THE SHERIFF MAKES THREE CHANGES AND INSIDERS SEARCH FOR HIDDEN MEANING
reported by Matt Fleischer and Celeste Fremon
It is rumored that there may be one or two unexpected shifts in personnel in the Los Angeles Sheriff’s department command staff. More on that later as we sort fact from gossip.
In the meantime, three small but interesting changes have occurred inside the department, each of which have insiders sifting through them for hidden meaning.
Change Number 1:
Last Wednesday morning, during the Sheriff’s weekly Executive Planning Council meeting, Lee Baca announced that Chief Roberta Abner, the department head who oversees Internal Affairs, the LASD’s self-investigative bureau, would now report directly to him on all matters concerning IA. This meant that top level say so over IA would effective bypass several other members of command staff—most prominently the undersheriff, Paul Tanaka, Sheriff Baca’s ultra powerful second in command.
For Baca to involve himself this directly with oversight of Internal Affairs was an extremely unusual move, sources inside the department told us.
According to one source, Baca’s direct oversight of IAB means he’ll be the tie-breaking vote on matters of discipline in the department–which is a responsibility with serious ramifications. “If deputy gets a pass on a bad case, Sheriff Baca now could be now be deposed to figure out why that deputy was let off easy. It opens him up to all kinds of scrutiny. I think it does show he’s taking the situation seriously.”
What made the move even more unusual was the fact that, last spring, Undersheriff Tanaka had himself taken over direct control of Internal Affairs and its companion bureau, ICIB (the Internal Criminal Investigations Bureau, which investigates criminal matters involving department personnel).
As we reported last month in Part 4 of our ongoing Dangerous Jails series, Tanaka’s move was considered to be a power grab by many, especially since Tanaka had long been vocal about his loathing for Internal Affairs.
Weirdly a week after WitnessLA began inquiring into the matter, Tanaka handed IA back—officially anyway. Sources inside the department said he still maintained iron control—however not on paper, so to speak.
That was around a month ago. Now, as of last week, Sheriff Baca is in charge. According to several of our department sources, this means that Undersheriff Tanaka is effectively out of the loop as far as IA is concerned.
“Skipping over Tanaka is an unprecedented move,” one source inside the department told us. “It shows a lack of confidence in Tanaka by the Sheriff.”
At least that’s the supposition bouncing through certain streams of department chatter.
Chief Abner did confirm that she will be reporting directly to Lee Baca on IAB matters. When we asked about ICIB, however, Abner said the unit still is under Paul Tanaka’s control. “The Sheriff plans to have some discussions on the matter, but as of now nothing has changed.”
Change Number 2:
At last week’s same Executive Planning Council meeting, it was announced that LASD Correctional Services Chief Alexander Yim will be assuming the duties of recently retired custody chief Dennis Burns. Baca has no immediate plans to promote another chief. Instead, Yim will handle oversight of both divisions.
“In a division as troubled as custody,” one source told us, “you want twice as much supervision, not half. But I think it shows that Baca really doesn’t know who he can trust right now.”
When we asked Sheriff Baca’s spokesman Steve Whitmore about this and a list of related questions, he said he had no comment.
However, Michael Gennaco, who oversees the Office of Independent Review, confirmed that Yim would be heading both Custody as well as Correctional Services. “It’s going to be a lot of work for him, that’s for sure,” Gennaco said referring to Yim. Gennaco also confirmed that Baca would be overseeing IAB directly, and said that the OIR had no objections to either move.
However, another source familiar with the situation and the players said that Yim had pretty much been running both divisions anyway, and that he wanted to “clear out the obstructionists” in the troubled custody division—meaning, we were told, those individuals who stood in the way of reform.
Change Number 3:
On Tuesday of this week what is known as an “Intent to Promote” teletype was sent out from the Sheriff’s office announcing that two captains would be promoted to the rank of Commander. This would have no particular significance except that one of the about-to-be commanders is Captain Ray Leyva—a man who, along with Captain John Clark, and now retired Commander Robert Olmsted, was one of the supervisors who attempted reform in Men’s Central Jail, but whose efforts were blocked and/or undone by Paul Tanaka.
Ray Leyva was also one of three captains that Tanaka said he would never under any circumstances promote, according Bob Olmsted.
Tanaka made good on his word.
