L.A. County Sheriff Alex Villanueva recently asked to meet with the League to clarify rumors he had heard about a League forum proposing the appointment of the sheriff rather than the election of the sheriff. The Los Angeles (LWVLA), L.A. County, and Pasadena Area (LWV-PA) Leagues met with the sheriff, Undersheriff Tim Murakami, and Communications Director Elizabeth Espinosa at League offices on January 23 to establish a working relationship and to ask several questions about the policies and practices of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD).

League members—the LWVLA executive director, the L.A. County League president, two members of LWVLA’s Committee on Criminal Justice Reform, and two members of LWV-PA’s Policing Committee—made clear that there was not a League proposal.

The sheriff shared accomplishments of his tenure and noted that both the prior sheriff, Jim McDonnell, and the Los Angeles Times had misrepresented jail violence under his watch. Among the changes he highlighted were: jail violence is down; he has increased hiring, locally, and promoted women and minorities to leadership positions; body cameras will be adopted this summer; he has banned subgroups and cliques; he has held twenty-nine town halls and solicited input into policies and practices; and LASD is training volunteers to register people to vote in jails, with the goal of registering five thousand new voters. He reminded the group that LASD runs the largest jail system in the United States, with 17,500 inmates in seven jail facilities.

League members asked Sheriff Villanueva several questions about their concerns:

• Question: How is LASD supporting voter registration and voter education in the jails?
• Response: Volunteers are being trained to go into the jails to register voters. Voter guides will be made available in jail commissaries. Ballots will be given and collected for elections. The women’s jail in Lynwood is piloting the new voting system and will receive coverage by National Public Radio.
• Question: What changes in policy have been made regarding handling deputy gangs within the department?
• Response: The sheriff said he has banned subgroups and cliques. There is a new draft policy regarding this, pending union approval. Guidelines for discipline of “out-of-policy” behavior are in the policy manual.
• Question: LASD’s policy on the new law (AB 392), effective January 1, 2020, that requires limiting the use of deadly force unless “necessary to save human life” is not clearly reflected in the current policy. What was the rationale for this?
• Response: The sheriff said a new, revised policy was in the works.
• Question: How has SB 54—the California Values Act, which prohibits cooperation and sharing of information between California law enforcement agencies and ICE—been implemented? During routine stops, are deputies asking people for their place of birth?
• Response: Sheriff Villanueva stated that ICE agents are no longer in the jails and that transfers from the jails to ICE are down radically. He said he is working closely with local social service agencies and the County Office of Immigrant Affairs to develop policy. Undersheriff Murakami said that it is illegal to ask if someone is a citizen; however, the place-of-birth question appears on citations.

The exchange was cordial, and the group appreciated the opportunity to open a working relationship with the sheriff and engage more vigorously with respect to policy and practices in the future.

After our meeting, we learned that the sheriff and his deputies will not be attending future meetings of the Civilian Oversight Commission until LASD can be assured that they will be treated fairly. Until then, LASD will be represented by County counsel and one non-uniformed member of LASD. The civilian oversight of elected officials is a policy that the League supports, and we look forward to the time when LASD re-engages with this process.

—Kris Ockershauser, Chair, Social Justice Subcommittee on Policing