Block Critical of Court Order on Use of Force : Sheriff’s Department: He says ruling, which has been temporarily stayed, would undermine his leadership and the effectiveness of his deputies.

In his first public comments since a judge ordered the Sheriff’s Department to follow its own policies regarding use of force, Sheriff Sherman Block on Wednesday said such a mandate would undermine his leadership and the effectiveness of his deputies.

Block said the unusual order, which has been temporarily stayed by an appellate court, would create federal crimes out of internal policy violations that he believes the department is already equipped to address.

“An individual who’s out there doing the job . . . has hanging over them the possibility that, if they happen to violate a procedural requirement, they may now end up in front of a federal judge charged with a federal violation,” Block said during his monthly open house with the media.

“That takes on a little different tenor and really will have a chilling effect,” the sheriff said. “The easiest way to avoid that kind of potential is just not go out there and do anything. I think it endangers deputies’ lives and I think it endangers citizens’ lives.”

The order was issued Monday by U.S. District Judge Terry J. Hatter Jr. in response to a civil rights lawsuit filed on behalf of more than 70 Lynwood residents. It alleges that deputies engaged in systematic acts of brutality, including beating, house-trashing and racial slurs.

Hatter called for the sheriff’s 8,000 deputies and 4,000 civilian employees to “follow the department’s own stated policies and guidelines regarding use of force and procedures for conducting searches.” The judge also ordered the Sheriff’s Department to provide him with monthly reports of excessive force complaints made against deputies.

On Tuesday, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily blocked the order, after county lawyers argued that it was “Draconian” and an intrusion on the sheriff’s authority to run his department.

The appellate court, which issued the emergency stay without comment, scheduled a formal hearing on Hatter’s order for the first week in December, although court officials in San Francisco said a three-judge panel may review the matter as soon as Friday.

“I don’t have any message for Judge Hatter,” Block said. “Obviously, he thinks there’s a problem and obviously we disagree.”

The lawsuit is the largest brutality claim ever filed against the Sheriff’s Department, which recently came under fire for four fatal shootings by deputies and is facing investigations by the FBI and the Los Angeles County Grand Jury.

During the hourlong news conference, Block conceded those controversies have impacted morale in his department. But he also blamed the media and police-misconduct lawyers, who he contended have emphasized allegations of wrongdoing by his deputies before all the facts have been established.

The lawyers appear in so many reports that “you folks ought to start charging them your normal advertising fees,” Block said. “They are securing clients and they are influencing potential jurors with all of the information that is going out.”

In what could be a major shift, the sheriff also said he is re-evaluating his policy of having all new deputies serve their first assignment in one of the county’s jails. Although the department has maintained that the experience teaches young recruits good communication skills in a hostile environment, critics have contended it sours impressionable officers just as they are starting out.

“We’re taking a look at that and rethinking that,” said Block, who himself served in the jail 35 years ago. “Perhaps what we thought was the best way to go may prove to be not the best way to go.”