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Los Angeles Sheriff's Department Goes Completely Rogue, Blocks Inspector General's Access To Files, Facilities
The Los Angeles Sheriff's Department has been problematic pretty much ever since its inception. Its prior iteration — headed up by Sheriff Lee Baca — was an abhorrent mess. The LASD was (and still is!) home to gangs formed by deputies — cliques that encouraged members to violate rights and abuse those incarcerated in the county jail. Baca's department became infamous for its internal corruption, something manifested by its obstruction of federal investigations and rogue jailhouse informant program.
Enter Sheriff Alex Villanueva. Elected after promising to clean up the troubled department, Villanueva soon showed he was more interested in shielding his officers from public scrutiny and ignoring the internal rot that had turned the agency into a menace to Los Angeles society.
The new sheriff created a handpicked "Public Integrity Unit," an entity whose name seemed to indicate Villanueva would be cleaning up the department. Shortly thereafter it became apparent the unit was far more interested in targeting the department's critics in the Los Angeles government.
Villanueva only amped things from there. He threatened county leaders with defamation suits for continuing to (accurately) portraying the department as infested with cliques of rogue deputies. He also sent his officers out to raid the homes of two prominent critics involved in civilian oversight of the department under the pretense the LASD was investigating fraudulent acquisition of county contracts.
With members of the county's civilian oversight sufficiently cowed by legal threats, non-compliance, and seizure of their electronic devices, the sheriff has moved on to shutting down the internal remnants of LASD accountability, as Alene Tchekmedyian reports for the Los Angeles Times.
This astounding display of power follows Villanueva's (unfounded) assertions that IG Huntsman is a "Holocaust denier" and his still-unproven claim that the Inspector General has committed crimes of his own, such as "stealing" confidential files on LASD officials from the department. The Inspector General has responded his access was limited to his office's investigations and was lawfully obtained.
This suggests the LASD is doing nothing more than concocting criminal charges to bypass internal and external oversight — an impression that isn't helped by the LASD's failure to move forward with charges against the Inspector General, despite making these claims for more than three years.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 17 2022, @05:40PM
Defund The Police!
More Power For District Attorney Gascón
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 17 2022, @07:07PM (2 children)
Is there a plan to combat this? Anything on the ballot in November? Do enough people care?
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday October 17 2022, @07:36PM (1 child)
The future will bring . . . Look! Over there! A new shiny!
While Republicans can get over Trump's sexual assaults, affairs, and vulgarity; they cannot get over Obama being black.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 18 2022, @05:09AM
Apparently you're right. Absolutely nobody is discussing possible remedies. Is it that hopeless?
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Monday October 17 2022, @07:41PM (29 children)
In other news, journalism schools have always been completely rogue.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 17 2022, @09:54PM (28 children)
https://www.lapdonline.org/history-of-the-lapd/ [lapdonline.org]
Go read for yourself.
(Score: 1) by Runaway1956 on Monday October 17 2022, @11:37PM (27 children)
Is it necessary to point out that the LA Police Department, is separate and distinct from the LA Sheriff? The article you cite makes that distinction in the first paragraph.
While on the subject of distinctions, police chiefs generally swear loyalty to a mayor, a city council or some such. Sheriffs, on the other hand, swear allegiance to the United States, to the constitution, and to the state in which they reside. Quite a difference, ehhh?
As for the hit piece on the sheriff, I have little idea how bad the sheriff's department might be. I could be almost as bad as the LAPD. Of course, California. The only state more corrupt is Illinois, and the only city more corrupt is Chicago.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 18 2022, @12:00AM (1 child)
I have little idea how bad the sheriff's department might be.
When has that ever stopped you from inserting your two cents?
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 18 2022, @08:29AM
Runaway has no idea what the Little River County Sheriff's Department has on him. Multiple, I say, multiple red flag warnings. And the poor sap does not even know who the department works for. County? Right in the name. Ignorant moron and Arkansas dirt farmer plagued by deers.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 18 2022, @01:30AM (23 children)
No shit that the LAPD and LASD are two different entities. Thank you captain obvious.
The LASD doesn't post the oath of office online, but the OC sheriff's department does: https://ocsheriff.gov/sites/ocsd/files/2021-03/Policy%20104%20Oath%20of%20Office.pdf [ocsheriff.gov]. One can assume that LASD's oath of office is similar.
The state of California had to step in to take control of LASD investigations of Alex Villenueva's political opponents: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-09-20/kuehl-warrant-order [latimes.com].
This is highly improper. You would throw a fit if Merrick Garland went on Facebook or Twitter and posted something like that about the investigations into Donald Trump. And you'd be right to do so.
