Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies were involved in an
increasing number of shootings this year, and the number of
incidents of sexual misconduct and drunken driving by
sheriff’s personnel are also on the rise, according to a new
report.
The Office of Independent Review’s third annual report
also shows that last year, hundreds of sheriff’s employees
faced disciplinary measures for a variety of misconduct.
The report found a five-year trend of increasing numbers of
deputy-involved shootings, rising from 30 in 1999 to 46 last year.
In the first eight months of 2004, there were 46 shootings.
Sheriff Lee Baca said all the shootings were reviewed by the
Office of Independent Review, which oversees internal
investigations for the county, and all were deemed to be
justified.
City rejects mayor’s call for more
officers
Los Angeles will not ask voters to approve a sales tax hike next
March to pay for police officers. A City Council committee on
Monday unanimously rejected Mayor James Hahn’s call to put
the measure on the ballot.
Hahn had been pushing the measure since a countywide half-cent
sales tax measure narrowly missed the two-thirds passage it needed
two weeks ago.
The Police Department, with 9,000 officers, is among the
smallest major city departments in the nation.
Compiled from Bruin wire reports.