After being transferred out of Men’s Central for a less prestigious posting, Leyva was reportedly repeatedly passed over for promotion in favor of men with far less experience than his, but who were Tanaka proteges. In fact, in the past eight years, Leyva has been passed over for promotion 58 times—the most in the department.
As a consequence, Leyva along with another on Tanaka’s “never promote” list, Joaquin Herran, brought suit against against the department alleging discrimination and unfair practices in its promotional system. (See Dangerous Jails Part 3 for the rest of the details.)
Now Lee Baca appears to have reached around Tanaka and Leyva is about to become a commander.
So what does it all mean? Do these changes mean anything at all past the actions themselves?
Do they presage a weakening of the control of the undersheriff?
Or is sometimes a cigar—just a cigar.
When it comes to Internal Affairs, we do know that the three people Paul Tanaka promoted to head up IA and ICIB are still in place. In fact, one of the three, Commander Joe Hartshorne, who oversees both bureaus, is the person who is now personally overseeing the investigation centering around Bob Olmsted, who told WitnessLA and the LA Times last year that he had warned Paul Tanaka and the sheriff about the problems of jail abuse but was ignored, his attempts at correction derailed.
Olmsted told the LA Times he feared the investigation was a witch hunt.… So how does all that factor in?
More as we have it.
The Sheriff has lost confidence in Tanaka, Rhambo and Cavanaugh as he trusts no one right now. All discipline has been taken away from Tanaka and that is a huge slap. Now the little midget knows what it is like to be humiliated in front of the whole Department like he has done to so many people in the past. Tanaka get some wire cutters as you are going to have to snip 3 stars off your collar. All you people on the Tanaka train the bridge ahead just washed out. Two of Tanaka’s people did not make Commander this week because BACA actually made the decision, sorry Rittenour. Good for you Leroy, now protect the Sgt and Lt promotions. Let the Chief’s have major input on Sgt and Lt promotions.
There is hope Baca will take back HIS Department.
One snake eats another, it’s still a snake. Even if u run some bleach thru a three inch hose with a high pressure nozzle and let it rip there ain’t enuff water in the world to clean this up. Now’s a good time to have a “town hall” meeting with the troops. Ur a leader on the Sheriff’s Department, right? Lead, Lee. Better yet, get out of the way and take ur mini-me with u.
Abner is a self-serving individual. She has very little experience in much of anything other than shaking her head, yes. She is a prime example of a weather vain manager, what ever it takes to make herself look good, “Look at me, I’m a female. And I took speech lessons, can I give a speech?”
IF Tanaka, Rhambo are demoted (they should be terminated for cause – there are SOOOOOO many admin charges that would result in discharge hanging over their heads) it would be worth hanging around to watch the blood bath. Cavanaugh should have retired after his 14th heart attack.
Regardless, until the FBI comes in and cleans house with booking slips, I’m afraid this is just a musical chair exercise. The REAL change we need is a new Sheriff.
These movements/changes were made only because of the intense public & media scrutiny. Don’t let yourselves be fooled by these piecemeal, token movements and changes. Abner is tight with many Takana cronies. Her leadership effectiveness was borderline as a captain and commander. Leyva and Herron were promoted only because their pending litigation and their plights have been brought out in the open. Years ago, Leyva was rolled up overnight to Wayside because of a disparaging remark he make about Tanaka (it was a fitting remark one may say). Now, if the Sheriff really wants to prove that he is taking back his Department and act as a leader like he has preached for all of us to be, then he would promote Pat Maxwell. For those unfamiliar with this scenario, Maxwell filed a POE against Tanaka several months ago and it was squashed. It was known to many that Tanaka made a comment that he (Tanaka) was not going to promote the M***er F*cker(as he referred to Maxwell).
Previous comments in this blog were made regarding why certain people such as Joe Gooden, Frazier, etc. were promoted although they didn’t contribute money to the Tanaka camp. My take is that they are very well capable people and sometimes promotions are made as tokens to meet the needs of the communities or gender/race representation. Sometimes we get lucky when the good ones get the jump. Sometimes we suffer because of bad tokens and decisions. Look at the people who barely spent a year in patrol as a supervisor. Nee was chosen as a SAO sergeant by Tanaka while the ink barely dried on the sgt.’s promotional list he was on, then he was sent to Walnut for about 3 months to get his patrol training as a sergeant. Experienced and capable guys like Piety from SEB, who was already a sgt. for two years, applied for the same position but was not selected (go figure!)