It's also quite rare for the attorney general to step in and take over an investigation from a county sheriff. AG Bonta is continuing the investigation, but it's not exactly a ringing endorsement of the sheriff's department to take over the investigation in that manner. Sorry, Runaway, the county sheriff doesn't get to be above the law.
(Score: 1) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday October 18 2022, @01:49AM (8 children)
So, WTF does that come from? Did you project something into what I wrote above? Maybe you think that LAPD should be above the law, so you presume that I take the position that LASD should be? Seriously, how in fucking hell did you decide that I thought the sheriff was above the law?
All that I did, was to state the obvious, because GP seemed to be confusing LAPD with LASD. Then I pointed out that no city police force is the same as a sheriff's office - they serve different functions and roles.
Are you just some kind of fascist, who knows what I mean, and doesn't bother with what I actually said?
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 18 2022, @01:54AM (6 children)
It came from this rubbish:
You defended the sheriff despite your obvious ignorance.
(Score: 1) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday October 18 2022, @02:44AM (5 children)
Read it again. I defend no one. A community college near you offers remedial reading and basic literacy classes.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 18 2022, @03:06AM (4 children)
Perhaps you ought to consider attending some of those remedial literacy courses at your local community college in SW Arkansas. This is almost as dishonest of a rebuttal as you claiming that you didn't say Jews are evil.
You referred to the article about the LASD as a "hit piece." Using that term means you're calling the article janrinok posted highly biased to the point of being misleading and even outright dishonest. Here's the Wiktionary definition of hit piece:
Saying that a story criticizing the LASD is a hit piece is, indeed, a defense of the LASD. You then proceed to admit that you're totally uninformed about LASD, but somehow you claim to know enough to call janrinok's article a hit piece. Yes, you defended the LASD.
Either you're a liar or you lack the comprehension skills to understand your own posts. Which is it, Runaway?
(Score: 1) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday October 18 2022, @03:48AM (3 children)
You're dumber than a box of rocks. Yes, I said Jews are evil - and I also stated that they aren't the worst evil in the world. Go back and read that. I explicitly said there are worse evils. I've also said that Jews are good people, I've noted that some Jews are assholes, etc ad nauseum. Jews are people - or don't you understand that? And, people have the capacity for good, for evil, for greed, for generosity, all the vices and all the virtues. Jews are people. They aren't specially non-evil just because of some gene. Dumbass. You get the bad with the good.
Context. If you don't understand the context in which a statement is made, you should ask. And, if you have to ask too often, then you're not properly equipped to enter into discussions on the internet.
Context is everything. If you can't keep up, you need not expect me to stop and wait for you.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 18 2022, @04:10AM (2 children)
Better yet, don't make asinine statements like calling this story a hit piece when you admit you really have no clue if the story is accurate or not. I notice you conveniently ignored that and tried to change the subject to your bullshit defense of calling Jews evil. You really are one stupid son of a bitch.
Once again, you admit that you don't know anything about the LASD except that it's not the same as the LAPD. No shit, captain obvious. LAPD is the police department for the city of Los Angeles. LASD is the sheriff's department for Los Angeles County. This is obvious.
You are apparently critical of the LAPD, then admit that you don't know if the LASD is better or worse than the LAPD. But somehow you magically know enough about the LASD to know that the article janrinok posted is dishonest and not accurately describing the LASD. How can that be, if you don't know anything about the LASD except that it's not the LAPD? Then to top it off, you claim you weren't defending the LASD when you called the article a "hit piece."
I think we can safely assume you didn't make it past the eighth grade given your obvious lack of reading comprehension. Apparently you're too stupid to even understand the words in your previous posts. Once again, calling the article a "hit piece" is a defense of the LASD. You've provided zero evidence that the article is inaccurate. The article, of course, does provide evidence by linking to prior articles and citing the LA Times. I guess we're supposed to just take the word of a dipshit in SW Arkansas who is stupid enough to believe bullshit like conspiracy theories about grooming and a stolen election against an article that includes many citations.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 18 2022, @12:07PM (1 child)
You're a fuckwit, plains and simple.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 18 2022, @01:52PM
Nice AC post, Runaway. I see you don't actually have anything to add to the topic, so you're reduced to only posting insults. Got it.
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 18 2022, @10:03AM
Sherriff Runsaway is in cahoots with Sheriff Mack, you know, the sovereign citizen sheriffs movement, aligned with neo-nazis, whit superists, insurrectionists, pro-civil war "truth about guns"-types, and Tulsi Gabbard lovers. That's where it comes from, we all know you, Runaway, we know who you ally yourself with, and we know you have done testicle-tanning sessions with Cucker Tarlson.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 18 2022, @02:25AM (13 children)
And the California Highway Patrol is yet another. It sucks, too.
