Crucial Importance of Policing : Supervisors must take responsibility for the Sheriff’s Department

Sheriff Sherman Block has responded to the critical Kolts report with both reason and pique. That report found disturbing patterns of excessive force and lax discipline in the Sheriff’s Department. Whatever Block’s view of the findings, in the final analysis the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors must intervene and address these problems.

Community outrage-- prompted by four officer-involved shootings of minority members and repeated allegations of deputy brutality--prompted the supervisors to name retired Superior Court Judge James G. Kolts to review the department. The allegations added to an atmosphere already charged by the LAPD beating of Rodney G. King and the subsequent Christopher Commission probe.

Like the Christopher inquiry, the Kolts investigation singled out a special group of “problem officers” who had multiple excessive-force complaints. That’s a serious concern. Kolts and his 54-member staff revealed that in an effort to ensure the privacy of those 62 deputies, the investigation did not record their names; the sheriff responded that this made it difficult to determine who had been properly disciplined. Perhaps Block has a point, but the larger issue is what the department--and the supervisors--plan to do to end the pattern of excessive force.

Sheriff Block, an elected official, disagrees with the primary conclusion that his department is too quick to use excessive force and is lax in discipline. However, he accepts most of the proposed reforms--if, he says, the county can afford to pay for them.

Without dismissing the veteran sheriff’s concerns about money, the supervisors should pay sharp attention to two key --and reasonable--Kolts recommendations: the creation of a citizens panel and a panel of retired judges. Unlike New York City’s powerful civilian review board, which has the ability to conduct independent investigations and determine discipline, the L.A. County panel would simply monitor the department to assure the Board of Supervisors that steps had been taken to reduce excessive force on the streets and in the jails.

A second panel of randomly appointed retired judges would review citizen complaints that had been deemed unfounded by the department. If the judges determined that any complaint had merit, the department would simply take another look at it. Another thoughtful Kolts recommendation is that internal affairs investigators handle all excessive-force complaints instead of allowing captains, lieutenants or sergeants to decide such issues involving their colleagues. That change would remove the perception of bias.

Block deserves credit for his serious response to the Kolts reforms, but when it comes to policing the unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County, it is the Board of Supervisors that ultimately is responsible.