LYNWOOD : Council Votes to Renew Contract With Sheriff

The City Council has agreed to extend its law enforcement contract with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, scrapping an earlier proposal that the city join forces with the South Gate Police Department.

The new contract will run through 1998, city officials said. The city currently pays the Sheriff’s Department $4.8 million per year to patrol the city. Last fall, city officials had considered a joint operating agreement with the 93-officer South Gate Police Department, which they said could have saved the city millions of dollars. In return, Lynwood would have provided fire services to South Gate, which has a contract with the county Fire Department.

The idea was scuttled, however, when officials in both cities found that the services swap would be more difficult than originally thought. “It got very complicated,” Lynwood City Manager Faustin Gonzales said.

Sheriff’s deputies replaced the Lynwood Police Department in 1977 and the station has been at the center of recent controversy, including allegations that some of its deputies were members of a racist gang. In 1992, a special investigation found evidence that some deputies had used excessive force but praised former Cmdr. Bert Cueva for cracking down on the problems.