Now’s the Time for Complete Look at Sheriff’s Department : Growing list of allegations about deputies constitutes a full-blown scandal

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, headed by the affable Sherman Block, perhaps has benefited from the distinct media advantage of being in the same town as the Los Angeles Police Department, headed by the combative Daryl F. Gates. Gates’ controversial style often caused the press and the public to focus on him, and by affiliation, the LAPD. By contrast, Block’s low-key approach rarely inflames passions. The 8,000-member department has been served well by Block’s calmer style. But the substance of all that is plaguing the department is so serious that Block’s affability alone cannot address it. With allegations of deputy misconduct--shootings, shakedowns and drug money skimming scandals topping the list--now forming a clear pattern, it’s time to turn the public spotlight on the Sheriff’s Department. A top-to-bottom probe is urgently needed.

QUESTIONS ABOUT THE PROCESS: The County Board of Supervisors, which controls the Sheriff’s Department budget, is scheduled to hold a public hearing next Tuesday on the recent troubling shootings. That effort will no doubt be useful in giving county residents an opportunity to air grievances. Sheriff Block has said he will attend to respond to concerns, as well as to express his own. That’s good.

It’s noteworthy, however, that the board decision to hold the public hearing on the Sheriff’s Department was not arrived at easily. Block’s agreement last week to participate in the hearing may have been the only way to ensure that the board would vote for it. The five supervisors, with the exception of Gloria Molina, have been reluctant to do anything that would be seen implicitly as criticism of Block. That’s somewhat understandable. Block is a fellow elected official with whom they all have had good relations and who is not viewed as a complete obstacle to change and reform. Moreover, voters directly elected him and so the question of accountability does not arise with this office as it does with that of LAPD chief--an appointed position lacking adequate oversight and accountability.

But the supervisors’ reluctance to do anything that might offend Block is an argument for an independent audit of the department. The board has neither the inclination nor the expertise to fully determine precisely what is not working within the Sheriff’s Department, and why it is not working as it should.

One way to go would be to impanel an independent body that could look at the department, in ways similar to how the Christopher Commission took a hard look at the LAPD after the Rodney King beating. Another option would be to hire a special outside counsel--perhaps a blue-chip attorney with considerable experience in issues of law enforcement, a respected former prosecutor perhaps--and provide a temporary, ad hoc staff. Either way, Los Angeles needs an inquiry above politics--and free from the taint of class or race bias.

WORRIES ABOUT THE DEPARTMENT: The matter is extremely serious. In L.A. County, deputy-involved controversial shootings--four in the last month--are just part of the problem. The FBI is conducting a preliminary investigation in three of them. An additional concern, and possibly the fundamentally more thorny one, is the persistence of allegations of corruption among some deputies.

Already seven deputies in the department’s elite narcotics investigations team have been sent to prison in a $1-million-plus drug money skimming scheme; a grand jury indicted five on federal charges Wednesday. The department has been battling a civil rights lawsuit alleging that deputies at its Lynwood station engaged last year in systematic beatings of residents. The department has also been stung by reports of the existence there of an alleged white supremacist group. A Times study last year of excessive-force lawsuits found that during a three-year period the county paid out $8.5 million in settlements and jury awards.

The latest allegations are particularly troubling because they cut to the heart of what must exist between the citizen and any law enforcement officer: trust. Three deputies at the Temple City station and a computer technician have been charged with stealing from elderly motorists by pilfering their credit cards to buy consumer goods. The deputies are alleged to have charged more than $55,000 to stolen credit cards. One victim, a retired schoolteacher, said he suspected foul play when the deputy asked him to empty his pockets but complied because “it was only a week or two after the Rodney King beating, and I was a little afraid.”

It can’t come to this. People must believe the cops are the good guys. Most are. That’s why it may well be in everyone’s interest to impanel a Christopher-style commission to ensure that Los Angeles gets to the bottom of what’s gone so very wrong with some deputies--and why these problems continue to fester.