LA County Probation Chief Guillermo Viera Rosa announced Monday that the department he leads has put 66 sworn probation officers on administrative leave since the beginning of 2024, pending internal affairs investigations into allegations of official misconduct, including at the county’s youth facilities.
According to the email sent by Chief Viera Rosa, the department has released the information “to regain public trust” in the nation’s largest probation agency, “as it roots out employees who cultivate or contribute to a culture of violence, drug use, neglect and sexual misconduct,” he wrote.
“We are releasing this information in the spirit of greater transparency and to assure our stakeholders — especially the families of youths in our juvenile facilities — that we will not tolerate anything that impedes our mission to provide a safe, nurturing and structured environment for those entrusted to our care.”
Those placed on leave were reportedly assigned to both the department’s adult and juvenile operations.
Of the 66 officers placed on leave, 39 were relieved of duty for issues of general misconduct, which includes suspected use of excessive force, child endangerment or abuse, possession of contraband, and negligent supervision.
Another 18, were put on leave for suspected sexual misconduct, and nine more for arrests unrelated to employment.
The number of those placed on leave for general misconduct included 14 officers, who were reportedly involved in some way to a particular incident of “youth-on-youth violence at Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall,” during which staff members stood around as various youth in residence took turns beating another youth.
(WitnessLA reported on that issue here.)
According to Viera Rosa, these particular cases are under investigation by California Attorney General, Rob Bonta, who is handling the investigation while LA County Probation restructures its Internal Affairs Unit, which has been operating under cloud for a series of reasons, including IAU’s failure to move on allegations of sexual abuse of a teenage girl, with very painful consequences.
Viera Rosa wrote that those officers placed on leave since the first of the year represent a small minority of the department’s nearly 2,800 sworn personnel.
“It is out of respect for the majority of our officers, who perform their duties each day with integrity, that we moved quickly on these cases,” he said. “It’s not right that the majority should be tarnished by the misconduct of a few. We will not tolerate anything that is an affront to our mission and a disgrace to the important work we do.”
More soon, so…watch this space.
Dept permanently sent home Weak Field DPOS with injuries so they burn up all sick leave. 100s of them 2 mos ago Buyaaa. This week 100s more Weak Field DPOS will be sent home in 2nd round of JH reassignments. Buyaaaaa. Who is even working? Please give me my job back. I want do something besides posting GIFs on fb. LOLOL. Buyaa.
It’s about time that someone with a pair (top or bottom) to discipline the undisciplined,morally corrupt, unqualified Probation Officers
Very sad that dedicated Probation officers are treated the way they are. Within the Juvenile Hall System, there are no consequences for negative detainee behavior. As a result, staff are assaulted daily. The juvenile detainees run the halls now. Upper Management, along with the weak chief, blame staff unfairly for everything gone wrong in the halls. Probation staff have been terminated for defending themselves against assaults by juvenile detainees. LPJH houses detainees ranging from ages 12-25. That’s right, there are adults detained at LPJH, that assault Probation Staff on the regular. Probation and the County Board of Supervisors, only tell part of the story. Without consequences for negative detainee behavior, you have “All Day Chaos.” Probation Staff have no real tools or Department Policies, to effectively deal with negative and violent behavior displayed by detainees.