It’s generally a good thing when sheriffs meet with the public to discuss crime and security issues. Yet instead of focusing on community outreach at a recent forum in Chino, Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco and San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dicus turned the event into a right-wing political rally.

Fortunately, Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes had the foresight not to attend. Of course, county sheriffs are political animals — each of the three attendees is facing challengers in the June 7 primary — but their primary role is protecting public safety.

Mainly, the sheriffs complained about elected officials who have passed criminal-justice reforms that the sheriffs claim are tying their hands. “I need a new Board of Supervisors,” Villanueva said. “You must vote. If you don’t do it, we get stuck with the people there,” Bianco told the crowd of 700.

The sheriffs criticized the Assembly Public Safety Committee, which rejected an attempt to repeal Proposition 47 — the 2014 ballot initiative that reclassified low-level felonies as misdemeanors, saved and reinvested over $500 million to date in crime prevention and rehabilitation programs.

The sheriffs demanded more police powers, but no one asked them any tough questions about their departments’ use of their current powers. The Los Angeles Times recently reported on allegations in the city of Los Angeles in which a commander accused “Villanueva of obstructing justice and retaliating against those who blew the whistle” in a police-misconduct case. FuVillanueva has taken a lackadaisical approach toward allegations that 41 of his deputies are gang members.

Dicus’ department has unjustly seized $1.1 million from armored cars transporting proceeds from legal marijuana companies in one of the gravest abuses of asset-forfeiture laws we’ve seen. Bianco, who ran for sheriff in 2018 at the behest of the county deputies union, has faced his own share of controversies, most surrounding his highly partisan approach to the office. We’d urge the sheriffs to get their own houses in order, work with their respective communities to battle crime and spend less time engaging in political stunts.