Kolts Report on L.A. Sheriff Dept.

I’m not at all surprised at the findings of the Kolts Commission that there’s widespread physical abuse on the part of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, considering the fact that some of the same people who sat on the Christopher Commission participated in this report as well.

With almost 28 years in law enforcement and more than 19 as a supervisor, I am astonished at how naive these commissions and the activists who support them are. Nowhere else in society except in law enforcement do we seem to expect perfection.

Both commissions identify what they call widespread abuse, but the fact of the matter is only 44 officers were red-flagged in LAPD, and 62 in the LASD. These figures account for less than 1% of the sworn personnel in either department. What about the other 99% in both agencies? Those who support these commissions will say that this represents only the “tip of the iceberg,” but that won’t wash. You cannot “broad-brush” the negative actions of the few against the positive contributions and sacrifices that the thousands of men and women in these two departments have made over the years. It goes against basic logic.

WILLIAM T. CASH, Los Angeles