In Monday, special counsel to the LA County Board of Supervisors, Merrick Bobb, issued his semi-annual report in which he found that complaints in the department were being handled appallingly slowly, and that reform in the jails, while showing some heartening progress, still had a long way to go.
Yet Bobb’s strongest theme was his clear expression that reform in the department depends greatly on Sheriff Baca’s leadership, and the sheriff’s willingness to stop ceding crucial control to others.
For instance, Bobb writes:
“To some extent, any LASD Sheriff is the public face of the Department and has to concentrate efforts on its external relations. The Sheriff perforce must delegate to trusted lieutenants. But it should be a delegation of authority, not an abdication of it. And the Sheriff must be certain that those who act in his name do so in a manner consistent with the Sheriff’s own core values… “
Here are a few more highlights from the 70-page report:
RUINING THE JAILS
“Two things seem clear: the Sheriff was not well served by major executives and managers who both actively and passively permitted the jails to operate at variance with the Sheriff’s core values, seemingly believing that the abusive culture there was intractable, at best, or not really a problem, at worst. Senior executives did not keep Sheriff Baca well-informed or else sheltered him from persons in his management seeking to alert him to the serious problems in the jails.
The Sheriff has taken some steps to chastise some of the individuals who let him down. There are signs that there has been a change of attitude on the part of some, which is welcome and bodes well for the Department. Nonetheless, it will take a sustained period of genuine progress to convince knowledgeable observers that those same major executives who presided over the apparent collapse of accountability in the jails are capable of presiding over jail reform.
THE DEPARTMENT’S INVESTIGATIVE BUREAUS MUST REPORT DIRECTLY TO THE SHERIFF
There has been concern expressed about a possible lack of support and respect for the Internal Affairs at the senior executive level. [This is, we presume, from WLA’s reporting here.] The importance of the Leadership and Training Division has eclipsed in recent years and needs now once again to be front and center. The Chief of that division, which contains IAB, reports directly to the Sheriff, a recent change that we endorse. ICIB—the criminal investigations arm of the LASD—currently is a direct report to the Sheriff, according to the Undersheriff. The secrecy of ICIB investigations apparently has been compromised in the past, so there is a value in keeping layers of reporting to a minimum. In our review, as a matter of policy and best practice, both IAB and ICIB should report directly to the Sheriff. The power to initiate and terminate investigations and hence to make or break careers is one that requires oversight at the highest level. Direct reporting allows the chief executive to personally keep his finger on the pulse of the organization.
LASD’S NEW USE OF FORCE POLICY IN JAILS WOULD DISCOURAGE THE SLAMMING OF INMATE’S HEADS INTO HARD OBJECTS
There’s a lot more, like the rundown on the progress being made—and not made—in installing the video cameras in the jails, along with charts that show the degree to which use-of-force numbers have dropped since all the scrutiny of the jails began last year.
There is a short section on the importance of the recommendations about pre-trial release made in the Vera and the James Austin reports, if jail population is to be kept at a manageable level.
Plus there are things like this on a newly proposed use of force policy:
Among other things, the current reformulation attempts to subject a wider variety of head injuries to an immediate rollout by Internal Affairs. It should serve to discourage deputies from causing an inmate to strike his head against any hard object, be it the concrete floor or the bars in the jail. Should a deputy deliberately do any of those things, it may be a crime and should be dealt with as such. We believe it also should include instances where it might not have been done deliberately but was done recklessly, as when the deputy knows the high probability of what he is doing will cause a head strike, yet goes ahead anyway. Reckless conduct may also be criminal….
Okay, well, that’s encouraging, I guess. One would have assumed that such matters would have already been clear. But better late than never, one supposes.
JAILS TASK FORCE DOING WELL SO FAR
Bobb makes a point of praising the Commander Management Task Force or CMTF, whose job it is to “….assess and transform the culture of the custody facilities in order to provide a safe, secure learning environment for our Department personnel and the inmates placed in the Department’s care…”
Admittedly, WitnessLA was among those who were very concerned at the make-up of the CMTF because all but one of its five commanders were Undersheriff Paul Tanaka’s hand picked people.
While acknowledging the concern, Bobb says “the group is doing a good job so far,” and gives various examples of their competence, adding, “It is a positive step that they are reporting directly to the Sheriff.”