We had a commander that just retired who didn’t work a day in patrol as a lieutenant or captain (how does that make you feel, patrol boys and girls? You plow the field everyday and some “smart” guy who knows how to work the system gets his nice pay raise and his rank from sitting in his office crunching numbers and make decisions affecting how you do your job in patrol, while he hasn’t seen through the windshield of a patrol car since he was a sergeant!). It’s all promote and remain. That’s how it’s done. They hide themselves or their boys and girls somewhere at least for the first six months after promotion so that they can pass their probationary period unscathed, then they slide their buddies in or back into a coveted position. Moriguchi was black-listed after he won his law suit against the Department. It was a bold move on his part as well as it was a very justified law suit, as his supervisors did not monitor the work place. We all know once you file a lawsuit against the Department, you may get your promotion but that will be the last promotion you’ll ever get in your career. For a long time Moriguchi got passed over though he worked a prime spot as a sgt. over FOSS. He was smart in getting himself in Band I Lt’s list because then the execs couldn’t bypass his promotion.
Yim was promoted through the ranks because he’s former U/S Paul Myron’s in-law, now, let’s see if he will do the right thing and help clean this mess up.
I would hope the media continues to shine the limelight all this because obviously the leadership has been lacking at the very top, and all the things they preach to us in the Core Values mean absolutely nothing. They’re just words and they take up space behind our Department business cards.
If there was true leadership at the very top beginning with the Sheriff, we would not be in this mess and I wouldn’t have to vent so much!
Taking control of IAB and having Abner report directly to the sheriff does much of nothing when Tanaka has already placed his minions all throughout IAB and ICIB. Take a look at the rosters they are chock full of Tanaka buddies who are complete slaps. Oh, and the sheriff promoted Leyva to ward off the lawsuit. Monkeys are still running the zoo folks!
Train has derailed and you gotta be kiding me, AMEN brothers ! Aside from these vindictive, mafia wannabe retards being demoted, fired, and jailed you forgot to mention tortured and beaten with an aluminum bat. I agree that this may be a muscle chair excercise, but lets just hope and see that it turns out for the good of the department. Im very happy James “the polesmoker” Ritnouer did not get promoted, that man is the most useless, vindictive, egotistic scumbag ever. He follows Tanaka around like some lost puppy dog. He is also directly responsible for holding back many deputies from advancing with his bullshit. This is payback. I guess what goes around does really come around. This has to be one of the happiest days ive had in a long time. Oh, and dont worry ladies and gentlemen, there is a changing of the guard coming soon, real soon. Be patient, and lets all do our part in helping get Lee Baca out of office. Thats all I can say for now.
Paul Pietrantoni was the other promotion to commamder with Ray Leyva. Does anyone want to point out that he donated 1000 dollars in 2009? The guy was barely a captain, drove his unit off a cliff and then claimed a back injury while he is off doing movie consulting jobs, and now hes going to be a commander? Haha, commander of what ya Mook.
STILLPROUDOFTHEBADGE
Promote Pat Maxwell, Are you out of your mind. He too donated to the infamous campaign not to mention he’s lucky to have a job. He should have lost his job when he was a deputy. The only reason he promoted was because of Waldie. It’s people like you, ignorant and know nothing about the players and the system, that pop up on this thing and talk crap.
God bless Olmsted for standing up. Baca was a fool from the start. Waldie the crook, Stonich the disappointment, and Tanaka the pathetic, played him from the start. They promoted only the boys and girls in the car, kept things from Baca because they really think he’s stupid and let him run around thinking he was the Sheriff. All four of them are corrupt and have put LASD in the toilet. All these people want is money and power and their cronies make me sick. I pray the FBI does their job and puts all of them in federal prison where they belong. ” Bob Olmsted for Sheriff”…
In my hast I forgot to mention the fact that donation to Tanaka’s mayoral fund wasn’t an option if you wanted to promote. I know this for a fact. Helmold and Parra have been raising money and helping him find others to put in the car from the start. All the people the Sheriff has selected to correct things like Yim and Hartshorn have donated alot and had others donate. Does the Sheriff really think they won’t tell Tanaka? Again the Sheriff is stupid… Come on FBI…
@LAMAO: No offense taken. Allow me to clarify as I am very well aware of Maxwell’s work history and his being “in the car” starting with working for Waldie as his then-Captain, then move his way up to become Baca’s first driver. Maxwell was the only one who had the balls to stand up to Tanaka by filing the POE, granted he was standing safely on the Waldie chuck-wagon at the time of the POE since Waldie was still around. Tanaka would rather eat sh*t and die then to see Leyva or Herron get their promotion, so we may as well see Maxwell get promoted so that he can be in Tanaka’s thorn on the side until both of them retire. You and I may not personally like some of the ways Maxwell conducts his business, but I think he (with the ego) would be best suitable to stand up to Tanaka (with the Napoleon complex. Put them both in a room, lock the door and let Maxwell beat him up! My money is on Maxwell.
