Sheriff Villanueva outlines his achievements over the last 1 1/2 years in fulfilling campaign vow to reform, rebuild and restore #LASD. “I look forward to us continuing to achieve our collective goals,” said Sheriff Villanueva.
Watch the commemorative video here:
To Close or Not to Close? Consider the Victims and Their Families
Patricia Wenskunas, founder and CEO of Crime Survivors, a non-profit advocacy and resource center for crime victims, made a plea to the Board of Supervisors and the public to consider the impact of reducing the 2020-2021 fiscal budget for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD). The $545 million budget cut was recently approved by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, in response to a shrunken purse after COVID-19, despite the availability of alternative sources of money for government than sales tax.
In addition to more than 300 pending personnel layoffs, Board members also followed CEO Sachi Hamai’s recommendation to eliminate four important investigative bureaus: Special Victims Bureau, which investigates crimes against some of the most vulnerable of our population, children and victims of sexual assault, who are victims of atrocities like physical abuse, sexual abuse and rape; Operation Safe Streets, which investigates gang-related crimes, collects gang intelligence and maintains current information on local street gangs; Fraud and Cyber Crimes Bureau, which investigates crimes committed online and various forms of fraud, including identity theft, real estate fraud and wire fraud; and Major Crimes Bureau, which specializes in investigating kidnapping for ransom, illegal medical practices, extortion, solicitation for murder, series and pattern robberies, etc.
Scrapping these specialized bureaus will cause investigations to be decentralized and conducted at a station-level by detectives whose caseloads are already heavily burdened. Special Victims Bureau detectives, alone, average 25-30 cases per month, and carry specialized training and valuable experience with them as they leave their positions.
The discussion of these pending losses came during a press conference on Monday, July 6, 2020, at the Sheriff’s Training and Resource Center in Whittier, with Sheriff Alex Villanueva, family members of crime victims, and victim advocates in attendance. As a victim of attempted murder, Mrs. Wenskunas revealed her very personal encounter with detectives; she spoke in first person of seeing their compassion, dedication and commitment to victims and the community. She addressed the elimination of the Special Victims Bureau, Major Crimes Bureau, Fraud and Cyber Crimes Bureau, and Operation Safe Streets, and the proposal to close the Men’s Central Jail.
Mrs. Wenskunas addressed the Board of Supervisors directly and thanked them for watching the press conference. “We need to make sure that victims are provided justice within our legal system,” she said. “We cannot let these offenders not serve their time and be released back into our communities.” And yet, with elimination of the specialized investigative bureaus, the closure of a jail facility and the impending release of inmates, “…victims’ voices are not heard. Who’s speaking about the victims?” she asked, and read a list of crime classifications and numbers of inmates LASD would be forced to let out:
Murder 1,199
Attempted Murder 762
Manslaughter 65
Rape 105
Sexual Assault/Child Molestation 391
Robbery 1,196
Attempted Robbery 194
Carjacking 142
Domestic Violence 743
Human Trafficking 85
Kidnapping 64
Assault with a Deadly Weapon 1,717
Arson 178
“This is why we have to oppose them closing the Men’s Central Jail. This is dangerous, dangerous offenders that will be released back into our communities,” stressed Mrs. Wenskunas. “It’s unacceptable. Again, we have no political agenda, here, whatsoever. This is about victims, and victims and survivors, and their families, and public safety. Period.”
Malinda Wheeler, owner and president of Forensic Nurse Specialists, has worked with Special Victims Bureau detectives for more than 25 years. She made the purpose of her participation in the press conference crystal clear: “I’m here today to advocate for the full-funding, no-cuts of the Special Victims Bureau.” Early in her career, Mrs. Wheeler found children needed specialized services to get them to talk about their traumatic incidents, only once, and in a legally defensible manner. With this, she helped form the Children’s Advocacy Center. “There is no question that a specially-trained, team approach works best for the investigation and prosecution of child abuse and sex crimes. Special Victims Bureau investigators are specially-trained and aware of the sensitivity for handling these cases,” she said.
