently an officer for the Los Angeles Police Department. I met Ingrid over 20 years ago. We were assigned the same Division in the San Fernando Valley. She and I actually worked together answering radio calls for sevice in a basic patrol car. I later became a partner with her husband Mike working a gang unit. I have remained close with Mike and Ingrid ever since. You will never meet another more capable candidate than Ingrid. During her tenure with the LAPD she rose through the ranks quickly. There’s a reason for that. She is extremely sharp and capable. Ingrid was an officer respected by everyone, her peers and subordinates likewise. She is very level headed and time after time proved that she always had the interests of the community foremost in her desicion making process. Citizens of Mono County consider your selfs fortunate to have a great leader living in your community that is willing to step up to the plate and make Mono County Sheriffs Department more efficient.
Two words: Kathleen Sheehan.
I’ve worked with Ingrid’s husband on the LAPD and alongside a gang unit that Ingrid supervised. Gang units being the most scrutinized entities on the Department, and dealing with the worst of worst. You are not going to find two more people that are more dedicated to their community. She and Mike are working for little money at Mammoth PD but they want to continue to serve their community. Vote for Ingrid Braun.
It is clear that Mono County Sheriff Department needs to change.
Between lawsuits, harrassment of motorists, including those going to Burning Man, discontent of citizens, and Sheriff Obenberger’s poor attitude towards the Board of Supervisors (evidenced by his rude remarks and “show of force” at the Supervisor’s meeting) — this County needs to look at its Sherif’s Department.
The article points out that Mr. Obenberger was put in the position of Sheriff to fill a vacancy. Now we will have an election and the voters can decide if they like the way the Sheriff’s Department is being run, or if they want change. We are very lucky to have such a highly qualified candidate, Ingrid Braun, running for the position. We will have a meaningful choice.
I’ve known and respected Mike and Ingrid Braun for many years, both as friends and co-workers. In my opinion as a 23 year law enforcement professional Ingrid Braun will serve the needs of the people of Mono County quite well. Seek her out. Talk to her. She will be a Sheriff that Mono County can be proud of.
Wow, all those comments and not one in support of Obenberger, that’s amazing and very telling.
I don’t know the Sheriff, but I’ve meet his wife and kids. Based on my experiences with them, they seem like nice, intelligent, open minded people. I was surprised to see the small minded thinking evidenced by Sheriff Obenbergers actions over the last couple years.
I don’t know much about Braun, but it does appear that Mono County Sherrifs Department needs new leadership.
I have to agree with Snow Bunny…..when Braun wins, I hope she is able to find an Undersheriff who will help her get rid of the morons who are in charge at MCSO. It is time for actual policing where criminals go to jail, not home to “sleep it off.”
I would much rather have a retired LAPD vs the Allegedly corrupt LASD. I know officers in both departments and by far the LAPD guy’s are much more trustworthy!
LAPD are every bit as crooked and poorly trained as LASD. Right now they are not in the news but don’t let that fool you. There was a Federal Consent Decree for very good reasons and the eventual termination Federal oversight was not without some controversy.
If Ingrid Braun gets elected, I hope that her first act will be to advertise statewide and find herself a honest, experienced, ethical and professional Undersheriff. This is the only way that she can change the multi decade culture at MCSD.
With a son named Opie?
Guess all the misdeeds are biting someone in the butt! Karma gotta love it!
Running a campaign based on a career with LASD can be a two edged sword. LASD doesn’t have a sterling reputation. The Sheriff is stepping down next month under a cloud, his number two recently resigned under pressure, his jail system is under Federal investigation and deputies are being indicted en-mass by Federal prosecutors. Lets hope nothing she did comes under suspicion. Even still, guilt by association works in politics.
i don’t have a feeling about her one way or the other, but just because she comes from a big department doesn’t mean she is the silver bullet the county needs. Shop carefully and choose wisely. Don’t let the big name brand dazzle you.
As the story says, Ms. Braun retired from LAPD not LASD.
BK
There wasn’t even fine print, LAPD.
LAPD makes LASD look like boy scouts. They managed to go right past investigation to Fed control. Pretty hard to do.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/lapd/later/decree.html
http://www.lapdonline.org/newsroom/news_view/55039
You apparently have no idea just how bad LAPD was, and to a degree still is.
