Grand Jury Investigating Sheriff’s Dept. : Shootings: No charges will be brought against deputies in recent incidents, but operations are under review.

The Los Angeles County Grand Jury, while finding insufficient evidence to bring criminal charges against deputies involved in a spate of controversial shootings, has launched an investigation into Sheriff’s Department operations.

Board of Supervisors Chairman Deane Dana said Tuesday that a telephone message from the grand jury foreman advised that while the citizens’ panel found “insufficient evidence” to indict any deputies, “they are conducting an investigation into the Sheriff’s Department that will be ongoing for the next four to eight weeks.”

Jury Foreman George Ackerman could not be reached, and a sheriff’s spokesman said the department was unaware of any further grand jury investigation. But a law enforcement source confirmed that the 23-member panel is conducting a review in its civil role as a government watchdog with responsibility to recommend improvements in government operations.

In a related development, county supervisors Tuesday refused to ask Presiding Judge Ricardo Torres of the Los Angeles Superior Court to impanel a new grand jury to conduct another criminal investigation into four fatal shootings by deputies last summer.

Supervisors Kenneth Hahn and Gloria Molina supported a new investigation, but Supervisor Ed Edelman broke ranks with his liberal colleagues and sided with conservative Supervisors Mike Antonovich and Deane Dana in dissenting.

Edelman said that he was not convinced that the grand jury’s review was flawed.

The board action followed an emotional hearing during which the families of shooting victims and their attorneys complained that the grand jury did not conduct a complete and impartial review. They also complained that the current jury, with 21 Anglos and two blacks, lacks proper representation.

“Justice was not served,” said David Ortiz, whose 15-year-old son was fatally shot by a deputy in Artesia. Ortiz said he would appeal to Torres. The judge could not be reached for comment.

Johnnie L. Cochran Jr., a lawyer for two shooting victims, told supervisors, “I’m appalled that supposedly fair-minded citizens . . . were unwilling to bring criminal charges against the sheriff’s deputies who fired nine bullets into (Keith) Hamilton’s back while he was . . . face down on the ground.”

But Assistant Dist. Atty. Dan Murphy told supervisors, “No other grand jury hearing the same evidence would come to a different conclusion.” Murphy said that the district attorney presented 40 days of testimony, 137 witnesses and nearly 200 items of evidence to the grand jury.

Molina told Murphy, “I am concerned that you presented a case that was going to lose at the beginning.” Murphy insisted that the district attorney conducted the investigation with an open mind.

The FBI is investigating the four shootings for possible civil rights violations. Sheriff Sherman Block also is conducting an internal investigation to see if administrative charges should be brought against any of the deputies.

The supervisors have appointed retired Judge James Kolts as a special counsel to investigate use of excessive force by deputies. And Block also has named a citizens panel to advise him on reforms in the department.