Max Huntsman, Los Angeles County’s longtime and highly respected Inspector General, has announced his retirement.
His notification to the members of LA County’s Board of Supervisors became official on Tuesday, December 9, 2025.
The fact that DA Huntsman is exiting the world of oversight of the LA County Sheriff’s Department is a significant event in a multiplicity of ways.
So stay tuned for the rest of this complex and essential story.
The level of dysfunction, corruption, and retaliation inside LASD is unreal. It actually feels like things have gotten worse under Luna. Chiefs are running wild with no accountability at all. And it’s obvious this kind of leadership affects how deputies treat the public. If you treat your own people like garbage and create a retaliatory work environment, how do you expect them to serve the community any better?
“The fact that DA Huntsman is exiting the world of oversight of the LA County Sheriff’s Department is a significant event in a multiplicity of ways.” – Couldn’t agree more!
I don’t give a rats about Max. I’m just glad to see Celeste is back!
Thanks for the very kind comment, Henry P. I’m very happy to be back too. It’s had some challenging health issues, but all seems well now, thankfully.
Thanks again.
And SClarita1, I agree about the significance of Max leaving. As you put it, “If you treat your own people like garbage and create a retaliatory work environment, how do you expect them to serve the community any better?” And if those running the county mostly care about risk management…it is not serving the community either.
It looks like the county has finally figured out blowhards like Huntsman can cause quite a bit of damage while offering nothing in return. They’ve decided to scrape this barnacle off their hull and send him into a well deserved obscurity. Good riddance. It won’t matter if he goes quietly or not, he was ignored in office and no one’s going to start listening now. Irrespective of Celeste’s wishful thinking.
Max Huntsman and Police Chief McDonnell were two of the best and most qualified individuals to serve LASD. LASD is allergic to discipline as we saw when Max & Jim arrived on scene.
LASD was/is still running “fast & loose” with reckless abandon. Until true reform is instilled, it will only get worse.
The shenanigans under Alex Villanueva were epic with lawsuits still outstanding.
Not enough words to explain everything but basically LASD will be affected for decades and so will the citizens in Los Angeles County who are patrolled by deputies, Beenot to mention the archaic County Jail and it’s numerous internal problems.
Contrary to popular belief, OIG is not the best thing since sliced bread. Did LASD need to change? Yes. For far too many years (at least in my tenure), department execs lived in the past… talking about “the good ol’ days”. While that era of brass is long gone… we still deal with many internal struggles, of which every single one are greater in significance than anything Max or OIG focuses on.
LASD has been knocked down, yes. We currently have no true voice, or backbone sadly. Those at the top turn a blind eye to the real issues… issues brought forth by those truly doing the work. If OIG dug a little deeper, they’d be able to see the those issues. But, based on my interactions with them, I don’t know that they’d have the ability or understanding on how to resolve them.
Welcome back Celeste. Thank you for actually posting our replies on your stories; unlike the other site.
Max did his job and helped rid LA County citizens of the worst Sheriff in LA County history. The Villian will again fail during next year’s election. He is desperately claiming to be a republican for votes and donations. The Villian lost the last Sheriff race, lost the board of supervisor race and recently had his 20,000-million-dollar lawsuit dropped by multiple judges. His only claim to fame is helping “The sleeper report” blogger with her one-sided post against Luna. I hope Sweet Pea is fully aware of their activities.
Thank you Celeste for being a true journalist, not being one sided and allowing comments!
Bluto, from what I hear, AV really likes those Cs. Hope the best for Max in retirement.
@ Bluto LMAO “The. sleeper Report” The Villian has no chance in hell. He had his chance all ready and screwed it up royally.
P.S. Help is not in the way!
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) has experienced a significant mental health crisis, with at least 13 suicides among current and recently retired employees since 2023. More have been reported since then (2024-2025 employee suicide numbers not available). This number includes a period in November 2023 when four employees died by suicide within a 24-hour span. The crisis has been attributed to a combination of factors, including severe understaffing, mandatory double or triple shifts, and a lack of support within the department.
Factors Contributing to the Crisis:
Toxic Work Environment: Some sources, including retired command staff, have cited poor leadership and a lack of support as contributing to a “toxic combination” that pushes deputies to the brink.
Mandatory Overtime: Employees reported working excessive hours, sometimes up to 70 hours a week, leading to exhaustion and immense stress.
Staffing Shortages: The department has faced a persistent staffing crisis, with thousands of positions unfilled, which increases the workload on existing personnel.
Same ol’e LASD…. When will it change?
With all the corruption transpiring and pertaining to Los Angeles me and awesome reporter ms woods want to inform you on some facts. Help is on the way [editor’s cut] Sweat pea and I are gonna get Alex back in office. Watch me talk about a subject that I was exposed to for two years. {editor’s cut]. And bye the way. …… keep fighting.
Good riddance
@Prime Initiative
I can understand your concern for assisting the current candidate for re-election. However, have you considered this: The BOS has not deviated from their disdain for your candidate. Also, if he were to get re-elected, the BOS WILL NOT support him in any way. Explain to me how this will help the department.
Your candidate may be the lesser of two evils. However, his initial joy ride was marred with, shall we say questionable shenanigans. One episode that comes to mind is a statement made by retired Captain in which he stated that your candidate’s wife was making decisions as to who should be promoted. Apparently, her decisions were based on likeability? Your candidate has stated that he has a better “clarity.” Not sure what that means.
I don’t know how his changing party affiliation will sit with the voter base. Nonetheless, we will see.
Both Max Huntsman and Alex Villanueva, in different ways, became the story rather than the systems they were meant to steward.
•Villanueva governed through confrontation, grievance, and loyalty tests—often framing oversight as personal attack.
•Huntsman, while substantively different and principled, was still perceived by some as overly singular in voice and vision, which at times limited coalition-building.
When leadership becomes centered on ego, identity, or legacy rather than institutional trust and shared governance, reform stalls.
Lmao. That’s not prime. Who ever that is, watches his videos and knows he just regurgitates the same bs to his low iq deputy following Mrs V talks to this fired low functioning IG bootlicker and probably uses him for campaign assistance. She better be careful because this little maniac will bad mouth you when things don’t go his way. Same way he went after the department because he had to work mandatory overtime like the rest of the hard working deputies who didn’t complain. Now he is an advocate (sarcasm) . Get a life dude