And BTW, Piety was in the car long ago too. He’s one of the privileged few that gets a personal visit from the Sheriff when he was sick, where as some of us can be on our death bed, sick or dying, get not even a call of Baca’s secretary.
As a 30 year veteran and a Sergeant on the Sheriff’s Department, I have read with great interest the Dangerous Jails articles. While the article documenting the jail problems were interesting it seems the rest of the articles have been have been narrow minded attempts to discredit the Sheriff and his staff.
While I do agree that there have been use of force issues in Mens Central Jail, one must look at he bigger picture. That being, Mens Central Jail is an old and antiquated facility that needs to be replaced with something modern that has room to grow. It is also a facility with some of the most dangerous criminals in the world.
FORCE
No matter how much you dress it up and how much lipstick and mascara you put on it, force will never be a pretty thing. If you do not use enough, people get hurt and the public is upset, saying “you should have done more.” If you use to much the public is in outrage. Unfortunately, force is a necessary evil present in the day to day activities of Law Enforcement.
To the untrained eye, a civilian employee or ACLU worker in the jail, or any civilian on the streets, even the least amount of force used may seem excessive. Even to trained Law Enforcement Officials force may appear to be abusive. It is only until the incident is investigated that the truth comes out.
One only has to remember the events of March 3, 1991. After the Rodney King incident was televised the public and trained Law Enforcement leaders were up in arms over how Mr. King was brutally beaten by the police. It was only after two trials did the truth come out. A Federal jury of 12 registered voters deemed that only four of the 56 plus baton strikes and two head kicks were out of policy and illegal.
THE SHERIFF’S MANAGEMENT TEAM
Much has been said of how the Sheriff and especially Mr. Tanaka has picked the managers of the Department. Traditionally, the Under Sheriff is the person who runs the day to day activities of the Department and who finalizes promotions, with the Sheriff having the final say so. Volumes have been written on how Mr. Tanaka has picked the management team by promoting supporters, friends and political contributors.
In every Presidential Administration that I can remember the President of the United States has put their friends, supporters and political contributors in positions of power. Often times these appointments were given to unqualified persons. In fact this process even trickles down to the mayors of the smallest cities in this Country.
Even the private sector follows this process. When a new CEO is put into place, he/she places friends and supporters into the new management team. When looking at sports, whether at the College level or Professional level, when a new head coach is put in place, often times the coaching staff is also replaced, by who? Supporters and friends of the new coach.
Sometimes these supporters fall out of favor the boss. This has been evident in many Presidential cabinets.
For the most part, the way the Sheriff’s Management Team was chosen is a moot point.
THE CIGAR CLUB
It has been written that Mr. Tanaka has his own private cigar club at Sheriff’s Headquarters. To the best of my knowledge smoking cigars with your friends and supporters is not only legal but within Department policy. Didn’t President Clinton smoke cigars in the White House with his supporters? In fact, the only issue I have with this is if the smoking patio conforms with State Laws regarding smoking near Government Buildings. And no I have never had a cigar with Mr. Tanaka and do not have a smoking coin. I would much rather see the Department executives smoking cigars at Headquarters then drinking at a bar in Commerce as they did before Leroy Baca became Sheriff.
NEW DEPUTIES IN THE JAIL
For years new deputies out of the academy have been assigned to the various jail facilities. A vast majority of these deputies have taken advantage of this assignment. It allows them to mature, they have the opportunity of furthering their education, which is very difficult when assigned to patrol, and it gives them the opportunity to learn the mind-set of the criminals they will be arresting in the future. After all, who would you like to show up when you need help? A snot nosed 21 year old cop or a trained, educated, and mature Deputy Sheriff.