Merrick Bobb sums his assessment of the CMTF in this way, which also capsulizes much of what the report says when taken altogether:
At this stage, it is important that any doubts be resolved in the commanders’ favor [meaning the CMTF commanders]. To do otherwise is to concede that the LASD is incapable of reforming itself, a proposition which at this juncture we do not embrace. Nonetheless it is true that no matter how many blue ribbon commissions, members of the Board of Supervisors, Special Counsel, or OIR attorneys there are, none of the foregoing can issue direct orders to the Sheriff. The Jail Commission will undoubtedly struggle with these issues. The Jail Commission might want to consider recommending that the Sheriff appoint an already budgeted third assistant sheriff position, reporting directly to the Sheriff, with a civilian widely experienced in running complex but constitutional jails or prisons.
Interesting idea.
And, again, it is a reiteration of the report’s theme that, as long as Lee Baca is in office, it all comes down to the Sheriff and his leadership.
NOTE: More than half of the report is devoted to the complaint process out at the various stations.
Christina Villacorte at the Daily News has a good report on that part of Merrick Bobb’s findings. Here’s a clip:
The Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department frequently took more than three months – and in one case almost two years – to investigate complaints made by the public against its deputies, according to an independent monitor.
In a report issued Monday, Merrick Bobb, special counsel to the county Board of Supervisors, said the department’s policy is to complete such investigations and submit the findings to a unit that tracks personnel complaints in 60 days.
That standard was met only about a third of the time in 2010.
Bobb looked at more than 2,000 complaints in 2010, which ranged from rudeness to excessive force and criminal conduct. He found it took an average of 101 days to finish investigations and submit the findings.
“This is an unacceptable result,” Bobb said. “A lack of promptness can communicate to the public that the department is not concerned with responding to or vigorously investigating their complaints of deputy misconduct and that there is a lack of accountability for such lapses.”
Until Leroy makes some major changes in his management team, nothing will change. The report is clear in stating what most of us have said about the department. Leroy it is time to be a leader and clean out the 4th floor.
There has been little change, but hopefully the sheriff will make the tough decisions to distance himself from those individuals that have been loyal to one; Undersheriff Tanaka, rather than the sheriff (and the department) and his core values. Some very immature decisions and choices on one’s behalf has created quite a mess that, unfortunately, lands squarely in the sheriff’s lap. Now, he must act and make some changes.
Well, well, imagine that: it comes down to leadership! Or in the case of Baca, the lack thereof. Too bad Moonbeam lacked the spine to follow through on Pitchess advice: broach no interference from the Board or anyone else. In other words, run your own show. Problem was, Leroy had and still has no idea how. When he runs into trouble, which is often, he delegates the handling of the problem to the very people who created it in the first place.
The department is a massive bureaucracy, and progress is painfully slow when real core values are all about “what’s in it for me.” We can slice and dice the force policy, bending over backwards to please all the hand wringers, but ultimately we are only setting ourselves up for failure – a policy that will be easy to prove was violated by lawyers looking to make a quick buck. Leroy, keep it up the good work they say!
Merrick Bobb, just like the OIR, exists for only one purpose: to give the public a false sense of accountability. Both entities refuse to investigate and address the major corruption scandals that affect the department because they involve the “leaders” of the department. The custody task force is busy finding a few volunteers to throw under the bus to give the appearance that reform has taken place, but don’t be fooled.
As long as tall Paul remains in office, there will be no fixing this department. He is directly responsible for the climate of fear, corruption, and hopelessness that permeates this once proud institution. Sheriff Moonbeam will be held accountable by the voters in 2014, along with the rest of his corrupt administration.
You can’t lead, and you certainly can’t fix, when you insist on trying to insulate yourself through plausible deniability. Come on 2014.
In the real world, an incompetent CEO like Baca and a morally corrupt executive like Tanaka would have been fired by the shareholders long ago. This talk that “Baca needs to take control” is so friggen absurd. After 13 or so years as Sheriff, countless scandals, criminal allegations of misconduct ramped, 4 captains under investigation, etc, etc, and “now” Baca is told he needs to step up and “now” take charge? Is that the best Bobb can come up with? Is that what the public deserves? Is that the best we can do? An absolutely incompetent sheriff who “has a good heart” yet promotes and protects incompetent and corrupt individuals like Tanaka and that’s OK? Is this for real?
After all this time no real changes have been made! I agree that it comes down to Leadership, to which, LASD doesn’t have any! Imagine that, dirty executives who were hand picked by Baca letting him down. Someone needs to inform Judge Bobb that it wasn’t Baca that was let down but the people of LA County who were let down and our safety placed into jeopardy! Baca has failed at every turn and failed even mildly to clean up the mess! I agree with LATBG that 2014 will be the election to rid ourselves of this stench called Lee Baca!
