California Atty. General Xavier Becerra announced on Friday that he is starting a civil rights investigation in the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, an agency surrounded by allegations of deputy misconduct, controversial shootings and resistance to inspection by Sheriff Alex Villanueva.
The investigation will investigate whether the policies and practices of the Sheriff’s Department, the largest in the country, routinely violate people’s constitutional rights. Becerra, whose office has been increasingly summoned in recent months to investigate an agency watchdog complaint is shrouded in secrecy, said he was encouraged to act by credible reports of excessive force by deputies, as well as retaliation and others errors involving department management.
“There are serious concerns and reports that responsibility and adherence to legitimate police practices have been suspended at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department,” said Becerra, who is leaving to join President Joe Biden’s office, in a statement. . “We are conducting this investigation to determine whether the LASD violated the law or the rights of people in Los Angeles County.”
To conduct the survey, a team of investigators is expected to interview MPs, local officials, members of supervisory panels and community groups who have been highly critical of LASD and have long wanted an outside authority to intervene. Becerra did not say whether the investigation would focus on specific stations and divisions of the agency and whether investigators would investigate allegations that deputies at various stations belong to gang-like groups.
“We are not establishing a specific scope and time or place, or person – this is an investigation where we look to see if the department’s practices are in accordance with the law,” said Becerra.
The attorney general said that a full report on the findings of the investigation would be made public and that he expected Villanueva to work with his office to resolve the problems. If the department refuses to cooperate, Becerra said more coercive options are available. “If it is necessary to go to court to prove our case and change the practices and policies of that agency, we will be ready for that,” he said.
A similar investigation by the Kern County Sheriff’s Office resulted in an agreement announced last month to implement a laundry reform list that included changes to the agency’s policy on the use of force, a ban on the use of bottlenecks and more. maneuvers, a new procedure for reporting deputies ‘shootings to the public, and stricter rules for deputies’ magazines.
The announcement came after a series of high-profile shootings and allegations of misconduct within the department, which sparked widespread protests and demands from community organizers and lawmakers for independent investigations.
These calls were amplified after the June murder of 18-year-old Andres Guardado, who was shot five times in the back by a police officer assigned to the Compton police station. That station has been rocked by allegations that a gang-like clique of tattooed deputies who call themselves Carrascos runs over deputies who use force.
In September, a congressional subcommittee asked the US Department of Justice to investigate allegations of systemic abuse by “criminal gangs” of LA County deputies who use aggressive tactics and reward violence. Records show that the county paid about $ 55 million in lawsuits and lawsuits in which deputies were accused of belonging to a secret clique.
In a statement on Friday, Villanueva said he welcomed the attorney general’s investigation. “Our department can finally have an impartial and objective assessment of our operations and recommendations on any areas where we can improve our service to the community,” he said. “We will provide immediate access to all information in our possession. We look forward to starting this process, in the interest of transparency and accountability. ”
Los Angeles County has become a hot spot in national discourse on how to reform and monitor law enforcement, a debate that gained urgency after George Floyd’s death by the police last year and other abuses of black men and women. Sheriff Alex Villanueva has clashed with the Board of Supervisors since he took office in December 2018, as the Board questioned the sheriff’s decisions to rehire deputies with a history of misconduct. More recently, Villanueva and the council have been confused by the county’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and budget cuts.
The Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission, a watchdog group appointed by supervisors, took the unprecedented step of calling for Villanueva’s resignation last fall, saying he dragged on critical reforms, resisted department oversight and did not hold deputies responsible.
In a sign of growing distrust between county leaders and the sheriff, the Board of Supervisors last year gave the commission authority to subpoena the department for internal records and testimonies. A few months later, voters confirmed the change and Governor Gavin Newsom signed a state law that gives subpoena to police oversight panels across the state.
When Villanueva challenged a subpoena to testify about how he handled the COVID-19 pandemic in prisons, the county took him to court, testing new control over his power.
Villanueva contested the legality of the subpoena, describing it at a news conference as a “public effort to shame”. A judge decided that the commission was within his authority. However, lawyers representing LA County dropped out of the case after the sheriff voluntarily showed up at the panel meeting in December and agreed to appear again this week.
Although civilian oversight efforts have provided external control over policing, they have faced criticism for not having enough power to force real change in California, where the police are given significant privacy rights and other protections.