Ana Estevez, the mother of Armazd “Piqui” Andressian, a five-year-old boy who was suffocated to death by his father in 2017, also advocated for saving the detective bureaus. She recalled the care and dedication the detectives gave to handling the investigation, and how much it meant to her. Their tenacity led to the location of the little boy’s body and the father’s conviction. Mrs. Estevez read a text she sent them on Tuesday, June 30, 2020, the anniversary of his body’s discovery, “It has been three years today. Thank you for bringing my Piqui home,” she said tearily. She recounted the detectives’ collaboration with other units and agencies who worked tirelessly for 72 days to locate her beloved, lost son.
Parents of a murdered son, Mr. and Mrs. Richard Walker, recounted the day in 2014 when he was shot to death while waiting for a meal he ordered. He was 26 years old.
Mrs. Walker expressed her thanks to detectives who worked on his case and also asked for consideration of the families, as related to the closure of the detective bureaus and jail facility. “I stand here today to ask that you consider the families of these victims, who are voiceless…” she said. “Christopher no longer has a voice. He had a beautiful smile, but you would never see that anymore.”
Mrs. Walker’s voice shook with grief as she addressed those with the power to provide or take away, “I ask you, I pray and I beg of you to consider this father and this mother, this family. There are many other families like us. We stand by silently and we don’t really say much ‘cause nobody wants to hear what we have to say. But, would you, please, consider us as you investigate, as you consider whatever it is that you’re going to do in voting on the reducing of funds for the departments?”
In closing remarks, Sheriff Alex Villanueva recounted the loss of a young girl’s life in a shocking carjacking event, which occurred a day earlier, on Sunday, July 1, 2020, in Pico Rivera. The suspect, a 26-year-old man on probation, stole a running minivan with four children inside and drove off with the rear sliding door open. Two of the children jumped out and two remained inside the vehicle. As the vehicle sped, the children were ejected and sustained massive trauma. The 13-year-old girl was pronounced dead at the scene and her eight-year-old brother fights for his life in critical condition at a local hospital. The suspect carjacked two more vehicles before being apprehended by citizens who held him until deputies arrived.
The suspect was arrested late May, 2020, for felony weapons violation but was released with a citation due to the current zero, emergency bail schedule. The Sheriff kept in the event’s thread of remembering the victims. “I heard a lot in the news about ‘Say His Name/Say Her Name,’” he said. “Well, I will say her name again: Isabella Cortez. Let’s not forget her.”
To view the press conference, click: https://www.facebook.com/LosAngelesCountySheriffsDepartment/videos/3371808249497035
June 16, 2020
Under my leadership, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is more transparent than ever before. With greater transparency comes greater accountability. One area this has been demonstrated is our cooperation with the Citizen Oversight Commission (COC) and the Office of Inspector General (OIG).
In anticipation of the colossal amount of requests for records prior to the bills enactment on January 1, 2019, we requested funding from the Board of Supervisors for additional personnel and computer software to address the added workload created by the SB 1421 mandate. To date, our requests have been ignored.
In November 2019, I reorganized the Audit and Accountability Bureau (AAB), on a temporary basis, in order to dedicate resources to the SB 1421 project. We also implemented a tracking system specifically for COC and OIG requests, to ensure a timely response.
In the calendar year of 2019, the Department responded to 43 known requests from the COC and OIG. From January 1, 2020 to May 1, 2020, the Department has responded to 59 of the 62 requests made by the COC and OIG.
Since November 2019, AAB has received a total of 2,848 requests for review. As of June 11, 2020, AAB has responded to 75% of the requests.
The true goals and values of government can be found in how the budget is allocated. If something is deemed important, the Board of Supervisors has the responsibility and obligation to fully fund it. Due to our limited staffing and our lack of SB 1421 specified funding, the fulfillment of SB 1421 compliance has been difficult. We will continue to do the best we can with what we have in place.
Please visit LASD.org to explore my transparency promise.