Long road ahead and 211D I also can’t wait for 2014 also, but it is tragic to think of those that will be hired in and promoted to positions they are not qualified to have. Even after we vote Baca out and get rid of Tanaka and his car load of followers, there will still be a tremendous amount of damage to clean up and years to do it.
A few items from the report that Witness Cut and Paste left out —
“Baca, Bobb writes, has “a warm and capacious heart” and can be trusted to address problems in the nation’s largest jail system when he is aware of them.
Bobb did not cite any promotions he believes were problematic. The department denies that Baca does not play an active role in promotions. In his report, Bobb is vague, saying “whether the Sheriff has or has not over delegated in this area is not for us to decide.”
Bobb also raises the specter that a team of commanders Baca installed to reform the jails and report directly to Baca might not actually be reporting directly to him because of loyalty to Baca’s second in command, Paul Tanaka. The report, however, raises that issue only to discredit it, and say the task force has performed well.
The report also describes a captain who had been “trying to sound an alarm,” an apparent allusion to former Men’s Central Jail Capt. John Clark, who was blocked by Tanaka in his attempt several years ago to regularly move deputies around the jail. That is a solution some have said would have prevented deputy cliques.
Clark however has said under oath that the change was not meant to address deputy cliques or groups, which he did not believe existed. Bobb goes on to say that he has been monitoring investigations of uses of force in the jail from February, and has been pleased with “the trend spotting for patterns and individuals.’
@#7…… Figure the damage Tanaka and Baca will take an entire 30 year work cycle to purge. And that will only happen if LASD receives a “change agent” sheriff in 2014. Lord knows Baca/Tanaka has given a viable candidate(s) a ton of corruptive ammo to use against them.
Michael Gennaco is a gentleman, and so is Merrick Bobb. Though he and his staff have much prior experience gathering and interpreting Department stats, Mr. Bobb’s latest report contains sophomoric conclusions which are tainted with subjective conclusions and apparently influenced by politics.
His, and OIR’s “reviews,” “monitoring,” and reports have become more something to laugh at than embrace. They are a diversion from the core problems and a huge waste of taxpayer dollars. Each of these “independent” monitors lacks independence, credibility or power to change anything. They walk the thin line between attempting to create the appearance of being “independent” while ensuring their multi-year contracts continue to get renewed. Their shelf life expired long ago and they cease to be relevant.
The hapless Sheriff and his megalomaniac Undersheriff are the problem. Sure, it’s the little guy who has created the secretive, divisive and retaliatory environment all of us have worked in, but it’s the Sheriff who has acquiesced and allowed Tanaka to persevere. It will require a unique political climate and a very strong new leader to plow through the muck to sift out all the harm done over the last 13 1/2 years.
When Merrick Bobb worked pro Bono on the Kolts commission he found all sorts of misdeeds occuring on the watch of the then Sheriff Block. This lead to a county contract with a nice fat commission for good old Mr Bobb. Funny thing, after beaing on the county pay roll for all these years he ( and Gennaco for that matter) seem to have been missing in action. The ACLU knew something was up, but then again ,they aernt suckling on the county teat. Bobb is just protecting his rice bowl.. ” sheriff baca has a worm heart and just needs to lead” wow, guess the county is getting their monies worth
“Sheriff Baca has a warm heart and just needs to lead”.
Uh, excuse me, I’ve got some bad news for you. Being a nice guy and having a “warm heart” doesn’t make you qualified to be the Sheriff of Los Angeles County. This nice, kind, caring, progressive, well intended sheriff with the “warm heart” has been MIA in regards to doing the job he is paid to do.
While he’s been busy travelling around the world showing us all just how progressive and tolerant he is the LASD has been taken over by his second in command. That’s the Big Secret that nobody wants to address or hold him accountable for.
The “I didn’t know” excuses can only go so far. It’s his job to know. It’s his job to supervise those he placed in command positions. Otherwise, why have the position of Sheriff?
The ugly truth is this. Lee Baca has not been minding the store for 13 years now. He felt he had more important things to do. He felt it was more important to travel the world spreading his message of tolerance and compassion than to do the job he was hired by the citizens of LA County to do. He hasn’t made running the LASD his #1 priority. Otherwise we wouldn’t be hearing “I didn’t know” from him on so many issues that have come up. That can’t be debated.
That’s ugly, but it’s the truth.
The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
Here’s a scary thought. Obama, Baca re-elected and Tanaka stays status quo. UGGGGGHHHHHH