THE HIRING PROCESS
While none of the articles addressed this, I will. Recently the Department went through a mass hiring. In a two year period we hired 2,000 new Deputy Sheriff’s. While this may look good it, has caused problems within the Department. It was even addressed by Mr. Gennaco in a recent Office of Independent Review report. This hiring push was when the economy was good. When the economy is on an up-swing Law Enforcement agencies do not get the “cream of the crop.” Educated persons tend to migrate to the private sector to get the higher paying jobs. It is only during the down economic times that well educated and qualified persons apply. Unfortunately, it is during these down times that the Department suffers by not having the budget to hire new applicants.
When you hire 2,000 people in a short time some bad apples slip through the system. These bad apples have been, are and will be weeded out of the Department.
You must remember, the personnel hired by the Department must mirror the communities we serve, less the criminal element.
OTHER STUFF
After reading the articles, it appears that Captain Cruz was negligent in processing force investigations at Mens Central Jail. Wasn’t Mr. Olmsted his boss when this occurred? Whether or not it is popular with your boss, it was your job Mr. Olmsted to make sure your subordinates did their jobs and that they did it right the first time. I suspect you chose the road with least resistance so you do not fall out of favor with your bosses. After all it would have been the politically correct thing to do.
Mr. Clark has made comment that the management team did not support him in his decision making at Central Jail. I think his plan of moving deputies assignments in the jail was right on, it stops there. For several years while he was Captain, Mr. Clark received low marks for his job performance. To be fair, these evaluations came from the deputies that worked for him and were reported by the deputies union, the Association of Los Angeles Deputy Sheriff’s. While some of the evaluations came from inexperienced jail deputies, many came from well tenured and experienced detectives when Mr. Clark was Captain of Commercial Crimes Bureau.
Many of the “informants” giving information for the articles rose through the ranks under the Sherman Block administration. That administration was full of backstabbing managers. It was common knowledge that you gained favor of the management team by “screwing over” your subordinates. The old saying “if you throw enough crap against the wall, something will stick” held true. Many times discipline was heavy handed and excessive. Since Sheriff Baca took office, a lot of the old nonsense has gone away. He believes discipline should be just, many times alternate means of discipline are handed out instead of the old standard, days off without pay.
It is about time Ray Leyva is promoted. The thought that he was passed over numerous times for promotion because he is not “in the car” with Mr. Tanaka is weak. After all, I was promoted and I don’t even know where “the car” is. The fact that he wasn’t promoted because he ran against the Sheriff a few years ago seems more plausible.
Now is the time the retired “informants” who fell out of favor with the current management team to “get over it” and move on. Collect your six figured pensions and do something more useful, like using your energy to maintain the public safety retirement systems.
I stopped drinking the Kool-Aid 30 years ago, they called it red death at MCJ.
El Coondog, We appreciate your thoughtful and detailed commentary challenging our conclusions. We do our best to challenge ourselves, and do so with the knowledge that everyone has blind spots, ourselves very prominently included. Thus challenges from those who disagree are very much welcomed—and taken seriously.
I hope you will keep reading.
There’s much more to come.
El Coondog, thanks for the insight into new deputies in jail. I’ve wondered about that policy for years. and that put it in a new light.
Its about time Tanaka was exposed. I see things with him have not changed from his Lennox days when he ran interference for his early morning deputies when they faced serious dicipline. I know of at least two incidents that I investigated which would have lead to days off or more that he had quashed. The efforts of my fellow Watch Commanders and myself to try and keep things under control was met by sarcastic comments from Tanaka and generally crapped on by the Station Captain. Of course rummer had it that Tanaka had been doing Baca’s taxes for years. Unknown it that was true or not. Then Tanaka was made the Station Operations Lt. Thats when we knew who ran the station.
To El Coondog,
Nice try, but that dog “don’t” hunt. Sadly, I hope this is not a preview of the “Department’s” posture regarding this blog and the comments posted here. Your dismissive and patronizing analysis is disturbing. Wherever you’ve been for the last 30 years, it’s time to go. If this is the best your handler can do, I fear for the safety and well being of the residents of Los Angeles County.
El Coondog, really? You said it yourself; you “don’t even know where” Tanaka’s “car” is. Thank you for your 30 years of service, most of which I’m sure were (and currently is) in the jail. You don’t know half of what most of the people posting here know. There is plenty of corruption and WitnessLA has painstakingly done their homework and made sure they were as accurate as possible. If you know of something they’ve written that’s untrue. Speak up. Otherwise, keep reading.
