Block Says Deputies Support Him, Not Rival : Law enforcement: Sheriff insists his challenger in 1994 election is wrong in claiming backing of 70% of rank and file. The two disagree on placing citizen complaints in deputies’ files.

Sheriff Sherman Block suggested Wednesday that he--not the sergeant from the Pico Rivera Sheriff’s station who has decided to challenge him in the 1994 election--has the support of rank and file deputies, and he differed with the sergeant on the handling of citizen complaints.

In discussing his candidacy, Sgt. John R. Stites II said an informal survey he had taken led him to believe that he would have the support of as many as 70% of the Sheriff’s Department’s more than 7,000 uniformed personnel.

Block said at his monthly news conference that this does not square with the “hundreds of cards” he has received from deputies since he revealed on July 6 that he has lymphatic cancer. In their notes, Block said, the deputies thanked him for his successful efforts to avert layoffs in the ongoing fight with county administrators over the department’s budget.

Block said he thinks Stites is wrong when he opposes including in deputies’ personnel records citizen complaints that are not found to be justified.

“Unfortunately, the majority of citizen complaints fall into the range of not proven,” Block said. “We do not have sufficient evidence to either prove or disprove the complaint. So certainly the individual deputy is not subjected to any disciplinary action. . . .

“Yet at the same time, it’s necessary to know about those complaints because sometimes they indicate a pattern of behavior, and the purpose of our early warning system is to give us this kind of information, so that we can intervene and deal with deputies.

“Perhaps they need some retraining, perhaps they need counseling, perhaps they need a reassignment, something short of disciplinary action that will allow them to continue on in a productive fashion.”

Block said keeping complaint records “is essential to good management of an organization of this kind and in the long run it will benefit every member of the department.”

Block said he is feeling “not too badly,” has been working full time and will undergo a second cycle of chemotherapy today at USC’s Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center.