Sheriff Alex Villanueva
If you have concerns regarding the above, share your voice. You may contact your Board of Supervisors at the below:
County of Los Angeles Board of Supervisors
Hilda L. Solis
Supervisor, First District
Phone: (213) 974-4111
[email protected]
Mark Ridley-Thomas
Supervisor, Second District
Phone: (213) 974-2222
[email protected]
Sheila Kuehl
Supervisor, Third District
Phone: (213) 974-3333
[email protected]
Janice Hahn
Supervisor, Fourth District
Phone: (213) 974-4444
[email protected]
Kathryn Barger – CHAIR
Supervisor, Fifth District
Phone: (213) 974-5555
[email protected]
Not sure who your Supervisor is? Click Link to Find Out: http://bos.lacounty.gov/About-Us/Board-of-Supervisors
During a press conference held Monday morning, June 29, 2020, at the Hall of Justice, Sheriff Alex Villanueva discussed a large budget cut proposed by Los Angeles County CEO Sachi Hamai for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) 2020-2021 fiscal year, which was voted on and approved later that day by the Board of Supervisors. On the cusp of reopening after the COVID-19 pandemic, there is an all-around tightening of belts because of tax revenue losses incurred from the closure of businesses. All 34 Los Angeles County government departments will have their budgets reduced, however, it is LASD which will take the largest cut.
With around 18,000 employees, LASD staffs 15% of the entire county family. Sheriff Villanueva pointed out the unbalanced distribution of cuts to be imposed on our agency: Of the 600 proposed county layoffs, more than half of them will be from the Sheriff’s Department, and of the 3,200 vacant positions to be eliminated county-wide, 1,525 will be from the Sheriff’s Department. The Sheriff, however, cited there are other, steadier sources of money for government than sales tax, such as property tax, which could be directed toward law enforcement and the other 33 county departments, but for a variety of reasons, is not. “The Board has the ability to fund all of the county government operations, and they need to prioritize public safety,” said Sheriff Villanueva.
With the Board of Supervisors voting in favor of the defunding proposal and following CEO Hamai’s recommendations, four important investigative bureaus within LASD will be eliminated: Special Victims Bureau, which investigates crimes against some of the most vulnerable of our population, children and victims of sexual assault, who are victims of atrocities like physical abuse, sexual abuse and rape; Operation Safe Streets, which investigates gang-related crimes, collects gang intelligence and maintains current information on local street gangs; Fraud and Cyber Crimes Bureau, which investigates crimes committed online and various forms of fraud, including identity theft, real estate fraud and wire fraud; and Major Crimes Bureau, which specializes in investigating kidnapping for ransom, illegal medical practices, extortion, solicitation for murder, series and pattern robberies, etc. Scrapping these specialized bureaus will cause investigations to be decentralized and conducted at a station-level by detectives whose caseloads are already heavily burdened.
“It’s unconscionable,” said Sheriff Villanueva. “These are the major detective units of the entire department. They serve the entire county of Los Angeles. Those four units…are the cream of the crop of investigative units throughout the entire nation, and as the largest county in the nation, I cannot see how we move forward without these four units,” he said.
At the discretion of the CEO and Board of Supervisors, the four detective bureaus will be eliminated, as well as the Mental Evaluation Team, comprised of soft-clothed deputies and mental health clinicians, who respond in teams of two to calls in the field, to conduct mental health evaluations. They also provide follow up and support services, respond to incidents such as suicides, school shootings, incidents with barricaded persons, and locate persons with Alzheimer’s disease, dementia and autism who wandered away.
Custody Operations will also be impacted with $50 million already dedicated to fulfill unfunded mandates. The Department is legally obligated to provide a certain level of programming to our inmate population, and the positions to be eliminated because of budget issues will cause incompliance with federal consent decrees.
One might argue that if a position is vacant, it wasn’t needed anyway, and won’t be missed if eliminated. On the contrary, vacant positions across our agency are compulsory and, because of already-existing staff shortages, are filled by paying them as overtime spots, which only compounds budget issues. Cutting the 2020-2021 budget by $555 million affects the services we provide and takes away vital law enforcement services from everyone.
The budget cuts announced by county CEO Sachi Hamai are targeted specifically to hurt public safety in
Los Angeles County, while sparing virtually every other function of county government from any reductions.
The CEO’s recommended budget for the LASD from May was $3.5 billion, a shortfall of $400 million from
the true cost of running the largest sheriff’s department in the nation. As we have been busy reorganizing
around the first massive reduction, the Board of Supervisors are now set to force the community to suffer a
major loss of law enforcement resources with a second round of cuts to the tune of $145.4 million. This is
literally balancing the entire county budget on the back of the LASD.