Coondog, I’ll confine my comments to your promotional observations. Your “reasoning” is incredibly flawed. When a president is elected, it is with the understanding that he will pick his subordinates from anywhere in the U.S. that he wants. On our department, there is a certain expectation that if you work hard, do your job honestly and perform your duties as best you can, your efforts deserve to be rewarded, after a reasonable period of time. They should be.
What we don’t expect is that a limited pool of promotions will be handed out in exchange for contributions to a re-election fund. How do you find this acceptable? Would it be ok with you if that money had been handed to Tanaka in a cash-filled envelope? I hope not. And before you say “that’s different”, remember that no one on these donor lists has an address in Gardena. Tanaka’s role as mayor has absolutely no effect on their lives. So if they’re not contributing because they are trying to help elect an official in their home town, why are they making the donation? It’s obvious, at least to those of us with brains, that it is in exchange for being considered for a promotion. It’s ugly, it’s unfair, and it was conducted in secret until WLA shed the light on what was going on. For you to try to justify it shows that you’ve either gained from it or are just plain stupid.
There are some other flaws in your diatribe, but this one was the worst. There is no way to justify what has occurred here. And the fact that you or anyone else was promoted off a civil service exam (sergeants and lieutenants) doesn’t prove favoritism wasn’t going on at the captain and higher level. Even a cursory examination of the lists makes it clear what has been happening. A simple statistical analysis, hopefully performed by WLA or someone once all the records have come out with the proper public records request, will make all this clear. Of course, that’s only really necessary, for those of us who don’t already see what’s going on just from the lists so far. Can’t wait to see 2010. If nothing else, it’s fun to watch the people who either have bought or tried to buy their promotions having to look their peers in the eye, now that the truth is out.
Seriously …..
I don’t think it was done in secret at all. Those that have worked or are currently working Reg II know this has been going on since the 90’s when Tanaka was a lieutenant and he had a large group walk the streets of Gardena for him. Most know that when you received a call about a coveted position it was followed with that person having to pull out their checkbook. I think many once decent people did it in fear of retailiation if they declined. I know a lot of people that unfortunately felt they had no choice but to write the check.
Ray Leyva was passed over for promotion because he threatened to run against the sheriff. It had nothing to do with Tanaka. Leyva was speaking at an engagement with a Hispanic special interest group when he said he might consider running for sheriff. Leyva was captain of SHB at the time and was rolled up and replaced by Franklin for being disloyal to the sheriff. Had he used his brain and kept his mouth shut he would have promoted to commander about ten years ago. We dont need him anyway. Hes a special interest double agent who only wants to take care of his own people. Herran is the same, just not as intelligent. if you want the Hispanic version of Ronnie Williams and Willie Miller then you want Ray Leyva. Whoever thinks Leyva would be a good commander doesnt know his motives. As for Pietrantoni, he couldnt lead a trip to the bathroom. The guy is a clown at a one man circus.
Roberto,
Ray did not threaten to run against the Sheriff. He said if Lee didn’t run for Sheriff, he would, thereby placing himself in opposition to the self-designated heir, Paul Tanaka. The rest is history. Special interest double agent and one-man circus? My, how colorful. I’m so glad you have decided whom “we” need. Absolutely stunning. Thank you.
Coondog,the department is currently going through another mass hiring. We had class 385 finish in Dec. Class 386 will finish March 16th. Class 387 just started a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, some of the same hiring problems exist with these classes. We are hiring a lot of the S.O.’s Some have shown same behavior problems that we have had with sworn staff. Remember, the s.o.’s were hired in a rush in 2010 to fill the void left by disbandment of the County Police. I know we hired some bad apples, I hope we are able to weed them out, before we promote them to deputy.
I would love to do a side by side comparison of the donation lists with the departmental promotional lists. This may be difficult as all of the JDIC messages prior to 2011 have recently and mysteriously disappeared from the public folders in the Microsoft exchange that normally allows employees access to this information. Department policy mandates that the Records and Information bureau maintain these notifications on file for three years. Someone needs to get their hands on these records before they vanish permanently.
in my 23 years on, i find the comments like ” you must be a court services deputy” and “you must work the jails” typical of this department. no team work, no brotherhood. real nice. i didnt think an inferiority complex and arrogance could co-exist, but people on this department can sure pull it off.
