L.A. County supervisors seek investigation of Probation Department
Los Angeles County Supervisors Zev Yaroslavsky and Mike Antonovich want the Office of Independent Review, which monitors the Sheriff’s Department, to evaluate the Probation Department’s internal affairs and child abuse investigations.
The proposal, announced Wednesday, follows a Times story about probation officers who were convicted of crimes or disciplined for inappropriate conduct involving current or former probationers, including several cases of officers molesting or beating youths in their care.
The Probation Department has eight internal affairs positions to investigate misconduct allegations among a staff of 6,200, officials said. Two of those posts are vacant, according to interim probation chief Cal Remington.
The supervisors said they plan to introduce a motion next week to direct the Office of Independent Review to work with probation officials to assess the “quality and timeliness” of internal affairs and child abuse investigations. Both offices would report monthly to the board during the next three months as probation transitions from Remington to newly appointed director Donald Blevins, who is scheduled to take over April 19.
“This is the moment that the county needs to bring all of its resources together to help the Probation Department,” Yaroslavsky said. He called the department “troubled” and said the number of internal affairs investigators had fallen to “a nearly ineffectual level.”
Yaroslavsky said he hopes the Office of Independent Review can lend probation one of its six attorneys to complete the assessment at no added cost to the county.
Kerri Webb, a Probation Department spokeswoman, said Remington was open to the proposal. “Supervisors and chief Remington are in agreement that these issues must be and will be addressed,” she said.
Michael Gennaco, head of the Office of Independent Review, said he welcomed the opportunity to build on the department’s experience reviewing sheriff’s internal affairs investigations.
“I think our model has worked here and that could be of help to a sister department,” he said.
On Tuesday, Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas said he planned to introduce a motion calling for the expansion of probation’s internal affairs staff.
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