Half of the LASD’s budget is offset by revenue from contracts that provide law enforcement services to 42
contract cities, the Los Angeles Superior Court system, the Los Angeles Community College District, the
Metropolitan Transit Authority, and other contracts. The other half is what is known as “Net County Cost” or
NCC, and that is the cost of providing patrol to the 131 unincorporated communities throughout the county,
running the nation’s largest jail system, and the specialized detective units who serve the entire county such
as Homicide Bureau, Special Victim’s Bureau, Major Crimes Bureau, Safe Streets Bureau, and Fraud and
Cyber Crimes Bureau.
The CEO’s proposed budget recommends the following LASD units be eliminated:
• Safe Streets Bureau (Gang Enforcement)
• Parks Bureau
• Special Victims Bureau (Sexual/Physical Abuse of Children, Rape, Human Trafficking)
• Community Partnership Bureau (COPS Team)
• Fraud & Cybercrimes Bureau
• Major Crimes Bureau
The CEO also recommends drastically reducing the following units:
• Custody Operations (various units)
• Mental Health Evaluation Teams (MET)
The CEO and the Board have embraced the “Defund the Police” movement and are cynically hiding behind
accounting maneuvers, knowing well that loss of revenue in sales tax can be made up by equitably
distributing more stable revenue streams like property taxes. This is not acceptable and a willful
abandonment of one of the top priorities of all local government: keeping people safe.
These cuts come at a time when jails were de-populated of over five thousand inmates in order to combat
the COVID-19 pandemic. Now that restrictions are lifting, violent crimes, such as murder, are on the rise
across the County and other metropolitan areas such as New York City and Chicago. Now is not the time to
cut vital law enforcement services, that should be the last thing cut. Curiously, the bloated county
bureaucracy remains virtually intact, which should always be the first to suffer reductions. The priorities of
the Board of Supervisors are not the priorities of the good people of Los Angeles County.
Sheriff Alex Villanueva
The Taiwanese-American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Los Angeles (TACCLA) is a non-profit organization established in 1980 by a group of Taiwanese-American entrepreneurs and professionals, with a mission to provide networking opportunities for current and future generations of the Taiwanese-American community. Their goal is to foster the professional and entrepreneurial spirit and to create business opportunities in our community.
On Tuesday morning, June 23, 2020, Sheriff Alex Villanueva and Undersheriff Tim Murakami met TACCLA President Kenneth Chen in front of the Hall of Justice, where they were presented with 50,000 face masks, as part of a surplus donation from the Taiwanese government. In January 2020, the Taiwanese government organized machinery, weaving, and face mask production factories into the “National Face Masks Team” to mass produce medical-grade face masks with a complete chain of production. After reaching national stockpile thresholds, they made surplus face masks available for international purchase, and donated over five million to the United States and more than 50 million pieces worldwide.
TACCLA, the Taiwanese Chamber of Commerce of North America (TCCNA), and other Taiwanese-American chambers organized the acquisition of personal protection equipment from Taiwan and, to a lesser extent, Vietnam and the United States. Together, the Chambers succeeded in acquiring 10 million face masks with TACCLA leading fundraising by raising $800,000 from the contributions of TACCLA members, TACCLA junior chapter members, and local individuals.
The TACCLA “Million Face Masks for Greater Los Angeles” initiative plans to donate the masks to nursing homes through various Los Angeles County and Los Angeles City-based emergency departments, and districts within the county. This non-profit hopes to join the Taiwanese-American community in contributing to organizations, individuals and businesses by pitching in $3 million to the Los Angeles COVID-19 crisis fund. They also aim to contribute more broadly by donating medical supplies to local hospitals, distributing groceries to food-insecure households affected by the pandemic, and donating to various crisis funds.
Especially helpful during a time of budget-consciousness, TACCLA presented the 50,000 face masks to the Sheriff and Undersheriff, with the intent to present 20,000 additional pieces to Temple Sheriff’s Station personnel. “Thank you, President Chen and TACCLA,” said Sheriff Alex Villanueva, “for your contribution to help us protect each other and everyone we encounter in the communities we serve.”
