LA County Probation puts 66 officers on leave pending disciplinary investigations

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.