Readers React: Why it’s so hard for Sheriff McDonnell to fire lying deputies

To the editor: Except for reference to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Brady vs. Maryland, the article on the Los Angeles County sheriff’s thwarted attempts to fire dishonest deputies ignores any emphasis on what should be the primary factor concerning law enforcement officers who lie. (“L.A. County sheriff’s deputies who made false statements continue to draw paychecks,” March 8)

Holding them to high degree of truth telling is based on the fact that their job involves acts that can deprive citizens of their basic rights to liberty by branding them as criminals and subjecting people to incarceration. Related to this is the fact that an integral part of their duties is to testify in court under oath to tell the truth. Thus, truth telling is a crucial job requirement, also described as a “special standard” applicable to law enforcement.

Sheriff Jim McDonnell is trying to do the right thing, and the public needs to comprehend the special standard.

Michael H. Miller, Los Angeles

The writer, who served as a city attorney for 30 years, was a hearing officer for the Los Angeles County Civil Service Commission.

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9:03 a.m., March 10: An earlier headline on this post misspelled the last name of Sheriff Jim McDonnell as McConnell.

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To the editor: It may come as a shock to many, but it’s been difficult to fire lying officers for decades. It’s not that law enforcement refuses to hold itself accountable, but that civil service commissioners do not support law enforcement standards for honesty.

In almost every jurisdiction, officers fired for lying are routinely reinstated by civil service commissions. This misguided, misinformed and irresponsible “support” for public safety employees rightly perceived as having a difficult job has gutted many departments’ efforts to conduct internal investigations and plays out in a host of situations where the public wrongfully believes the department covered up and “protected its own.”

Police officers should be held to a higher standard than civilian employees. Voters need to demand that the people they elected to office ensure that their appointed commissioners hold the line on police honesty.

Cops who are proven liars do not belong in uniform, and when the evidence is clear, reinstatement should be off the table. Commissioners who fail to support that position should be replaced.

Mike Post, Winnetka

The writer is a retired police chief.

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To the editor: Thank you, Sheriff McDonnell. Without truth, there can be no justice.

Marsha Temple, Marina del Rey

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