L.A. County Officials Address Criminal Justice Reform, LASD Oversight

Posted by: Jade Aubuchon in Los Angeles County News, Santa Clarita Latest News July 2, 2020 - 4:30 pm 0 877 Views

Hilda L. Solis, chair pro tem for the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, joined community leaders from the Los Angeles County Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission (COC), Office of Inspector General (OIG), and the Anti-Recidivism Coalition to provide their expertise on the topic of criminal justice reforms.

Solis, representing the First District on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, noted that for a long time, L.A. County has approached resource and funding allocation through an equal distribution lens as opposed to an equity lens.

“The former means dividing the available resources evenly, in spite of the fact that certain communities need more help than others. Equitable distribution ensures that we level the playing field by investing more in communities who need the most help, our black, brown and low-income communities,” Solis said. “This is what justice is about. It’s what the marches in the streets are about, and it’s time to shift our mindset.”

Solis shared information from the L.A. County Department of Public Health (LADPH), which revealed that low-income communities of color across L.A. County have high case rates due to their inability to work from home and isolate when they’re sick.

“There is clearly a pattern that we can see here: low-income people of color are bearing the brunt of COVID-19,” Solis said. “People will only achieve their full potential if they are provided with health and mental health care and job opportunities and with affordable housing instead of a jail cell.”

County Inspector General Max Huntsman addressed efforts to reform the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD), as well as issues of transparency and oversight.

Huntsman specifically referred to the ongoing existence of “secret societies” within the LASD that exhibit “gang-like behavior” due to a code of silence under the management of the department.

In late September 2019, eight LASD deputies filed a lawsuit against one such group, called the “Banditos,” a deputy clique of several dozen members who operate out of the department’s East Los Angeles station. The 63-page lawsuit accuses the Banditos of targeting, harassing, and intimidating other officers not in the group, as well as civilians.

Huntsman stated that due to management decisions, 23 deputies, some of whom are members of the Banditos, were able to refuse to speak against their fellow deputies, a decision that Huntsman stated had been allowed by the L.A. District Attorney

“While the public calls for reform, LASD has greatly scaled-back discipline for dishonesty and violence and repeatedly attempted to rehire deputies fired for dishonesty and violence, contrary to law and court order,” Huntsman said.

Huntsman went on to explain that the LASD had not only refused to comply with requests for information, as required by law, but that the department had restricted his own office from monitoring and investigating police shootings and that little to no deputies were complying with Public Health orders related to wearing face coverings.

See Related: L.A. County Budget Cuts Include $145.4 Million From Sheriff’s Department

Sheriff Alex Villanueva recently criticized an updated County budget, which reportedly included a $145.4 million cut to the LASD.

On Monday, Villanueva stated that the proposed budget calls for the elimination of several LASD units, including:

Safe Streets Bureau (Gang Enforcement)
Parks Bureau
Special Victims Bureau (Sexual/Physical Abuse of Children, Rape, Human Trafficking)
Community Partnership Bureau (COPS Team)
Fraud & Cybercrimes Bureau
Major Crimes Bureau

However, Huntsman called Villanueva’s claim “false”

“In response to the pandemic belt-tightening during this time, the LASD has falsely claimed that they’ve been told to eliminate critical units, when what they should be paring back on is their Information Bureau which puts out such misinformation and fails to respond to public record act requests,” Huntsman said.

Huntsman went on to address body cameras, which are set to begin being rolled out in mid-to-late July of this year after nearly a decade of discussion.

See Related: Body Cameras Expected For Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputies By July

Huntsman stated that the County Board has provided funding for body-worn cameras, and that the LASD plans to begin a “partial program” to implement the body cameras by the end of this year. However he also noted that the LASD does not have a plan for East Los Angeles, nor is there a plan for complete camera coverage or the implementation of dashcams in law enforcement cars.

“Finally, I want to do address subpoena power of the civilian oversight commission…although Measure R was approved by 70 percent of the voters and subpoena power is provided by Measure R and by state law, LASD has refused to comply with subpoenas from the COC,” Huntsman said. “The county has started legal action, a slow process that we hope will lead to having law enforcement following the law.”