@ oh knock it off: Thank you for appropriately handling the negative comments about the work assignments. Regardless of our political differences and disagreements, I’m sure there are a lot of us who would not hesitate to help a deputy in need, and our hearts would be shaken all the same at the news of a deputy down.
Unfortunately I’ve seen many allow greed and the allures of authority to overcome their sense of community service. If only these supervisors and executives can only learn to remove the “self” aspect from their actions, then this Department would be in a much better place.
I’m hoping that these blog posts will thwart Tanaka’s dream of being elected Sheriff and end the Baca era.
It sickens me to see able-bodied men abuse the privileges that come with wearing the ranks on their collar, such as having the LETs serve as their valet parking or garage attendants – filling up the gas tanks, waxing the car and cleaning their car windshields, picking up their food crap on the floor boards of their county vehicles, even in the rain. Regardless of your ranks, ladies and gentlemen, get your a**es of your high horses and do these things yourselves. For goodness sakes, you still are a county employee. You are not Mr. Donald Trump! They may be your subordinates, but they are not your hired help!
And Sheriff Baca, the spot light is now on you steer back to do the right thing. I’m sure you’re reading this or at least your subordinates are tracking these entries to brief you about it, and you’re trying to guess our identities. Just don’t use our uniform to back you up on your political endeavors. Don’t order us to be the back drop for your media appearances such as the day you ordered us be in uniform because you and your friend Gray Davis were making a media appearance, right at the time he was being recalled and many of us signed the petitions to get him out of office, or do things like having one of your execs send out emails that we/deputies have to recite the Core Values on demand. Do YOU and your friends heed the Core Values? Give me a break! What were you thinking? And the Department’s cultural exchange program overseas, that’s just to support the reserve commander connected to the travel agency, the perks is some of the execs or families there of get to travel free.
Now how does it feel to see the dirty laundry being aired? Every bead of sweat, every cuss word, every punch in the face, every broken bone, every private tears your deputies shed now are coming to haunt you. The good soldiers will march on no matter what and regardless whether you or the next girl or guy will be in charge. May God save your souls because I am just too human to be forgiving about somethings.
@LACounty22:
Back in the 90’s under then Captain Curtis Spear, there was a rush to increase the hiring percentage of certain ethnic minority (I won’t mention which to minimize the racial overtones here, no need to go there because that is not my intention), certain criteria such as drug use were made less stringent. Prior to that time, if the applicant admitted to using cocaine just one time, that caused for automatic disqualification. It was changed to allow snorting/inhaling even one time, provided the time span was “sufficient.” Marijuana use was not condoned, then it was changed to something like, “if you smoked even 300 times but years ago, then it was ok.” These “modifications” to drug use history were never the written rule, so that they can be altered based on hiring needs. The consequence was we ended up hiring a lot of bad apples. If you were to look at the deputies who were terminated within the immmediate following years (such as the “Posse” who ordered inmate workers/trustys to assault the 288/290’s in custodies, or the deputies who were busted for the credit card fraud at the Towers, you will see that majority of them were hired during that mad rush).
Fast forward to the 1,000 deputies who were hired within a year a couple of years ago. We ended up hiring other department’s rejects or those with prior criminal records.
There were background investigators who were rolled up or got shafted because they chose to NOT recommend certain politically connected applicants to be hired.
Sheriff Baca’s “need” to expand the Department is akin to a boy who found the cookie jar and can’t help himself from eating until he throws up. Whenever we absorb another [county] department or new contract, we end up filling these new personnel positions with our Department rejects/roll-ups, even at the lieutenant’s level (my apologies to the good ones who decide to take on the challenge of working at a new assignment for good reasons). Some assignments still has the stigma of being the place where deputies afraid of police work/not knowing how to do police work transfer to. My point is, instead of being greedy and always trying to make this Department the BIGGEST sheriff’s department in the world, we need to focus on cultivating, building what we have and empowering our deputies, AND stop allowing Contract Law to use new contracts to create new positions for their cronies and hide these costs in the contracts (yes, your practice is whispered behind your walls throughout HQ, and unfortunately, your just-retired commander was so intent on getting himself promoted throught the ranks that he ended up shafting his friends at your bureau!)
