Lying LA County Sheriff’s Department Members Still Employed…and More

LA COUNTY SHERIFF JIM MCDONNELL’S FIGHT TO WEED OUT DISHONESTY

A number of Los Angeles County deputies found to have made false statements on police reports or in court testimony are still employed by the sheriff’s department. One of those deputies, Daniel Genao, wrote in a police report that a gun was in a suspect’s waistband rather than the planter into which it had been tossed.

LASD Sheriff Jim McDonnell has tried to fire deputies caught lying, but has met with resistance from the Los Angeles County Civil Service Commission, which serves county employees, functioning as the appellate body for serious disciplinary actions, suspensions, firings and discrimination complaints.

McDonnell is fighting Genao’s case and those of three other deputies reinstated by the commission, as part of his promise to weed out the dishonest.

Under former Sheriff Lee Baca’s reign, deputies often faced remedial classes, rather than suspensions for lying.

Last month, Baca, himself, pleaded guilty to felony charges of lying to federal authorities interviewing him as part of an investigation into LASD corruption and civil rights violations.

During McDonnell’s first year as sheriff, 90% of deputies caught making false statements were fired. Still, McDonnell has faced criticism for not cleaning house even more thoroughly. Yet some department members inherited from the Baca era who have lied under oath or on a report are reportedly safe from firing because of contractual protections.

And in December, a federal jury found in favor of eight Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department members who sued LA County for alleged career-damaging retaliation following the plaintiffs’ endorsement of former undersheriff Paul Tanaka during his campaign for sheriff. Most of the allegations were against Baca. But one of theplaintiffs, Robert Tubbs, accused McDonnell of wrongly demoting him for insubordination. (Read more about it here and here.)

“My question is, for someone who is proven to be untruthful or lacks integrity or committed acts of theft, insubordination, those kinds of things, where can I put someone like this?” McDonnell told the LA Times.

The LA Times’ Cindy Chang has the story of Sheriff McDonnell’s struggle for an ethical department. Here’s a clip:

Since taking office in December, McDonnell has made honesty among his 9,000 sworn deputies a centerpiece of his reform agenda. He has tightened the penalties for lying on the job, fired deputies who made false statements and is reviewing the assignments of those found to have lied in the past. Some could be required to work under special conditions, such as recording all their interactions with the public.

McDonnell’s tough approach contrasts with that of former Sheriff Lee Baca, who let some proven liars off with remedial classes. Baca himself pleaded guilty in federal court last month to lying to federal authorities and faces up to six months in prison as part of his plea agreement with prosecutors.

Establishing clear ethical boundaries is especially important as the department emerges from a period of scandal, with more than a dozen former employees convicted of crimes including lying and beating a jail visitor, McDonnell said in interviews with The Times.

He said there is no place in his department for the most egregious liars. Assigning them to desk jobs is not a solution because every deputy should be ready to testify on the witness stand, he said.

“My question is, for someone who is proven to be untruthful or lacks integrity or committed acts of theft, insubordination, those kinds of things, where can I put someone like this?” McDonnell said. “Where can I comfortably deploy people where we don’t have that level of trust?”

But to fully implement his strict regime, McDonnell must contend with the Civil Service Commission, a five-member body appointed by the L.A. County Board of Supervisors that adjudicates discipline cases of county employees. In the last year, the commission has reinstated Genao as well as a deputy who lied about whether he had tried to take a photo under a woman’s skirt and another deputy found to have falsely asserted that he had not witnessed a colleague beat up a jail inmate.

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Genao, the deputy who wrote false reports about the gun, said he was traumatized because of his fear that the suspect he encountered was armed. Stress and confusion, Genao said, caused him to write that he found the gun on the suspect rather than behind the planter, according to a civil service hearing officer’s report filed in court. Genao insisted that he did not intentionally lie, the report said.

The hearing officer concluded that dismissal was excessive because Genao admitted to the false statement and was a popular, well-respected deputy. Other deputies have ended up on the Brady list yet remained on the job, and Genao could work a non-patrol assignment, the hearing officer noted.

The Civil Service Commission voted to return Genao to duty with a 30-day suspension. The Sheriff’s Department has put him on leave, with pay, while it appeals.

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LONG BEACH’S NEW EMPLOYMENT AND EDUCATION DIVERSION PROGRAM FOR TEENS AND YOUNG ADULTS

The city of Long Beach is launching a pilot program this month that will divert young offenders from incarceration, offering employment training, life skills instruction, job placement, education, job placement, and mentoring. The program, called Promising Adults, Tomorrow’s Hope (Path), was developed by Long Beach City Councilmember Rex Richardson, City Prosecutor Doug Haubert, and the Pacific Gateway Workforce Investment Board.

The diversion program, which will serve minor offenders between the ages of 16 and 24, was created in response to President Barack Obama’s My Brother’s Keeper Community Challenge, which called on communities to adopt initiatives to improve outcomes for young people through a “cradle-to-college and career strategy.”

Richardson pointed out that during this age range, people “are more susceptible to peer pressure, more prone to risk-taking and impulsive behavior, they’re more likely to misread social cues and dramatically overreact.” These factors can lead young people to commit crimes “which can have dire long-range consequences affecting their ability to gain employment, complete their education, and pursue a range of other important life goals,” Richardson said.

KPCC has more on the program. Here’s a clip:

“Instead of only considering traditional criminal punishment, in some cases we need to look at rehabilitative methods,” said Haubert in a press release. “Prosecutors need options like effective interventions for first-time, nonviolent offenders.”

The program uses a data-driven approach based on adolescent brain development research to steer young offenders away from prison and into programs tailored to their specific issues.

Young adults make up the largest segment of Long Beach’s population, according to PGWIN, and the 20.7 percent unemployment rate among adults 20 to 24 is more than triple the overall rate in the city. Young people in Long Beach are also more susceptible to violent crime, as 50 percent of murder victims and 43 percent of assault-with-a-deadly-weapon victims are 18 to 29, according to data from the Long Beach Police Department.

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LA CITY ATTORNEY MIKE FEUER DISCUSSES PROP. 47 AND A PILOT PROGRAM TO INCENTIVIZE TREATMENT FOR DRUG OFFENDERS

Appearing on ABC7’s Newsmakers, City Attorney Mike Feuer talked with host Adrienne Alpert about efforts to get Proposition 47 working as intended by ensuring low-level drug offenders are receiving meaningful treatment. One way Feuer’s office is working toward that goal is by launching a pilot program through an LAPD subdivision incentivizing drug rehabilitation for Prop. 47 offenders. “It’s very new, but the early indicators are that it’s on the right track,” said Feuer.

Before Prop. 47 reduced certain low-level property and drug-related felonies to misdemeanors, drug courts were a place where people charged with non-violent drug crimes could avoid a felony conviction and time behind bars if they completed a rehabilitation process.

But these drug courts, which were designed for those who committed felony drug offenses, have seen a huge drop in participation. Because the maximum sentence for a misdemeanor is one year, there is currently not as much incentive to apply for drug court, or to finish it out, once enrolled.

Feuer also said that his office is conducting a federally funded study to discover whether there are any links between Prop. 47 and crime rates. Critics claim the law was responsible for an uptick in property crimes. LAPD Chief Charlie Beck has pointed out that crime numbers fluctuate, and there are a number of factors likely contributing to increases in certain crime categories. (Property crimes have actually dropped 2% so far in 2016 over the same period in 2015.)