Proposed Cuts ‘Devastating’ to Sheriff’s Dept.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department says the state budget cuts proposed by Gov. Gray Davis could translate into the release of nearly 3,000 jail inmates and the layoff of some 1,100 deputies, according to a report released Friday.

With the county poised to lose more than $650 million in state funds if the governor’s budget is approved, the Sheriff’s Department was directed to calculate the impact of a $143.5-million cut to its budget.

“It would be devastating,” Undersheriff William T. Stonich said. “It would be nuclear.”

The fallout would spread across all 11 of the department’s divisions, according to the emergency plan delivered Friday to Chief Administrative Officer David Janssen.

All 2,900 misdemeanor inmates housed in the older portion of the Men’s Central Jail would be released, and nearly 300 jail staff positions -- including 250 deputies -- would be eliminated.

The department, which currently has 48 hours to file criminal cases, would be forced to release many suspects arrested for felony drug offenses, because it would no longer be able to test narcotics evidence within 24 hours.

Also eliminated would be random drug testing for Sheriff’s Department employees or pre-employment drug testing for applicants to the department.

Units that investigate crimes tied to gambling and “quality of life” crimes such as prostitution and lewd conduct would be eliminated. Security for judges, courtrooms and court buildings would be reduced “to a minimum.” The department would end its program for interacting with at-risk youths.

In all, the Sheriff’s Department expects to eliminate 1,420 staff positions, including 1,100 deputies.

“The option the sheriff is proposing is very ugly,” Janssen said after reviewing the report. “But I think that’s what you’re going to see in cities and counties all over the state to some degree. We’re facing a huge loss of money.”

The governor’s proposed budget would sorely strain California counties and cities, because so many of them rely on funds that Davis now wants to withhold. Rather than endure Davis’ proposal to cut $4.2 billion in funds for cities and counties, local officials statewide have been lobbying to raise the vehicle license fee, a tax that in recent years has been slashed by two-thirds.

That money would help plug the yawning hole in the state budget, a gap estimated at between $26.1 billion and $34.6 billion over the next 17 months.