Re: El Coondog, I agree with your view that working custody enables the maturation process for the young deputies to prepare them for patrol, and I agree that if the circumstances are right, they would be better equipped mentally to handle patrol than a PD officer straight from the Academy. HOWEVER, staying too long in custody does have its consequences, as the impressionable and the weak-willed deputies who lack good leadership will and have developed the gang mentality and create their own cliques or gangs (monkey see, monkey do). If you have ever worked a men’s facility such as CJ, you will know the level of violence that our young, immpressionable deputies have to contend with, just look at the jail assault stats, and those are just the assaults that are reported.
Wow, the suddenly insecure are starting to whine, how predictable. First there was LAB, now we have Stop Whining and Stop Whining Nailed It. For those who think they are God’s gift to law enforcement, I’m sure there’s a career path for your self-proclaimed unique set of skills. Unfortunately for you AND the department, they don’t always coincide with the positions and ranks these individuals tend to covet.
Anybody remember LASD2? Baca put no one else but Tanaka to lead the charge. Over a decade later, our jail system is a mess, and it was a mess back then as well. So much for planning, right?
Every employee of this department is entitled to equal treatment and equal opportunities for advancement. You should rise and fall based on what you actually accomplish, that old fashioned thing called merit.
By the same token, the sheriff and his executives are not only required, but EXPECTED to respect the rule of law. How can you lead a law enforcement agency without respecting the rule of law?
It’s time to break out a grand jury and get a lot of sworn testimony. There’s too many people with a lot of answering to do…
Cooley, you share the same campaign contributors as Baca, do you think you can set aside your bribes for once and do your job?
I am so glad to see people stepping forward about the plague that has over run this department since Baca and Tanaka came to rule. Most of you have mentioned the problems only of the sworn members of the department, but it occurs on the civillian level as well. One of Tanaka’s car cleaning female LET’s has been given numerous positions on this department over those much more qualified. With no training or education other than a high school diploma, she was just hired at the Crime Lab as a Forensic ID Specialist right alongside Rhambo’s neice who also has nothing more than a high school diploma and little training. Others with college degrees, training and work ethic were either not allowed to test or were scored inappropriately if they didn’t have someone to make a call for them. Next time Baca gives a speech about LASD University and the importance of education, he might add a disclaimer at the end in which he informs the audience that education is important but it is trumped by “who you know and who you ____.”(fill in the blank)Forget Tanaka’s boys, it is now Tanaka’s girls we have to worry about.
To El Corndog
Seriously? What floor do you work on in Monterey Park?
About Time …. If you don’t know what you are speaking of, you should pipe down. I know plenty civilians including LET’s that have passed tests with high scores, gotten good AP’s, and therefore received promotions all with a high school diploma. Why? Because they have department knowledge or outside knowledge. That counts too you know. Just because you have earned a degree doesn’t allow you to get the job over another. The Sheriff’s department is a unique culture and sometimes degrees don’t matter when compared to department knowledge. Also, nepotism occurs in all areas of employment whether on the department or in the private sector. How do most people get decent jobs? It’s who you know most of the time. Sorry.
This is priceless.
“One only has to remember the events of March 3, 1991. After the Rodney King incident was televised the public and trained Law Enforcement leaders were up in arms over how Mr. King was brutally beaten by the police. It was only after two trials did the truth come out. A Federal jury of 12 registered voters deemed that only four of the 56 plus baton strikes and two head kicks were out of policy and illegal”
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a jury of 12 registered voters found O.J. inoocent. the truth came out ?
EDITOR’S NOTE:
Effective immediately, I have stopped approving comments on these LASD threads. When the next Dangerous Jails post goes up, I will open comments again.
Up until recently these LASD-related comment threads have been a lively forum that seemed to be of value to those posting, and much appreciated by us here at WitnessLA. With a few exceptions, the overwhelming majority of people came here for genuine discussion and an airing of thoughts—whether they agreed or disagreed with WitnessLA’s reporting, or each other.
In the past week however, a minority of commenters—some from both sides of the argument—have allowed their comments to devolve into very personal attacks that can serve no constructive purpose, and which drive away the thoughtful commenters who don’t want to risk being hit with flying mud.
Moderating a lively and purposeful comment area takes a great deal of time. That is why sites such LAObserved have no commentary at all and why most large media outlets, if they allow comments, have staff members assigned to the task of moderating, not reporters and editors.
As I said, I’ll open up the commentary when there’s a new post. And we’ll see how it goes.
Thank you for understanding.