I will give you an idea of the way the LAPD used to shake down residents. I grew up in one of the better parts of the San Fernando Valley. A couple of motor cops patrolled the neighborhood, stopping preteen children on bicycles demanding to see if the bicycle had an LAPD issued city license. If it did not, the bike was confiscated on the spot and put into the trunk of a patrol car called by the motor cop for this purpose. Then your parents had to go to the station and listen to a ration of garbage from some desk sergeant and pay up on the spot. In my dad’s case he knew there was no such BS rule, challenged the cop directly and mentioned that the next morning he would speak to someone he knew, I don’t remember the name, at the local city council members office. The cop backed down and gave me back my bicycle.
That is just one of the games that rotten organizations officers played on the residents, and we were middle income in a nice, low crime neighborhood. One can only imagine how bad it was down in the harder parts of LA. I have seen LAPD crack heads for no reason. Their officers would never in a million years get my vote. They are some of the worst of the worst. Never, ever trust one. Ever, for any reason.
What a shame that when DT was a child, his bike got taken to the police station because his bicycle wasn’t licensed as required by law in Los Angeles. What a shame that this caused him despise an entire organization, and “never in a million years get my vote.” Because he had to go to a police station and get his bicycle back, he believes that all past and current LAPD officers are the worst of the worst, and we should never trust one, ever.
Get over it. LAPD is a huge organization responsible for policing an extremely complex city. Sure they have made mistakes and out of the tens of thousands of officers in your lifetime, some were no good. But to assume all members of that department are no good because of one incident and seeing heads get cracked is narrow minded and ignorant.
You missed the point didn’t you. That was just one example. My dad knew there wasn’t any such law and called the desk sergeant’s bluff. It was a shake down for money by LAPD. My friends parents were not so aware of city ordinances and paid the LAPD what they demanded. They prey on gullible fools like you who believe everything that comes out of a cop’s mouth. They are nice as long as you play their crooked game and don’t ask questions, but the second you call their bluff, they become very aggressive. Many years later when my dad called a cop on another of their bs statements the cop started to pull his baton on my dad, who was by then retired and elderly. I had to tell both of them to calm down and both did, but LAPD cops are, from my experience, prone to making things up on the fly that are not in accord with the law, but call them on it and they default to cracking your head. We were white and middle class living in a “good” neighborhood, meaning white and low crime. The LAPD was much worse to those who were not white and middle class. But someone like you is gullible and cannot see their games for what they are. You are exactly what LAPD likes, soft, pliable and not well informed.
Desert Tortoise….Read your post,and minutes later,turned on the news…a story out of L.A., with video,of a car being stopped by LAPD for the driver talking on a cell phone….the car attempted to flee,and within minutes must have been 100 squad cars following him on a busy street….and then,a few minutes after that,when the vehicle was surrounded,a burst of gunfire into the windshield from the Law Enforcement officers…. all recorded on a dash-cam….don’t know if the suspect showed a weapon,but even so,seemed to be over-kill to me….and putting a lot of innocent citizens in harms-way doing what they did.I have respect for LE,especially the officers and detectives I know up here in Inyo County….but down south in L.A.County…..not so much.
No, DT, I didn’t miss the point at all. Unless you are very young, Los Angeles Municipal Code section 26.01 required a bicycle license until the LAPD stopped enforcing the section in 2009. Gullible? Not hardly. I don’t automatically accept what anyone says, including you. It’s sad that you are able to stereotype a whole group of people based on a few observations. You comment here a lot. You often support your remarks with research and I often agree with you. But not this time.
Wayne- Like so many others on this site you have made a knee-jerk assumption and now a knee-jerk reaction by writing about your TV observation. A 30 second news blip has given you complete information to make a judgement call against the police. An immediate expert on the situation like the self-appointed expert on every topic, Desert Tortoise.
Also remember that Obenberger, as his own blurb on the Mono County website says “started his career with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office for 15 years”.
And no, no one person will be a miracle silver bullet that comes in and makes agencies all puppy dogs and rainbows. It takes a lot of work to make a LEA run professionally and well. Hopefully this election will come down to both the voters educating themselves and choosing the type of Sheriff that they want and deserve, whether it is Braun or Obenberger and not to name-calling or base politics.
…Actually,the incident I mentioned in the my post,it took place in San Diego,so LAPD wasn’t involved.
You’re stepping on your johnson as usual,DT…it is the current Sheriff RALPH O. that came from LASD.
