Block Says He’ll Seek New Term as Sheriff : Campaign: In the wake of a department scandal, he says he is taking measures to guard against future problems.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Sherman Block, whose department has been rocked by money-skimming allegations, said Wednesday that he has filed for reelection in June and taken administrative steps to ensure that further scandals will not occur.

Block, who has headed the nation’s largest sheriff’s department for more than seven years, said he has instituted a policy of requiring financial disclosure statements from some department officials. Although he would not identify the assignments that would require financial reviews, they reportedly include narcotics investigators, said several department officials and deputies.

Last week, 10 sheriff’s officers--including all nine members of an elite anti-drug team and the wife of one deputy--were indicted on a variety of federal charges, including allegations of theft of $1.4 million in drug money, filing false tax returns and money laundering.

Although there has been no suggestion that the indicted officers were drug users, Block also said he has ordered top department officials--including himself--to undergo random drug testing. Eventually, he would like all 8,000 officers tested.

At his monthly media briefing, Block said he is taking the steps in part to help the department overcome the worst scandal in its history. “I honestly believe that from this point on, the course of events will contribute to a healing process,” he said.

Block said that for the first time, he has ordered full financial disclosures by department workers in some areas. “It would not have ‘red-flagged’ those (indicted) at the time they entered the assignment,” Block said. “But it provides an opportunity to readily see any unusual or significant changes in one’s financial holdings.”

Block said he has “turned 180 degrees” on drug testing and is now requiring the testing as “a message to the community” that deputies are not involved in drugs.

Richard Shinee, chief counsel for the Assn. for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs, confirmed that his 6,000-member organization--which represents the largest number of deputies--is engaged in talks with sheriff’s officials. But he stressed that “there is absolutely no correlation between the alleged theft of laundered money and the random drug testing.”

Block, 65, who was appointed to the job in 1982 and later won two full terms in office, defended his handling of the scandal and said he doubts that it will affect his reelection chances.

The only other candidate for the nonpartisan office is Roland Biscailuz, 44, a detective in the Lennox station and a 23-year veteran. He is a cousin of the late Sheriff Eugene Biscailuz. The filing deadline is March 9.