NAACP Seeks Probe of Sheriff’s Dept.

Members of the NAACP’s Los Angeles chapter Tuesday called on the Board of Supervisors to investigate allegations that the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has discriminated against African American job applicants.

Meeting with reporters on the steps of the county Hall of Administration, NAACP members alleged that a sheriff’s lieutenant charged with screening applicants routinely scrutinized African Americans more than other job seekers because he believes that blacks have an “inherent violent nature.”

In addition, NAACP branch president Geraldine R. Washington said the Sheriff’s Department used polygraph examinations to selectively deny employment to African Americans between 1991 and 1996.

Two African American women, who were denied employment as deputy trainees after failing lie detector tests, have filed civil suits against the county.

“The problem of racial discrimination is not new,” Washington said. “The situation remains serious.”

After hearing NAACP representatives, the Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to direct Special Council Merrick Bobb to review the allegations. But it declined to support other requests by the NAACP, which included ordering Sheriff Sherman Block to institute immediate “and appropriate corrective actions” and to discipline or dismiss any individuals deemed to have discriminated in the hiring process.

The supervisors declined to comment, or to even question Washington, saying they couldn’t because the county and Sheriff’s Department are being sued over the matter.

The Sheriff’s Department, meanwhile, has denied the charges. “This is a very old allegation,” said Acting Assistant Sheriff Rachel Burgess. “It has all been discussed, investigated and settled. . . . They’re just digging up old stuff because they don’t have a case.”

Washington told the supervisors that recent information, which came to light in a civil case, shows clearly that the Sheriff’s Department engaged in “blatant and intolerable discriminatory practices.”

High-ranking department officials, Washington testified, have unfairly and systematically denied employment to African Americans seeking to become deputy trainees, applying unfair standards to which they did not hold white applicants.

Blacks, for instance, were knocked out for failing polygraph tests but whites were not, Washington told the supervisors, adding that the sheriff’s own guidelines state that failing a lie detector test should not disqualify an applicant.

“The NAACP believes these charges warrant full-scale investigation . . . and we believe that you too do not approve,” Washington said. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has examined the allegations and launched its own review, she said.

Leo Terrell, an attorney who represents the NAACP branch, presented reporters with a copy of a deposition taken from a department sergeant in one of the civil suits.

In the sworn testimony taken last month, Sgt. David L. Shepherd alleged that Lt. John O’Brien--who was in charge of the department’s recruitment efforts between 1991 and 1993--had made racist statements about African Americans.

“Lt. O’Brien felt that he needed to scrutinize African American applicants differently than non-minority applicants due to our inherent violent nature,” Shepherd testified.

Despite Shepherd’s claims, sheriff’s officials say O’Brien--who now works in the department’s gang unit--is highly regarded. Earlier this month, he received an exemplary service award for a program he started with the youth of the Industry Station area.

Burgess said the department believes that the lieutenant has done nothing wrong. “I get tired of these one-sided stories,” she said.

At the supervisors’ direction, Bobb said he would launch a thorough investigation into the NAACP’s allegations. He declined to comment further on the matter.