Follow Up on Deputy Oversight

Lee Baca, to his credit, has staked out some unusual turf in the area of police misconduct. The first-term Los Angeles County sheriff says he is considering hiring a civilian to head the department’s internal affairs division. He is also weighing the feasibility of retaining retired judges to review disciplinary investigations.

Baca’s announcement one-upped a call from civil rights groups for a civilian panel to handle discrimination complaints lodged within the department. Such a move is rare in local law enforcement unless a sheriff or police chief has been pushed hard to correct a burgeoning problem. Even then, civilian oversight of any major disciplinary matter is usually resisted. So it’s significant that Baca, without a pressing problem on his hands, would talk of bringing in an outsider. It should stand as a bold example.

“I thought . . . I could very well be in the same situation [as Los Angeles Police Chief Bernard C. Parks],” Baca said last week. “What can I do to learn from the Rampart experience?” The LAPD Rampart Division scandal has uncovered allegations of false testimony, unwarranted shootings, drug sales and other crimes by officers.

Baca’s comments on oversight are in sharp contrast with his recent attempt to cut back the amount of information available from the department’s personnel performance index. The PPI is a state-of-the-art computer tracking system that can be used to identify problem officers and monitor their behavior over the years, logging citizen complaints, use-of-force incidents, internal investigations, lawsuit filings and disciplinary history.

The Sheriff’s Department is required to delete from the PPI records any citizen complaint found to be groundless. No problem there, but Baca’s proposal would have deleted so-called minor complaints and policy violations after five years. Merrick Bobb, the county Board of Supervisors’ special counsel for overseeing the Sheriff’s Department, objected. He was right, and Baca backed off the idea.

Now the question is whether Baca will back up his remarks on tougher oversight for his troops. It was the right signal to send, but it must be followed up with real action.