Measure R was approved by voters during the March 3 election and proposed the development of a Comprehensive Public Safety Reinvestment Plan, which would explore the feasibility of reducing the jail population by redirecting $2.4 billion in funds previously earmarked for the expansion of the dilapidated Men’s Central Jail to supportive services like youth centers, mental health programs, drug rehabilitation, and diversion programs, according to the Measure.

It also granted the COC the ability to subpoena the LASD for information, and then direct the OIG to force records from the Sheriff’s Department, if necessary.

Sheriff Villaneuva argued at the time that the measure would “open the floodgates for many more ill-advised lawsuits” against the LASD to obtain sensitive information.

Hernán Vera, Commissioner of the L.A. County Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission, thanked Huntsman and the Inspector General’s Office for their part in L.A. County law enforcement reform.

“It’s his aggressive oversight, his professionalism and his relentless focus on accountability that has made the department measurably better and I’m proud to have worked with them over the past several years,” Vera said.

Vera also thanked Supervisor Solis for helping to keep the conversation focused on the people most at risk in Los Angeles County.

“As all of you know, our country is in the middle of a critical debate on how to effectively reform law enforcement to reduce lethal use of force and make police more accountable,” Vera said.

He explained that many different potential solutions have been proposed, and two weeks ago, the COC narrowed those down to 18 separate recommendations as the first steps towards needed reforms.

“Now, some have said that these recommendations are simply Band-Aids. I disagree,” Vera said. “We’ve been sent to Sheriff Villanueva and our commissioners have met with him to discuss these, and if implemented I believe they could make an enormous difference.”

The recommendations include:

To immediately require de-escalation efforts before resorting to use of lethal force, according to Vera.
To immediately buy and deploy body-worn cameras to all patrol deputies.
To immediately find and complete the rollout of mental health evaluation teams partnership, an effort that Vera noted has already made a big difference, but can be enlarged.
To immediately require not just the tracking of deputy complaints and discipline but the tracking and publication of what management has done or not done about those complaints.
To immediately provide the OIG and the COC with unfettered access to proposed policies, internal and disciplinary processes, investigations and decisions. Vera stated that this is not currently done.
To immediately require that moving forward, all lethal uses of force by deputies be investigated by an independent agency such as the office of the Inspector General of the California Attorney General’s office. Again, that is not currently the case, according to Vera.

The COC also recommends several additional steps, such as removing qualified immunity for law enforcement officers who are discovered to have used unlawful use of force and to modify collective bargaining agreements and Civil Service rules to make it easier to terminate deputies who have used unnecessary or excessive force.

“We can’t take credit for all these. These are reforms that you, the people, advocates, the community have sent to us and advocated for over many years,” Vera said. “We believe they should be implemented and we ask your help to continue to uplift these recommendations so that they become a reality.”

See Related: Sheriff Alex Villanueva Defies Subpoena To Testify About COVID-19 In L.A. County Jails

L.A. County officials were joined by Sam Lewis, Executive Director of the Anti-Recidivism Coalition, a statewide organization to provide support, services and opportunities to those formerly and currently incarcerated while also advocating for policy change.

Lewis expressed that the current LASD administration has prompted “great concern” from the community.

In terms of COVID-19 inside the jails, Lewis stated that the LASD has provided little information about how people inside jails are being tested for COVID or what type of cleaning supplies have been provided, which should be available due to the passage of Measure R.

Lewis shared that he had personally received calls from the inmates that he advocates for, reporting that in order to wipe off tables and clean common areas, they are given dirty buckets of water that have disinfectant added after the water has been used to mop the floors.

“This is not the way that we’re supposed to treat human things,” Lewis said. “The Sheriff’s Department has failed incarcerated people and the community wants answers about the current conditions inside our County jails.”

In May 2020, Villanueva defied a subpoena requiring him to testify about COVID-19 cases and the care of inmates in county jails. This was after Villanueva had missed three consecutive meetings on the matter with the COC, and no LASD representatives were sent in his place.

Lewis expressed concern for this behavior, especially in relation to the Sheriff’s apparent reluctance to comply with outside oversight, as required by law.

“At every step during his administration, he has failed to comply with state law regarding transparency,” Lewis said. “In my personal opinion, the Sheriff should be held to the highest standard, and the department should be held to the highest standard, as they are meant to protect and serve the community, as servants of the community. How can you be that if you are not protecting and serving… and transparency is a part of that.”