Sheriff’s Audit Sought

I would like to add a few observations to the June 30 story on the West Hollywood Sheriff’s Department. We who have demanded additional police for crime prevention have been told since April that the deputies were working overtime to meet our demands. Now we find that is not true, and that the city has been engaging in a cover-up. It also seems clear from the evasive nature of the official responses that the department was deliberately shorting the city on patrols. There is also a very serious question not yet addressed: What has happened in previous years? Audits should be conducted for past years to see if the Sheriff’s Department owes us even more.

The story also mentions that the department is understaffed and that parking enforcement was mishandled last year. This makes three serious contractual violations in a year. The city needs to launch a full public hearing to investigate these matters and make reforms.

A good piece of news is that it will not cost as much as we thought to have full law enforcement once we are receiving our full allotment of patrols. The recent crackdown has shown it is worth the additional money.

ROBERT DAVIS

West Hollywood