Politics & Government

Supervisor Antonovich Calls for Additional Probe into Sheriff's Department Hiring

By City News Service

The Board of Supervisors Tuesday directed Sheriff Lee Baca to provide more information on hiring practices said to result in the employment of officers with prior records of misconduct.

The Sheriff's Department in 2010 took over a county police force responsible for patrolling parks and government buildings and hired dozens of officers who had lied on record, cheated on polygraph exams or been fired or pressured to resign from other law enforcement agencies, according to a review of internal department records by the Los Angeles Times.

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Supervisor Michael Antonovich, who represents Monrovia, said the board made clear at the time that employees being transferred must meet all department standards. He called two weeks ago for Baca to report back on the matter.

In a letter to the board dated Monday, Baca said that 290 of 395 Office of Public Safety employees were hired by the Sheriff's Department.

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"Each candidate was evaluated according to the established hiring standards for deputy sheriff and custody assistant and no exceptions were made relative to the final recommendation to hire or not hire a particular candidate," Baca wrote.

Baca said in the letter that then-undersheriff Larry Waldie, though he did not refer to him by name, was responsible for the hiring decisions. Waldie has since retired.

"The undersheriff at the time had delegated authority from me to make the final hiring decisions. My direction was unequivocal that we were to only hire qualified candidates," Baca said.

But he admitted that mistakes had been made.

"A comprehensive audit revealed that the undersheriff at the time made the decision to hire several former OPS officers who did not meet the prevailing hiring standards for the department," Baca wrote.

Antonovich wanted to know more.

He asked for a report on how many of those 290 employees hold sworn or custody positions; how many have had performance or conduct issues since joining the department; and how many should not have been hired based on concerns raised during background checks.

Antonovich also asked for details on the justification given for hiring each of the officers who didn't meet standards. A county attorney said information about specific individuals would have to be kept confidential.

In an interview with ABC7, Supervisor Gloria Molina seemed to already have an estimate of the number of bad apples, referencing  "80 mistakes" made in hiring.

Channel 7 reported that the mistakes may not have been limited to the Office of Public Safety hires and cited an internal sheriff's department report of a deputy "picking up known prostitutes and making false statements," another involved in a DUI and yet another texting messages for jail inmates.

Antonovich asked about the county's legal options against "the person responsible," although he also didn't name Waldie, saying only that the responsible party was not longer employed by the county.

Baca's letter said an audit was ongoing and is expected to result in changes in department policy. He also said 55 OPS officers not approved for hire by the department were hired by other county departments.



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