“As the biggest Taiwanese-American Chamber of Commerce in North America and one of the major chambers of commerce in Los Angeles,” said President Chen, “TACCLA is indebted to the local community, and we need to help as much as we can in times of crisis.”
For more information about TACCLA and their mission, visit: www.taccla.org
Under my leadership, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is more transparent than ever before. With greater transparency comes greater accountability. One area this has been demonstrated is our cooperation with the Citizen Oversight Commission (COC) and the Office of Inspector General (OIG).
In anticipation of the colossal amount of requests for records prior to the bills enactment on January 1, 2019, we requested funding from the Board of Supervisors for additional personnel and computer software to address the added workload created by the SB 1421 mandate. To date, our requests have been ignored.
In November 2019, I reorganized the Audit and Accountability Bureau (AAB), on a temporary basis, in order to dedicate resources to the SB 1421 project. We also implemented a tracking system specifically for COC and OIG requests, to ensure a timely response.
In the calendar year of 2019, the Department responded to 43 known requests from the COC and OIG. From January 1, 2020 to May 1, 2020, the Department has responded to 59 of the 62 requests made by the COC and OIG.
Since November 2019, AAB has received a total of 2,848 requests for review. As of June 11, 2020, AAB has responded to 75% of the requests.
The true goals and values of government can be found in how the budget is allocated. If something is deemed important, the Board of Supervisors has the responsibility and obligation to fully fund it. Due to our limited staffing and our lack of SB 1421 specified funding, the fulfillment of SB 1421 compliance has been difficult. We will continue to do the best we can with what we have in place.
Please visit LASD.org to explore my transparency promise.
If you have concerns regarding the above, share your voice. You may contact your Board of Supervisors at the below:
County of Los Angeles Board of Supervisors
Hilda L. Solis
Supervisor, First District
Phone: (213) 974-4111
[email protected]
Mark Ridley-Thomas
Supervisor, Second District
Phone: (213) 974-2222
[email protected]
Sheila Kuehl
Supervisor, Third District
Phone: (213) 974-3333
[email protected]
Janice Hahn
Supervisor, Fourth District
Phone: (213) 974-4444
[email protected]
Kathryn Barger – CHAIR
Supervisor, Fifth District
Phone: (213) 974-5555
[email protected]
Not sure who your Supervisor is? Click Link to Find Out: http://bos.lacounty.gov/About-Us/Board-of-Supervisors
I am aware of two videos circulating on social media involving my deputies. As with all use of force incidents, these cases will be thoroughly investigated, and we will also examine the tactics, policies & procedures.
As I have stated before, this is another example of why we so desperately need the Board of Supervisors to fully fund the LASD body-worn camera project. The public deserves full transparency.
This is Sheriff Villanueva. We have a responsibility to ensure the safety of all residents and businesses in Los Angeles County. As incidents of looting are reported anywhere in our county, we will respond and assist local police departments. We will also take proactive action and deploy anywhere in the county where violence is taking afoot, protect lawfully assembled protesters, and use your discretion in enforcing the law where needed.
Be safe out there, Car-1 signing off.
Los Angeles County Imposes Third Night of Curfew
Los Angeles County will be under a countywide curfew that runs from 6 p.m. today, June 2, 2020, through 6 a.m. on Wednesday, June 3, 2020.
The curfew does not apply to individuals voting in Special Elections occurring today in the City of Commerce and in El Rancho Unified School District in Pico Rivera. In both elections, all voters were mailed ballots and the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk has one mobile vote center in each jurisdiction that has been open daily since Saturday and will be open today until 8 p.m. Poll workers are also exempt from the order.
This is the third night of a countywide curfew ordered to protect public safety.
The County curfew applies to every municipality in Los Angeles County, but cities can implement stricter curfews based on their local needs. Please check with your local city to determine if they have implemented stricter curfews.
In addition to voters and poll workers being exempt, the countywide curfew does not apply to the following: peace officers; firefighters; National Guard or other military personnel deployed to the area; emergency medical services personnel; individuals traveling to and from work; individuals working on a public work of improvement construction project; credentialed media representatives involved in news gathering; people experiencing homelessness and without access to a viable shelter; and individuals seeking medical treatment.
The following cities have already implemented stricter curfews:
Visit lacounty.gov/emergency for the most up-to-date information.