I have learned the hard way over the years to never trust either agency’s officers. Never, not for a minute. Their institutional methods and mindset are all wrong. Find a sheriff from a smaller, less aggressive agency.
The agencies combined employ roughly 20,000 law enforcement officers. And you won’t trust any of them for one minute?
Sorry, but that just reeks of paranoia.
Model citizens.
http://articles.latimes.com/2013/may/24/local/la-me-lapd-fbi-20130525
@ Pedro
So in your mind the actions of a few incriminate 20,000 others?
COJ,
Not absolutely, but as long as good officers protect bad the whole force is tainted. History proves there is more than a “few” criminals in LAPD uniform. Braun may be a good candidate but needs to be vetted like anyone else.
Pedro,
The whole force is tainted?
Sorry, but I don’t agree with your all or nothing concept – especially when we’re talking about 20,000 individuals.
The same mentality your displaying was responsible for sending 100,000+ Japanese to internments like Manzanar camps in WWII.
COJ, Same mentality LAPD has used to incriminate entire neighborhoods, me included.
Big Rick – I have a hard time believing that DT could actually “step on his own Johnson!” You, on the other hand, with a nickname like “Big Rick” may actually have that capability! 😀
Mammoth finally got a professional law enforcement officer with Chief Watson. Now it’s Mono Counties turn. Braun has got more experience going for her than most of the SO combined. YOU GO GIRL!!!
Remember!,,,,
I just had to laugh when I read your post, because I remember when Obenberger and Scholl came up with that policy…. they were mad that their own deputies where hoping that Doug Northington would be elected and save them. They were mad that MCSO deputies had bumper magnets and signs in their yard for Doug Northington for sheriff. He would call those same deputies into his office and chastise and yell them for not supporting Scholl. Funny how they always change the polices to suit their needs and they never put them through the DSA for approval. “Do as I say,,, not as I do” should be the MCSO motto! LOL
It is also funny that you imply that he ever follows any of the policies….. well I guess he pops up with a few when it suits him and it meets his agenda at the time 😉
Good for you Ingrid Braun! Look forward to voting for you!
As for Ralphy obenberger, I know what your campaign slogan will be: Vote for me OR ELSE! Your lack of supervisory experience and complete disregard for the law should speak volumes come debate time! Let me guess, your answers will be” I can’t comment on that” ” I don’t recall” !
One more thing Ralph, remember per department policy no campaigning during working hours!
Ralphy won’t go out quietly, that’s for sure. It will be fun to watch him with his tail between his legs. Not a pair of shoes i’d want to ever be in. As a wise person once said, “Don’t poop where you eat”.
A true answer to our prayers. Someone with actual experience, professionalism, and proven leadership skills. Hopefully she can improve and raise the level that MCSO has sunk to. No law enforcement agency should be ran the way the MCSO has been run for years. It should be one of honor, dignity and most of all be law abiding.
Thank you Officer Ingrid Braun for running. Hopefully we will be able to call you Sheriff Braun in the near future!
Perhaps the good ole boy system in Mono County will finally crumble.
Ralph Obenberger: 15 years at Los Angeles County Department and never promoted to even sergeant. Never worked a special assingment. Was a deputy in June Lake, no special assingments, went from Deputy to Lieutenant in 5 months under Paranick. Appointed Sheriff when Scholl retired at the behest of good ole boy Mono County Supervisor Hap Hazarad whose nick name speaks volumes.
Also, he has one federal civil rights case against him and a second one pending.
Ingrid Braun: Sergeant, Lieutenant, Narcotics and Gang Investigation Supervisor, Watch Commander (supervision of sergeants), Internal Affairs Supervisor (Investigates wrong doing by Cops)
There should be some interesting debates. Keep the questions simple so Ralph can answer them.
Ya, like LAPD isn’t a ole boy club. Look at this photo attached with this story. Guess what all LAPD…….Have you seen what problems L.A.P.D has had i.e. Rodney King more recently the Donner (ex-LAPD) escapade. people and officers killed. Great reputation and leadership. Ya, they don’t have any civil suits pending.
Sheriff operations are alot different from city PD operations. Do your research……..
Bubba, when an agency has 10,000 officers there will be several bad eggs that slip through and make the lA news. The vast majority are good honest cops.
Several bad eggs? How about: The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
Another women with a pension? Let the sniffling begin……
Good! Hopefully she can unseat the incumbent and clean up the image of the department.