It's not about the policing bodies... it's about California. Remember when it didn't suck?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 18 2022, @02:48AM (12 children)
No, and neither do you. California fever was already a thing when 'Two Years Before the Mast' was written. They've been screwed since the first white man poked his nose into the territory. Maybe even before then.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 18 2022, @03:04AM (11 children)
Actually, I do remember. Raised there. You could ride your bicycle 360 days a year; schools weren't bad at first. I suppose 1849 marked the slide. Eisenhower's Interstate Highway System was rife with unintended consequences. By the time Jerry Brown (and his father) got done, it was Goodie Knight for CA.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Tuesday October 18 2022, @07:52AM (10 children)
Just interested - why couldn't you ride your bike on the other 5 days?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 18 2022, @02:10PM (9 children)
Just interested, why do you not care about the pretty obvious bigotry of the comment? Rhetorical question fyi.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 18 2022, @05:19PM
You don't have to worry, dear racist-marxist-wokie, I won't be moving back to California any time soon. Bet you could never, ever guess why.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Tuesday October 18 2022, @05:35PM (7 children)
Because not being an American I haven't got a clue what he is talking about.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 18 2022, @06:30PM (6 children)
*rollls eyes*
With the decrease is user comments drawing you into participating more frequently we are seeing some interesting bits. You should stop journaling articles bee tee dubs.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 18 2022, @06:37PM (1 child)
Yeah. I wrote two replies to janrinok's post, and deleted them both. Too reminiscent of that scene in City Slickers (1991) [imdb.com], where they're talking about setting the clock on a VCR...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 18 2022, @08:10PM
This thread needs something besides a quick, unattended burial.
Value this time in your life, kids, because this is the time in your life when you still have your choices, and it goes by so quickly. When you're a teenager you think you can do anything... and you do. Your twenties are a blur. Your thirties, you raise your family, you make a little money and you think to yourself, "What happened to my twenties?" Your forties, you grow a little pot belly, you grow another chin. The music starts to get too loud and one of your old girlfriends from high school becomes a grandmother. Your fifties you have a minor surgery. You'll call it a procedure, but it's a surgery. Your sixties you have a major surgery, the music is still loud but it doesn't matter because you can't hear it anyway. Seventies, you and the wife retire to Fort Lauderdale, you start eating dinner at two, lunch around ten, breakfast the night before. And you spend most of your time wandering around malls looking for the ultimate in soft yogurt, and muttering "how come the kids don't call?" By your eighties, you've had a major stroke, and you end up babbling to some Jamaican nurse who your wife can't stand but who you call mama. Any questions?
- City Slickers
Let's go in peace. (Except for the wokie-marxists)
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Tuesday October 18 2022, @06:46PM (1 child)
OK, but what do you know about the Peterloo Massacre without looking it up, or the Tolpuddle Matyrs?
(Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 18 2022, @06:51PM
<blink>12:00</blink>
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Tuesday October 18 2022, @06:48PM (1 child)
I am not commenting more frequently, but without the AC noise on the main stories they maybe are more evident.
(Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 18 2022, @10:40PM
<blink>• batt •</blink>
(Score: 0, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 18 2022, @01:43AM
"I have little idea" but continues to spread hyperbolic talk radio points like gospel truth.
#yeesh
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 17 2022, @08:10PM (1 child)
janrinok has gone totally rouge with a Runaway Murder-Death-Kill journal entry (and, bonus, Defund the Police!) that it seems was destined for the front page as an "AC Friendly" (such patronizing terminology), but posted as a journal entry by mistake? Again?
Time for a wellness check.
And what's with the sequential cryo articles? Do know what happens when you don't pay the power bill?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 19 2022, @05:55AM
STAY SALTY, SUPERFLUOUS SUBHUMAN.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 17 2022, @08:22PM (13 children)
This is typical conservative behavior. When you vote for conservatives, when you vote for Republicans, this is what you should expect.
Prior to Alex Villanueva, no Democrat had been elected as LA County Sheriff for 138 years. While Villanueva ran as a Democrat and initially kept his promises after being elected, he has since abandoned his platform to promote conservative positions. This includes frequently appearing on Fox News to complain about the "woke left" and promote other right wing ideas. As per the LA Times [latimes.com], this includes":
Villanueva also claims that his department has been defunded, another false claim motivated by partisanship. As per KABC-TV [abc7.com]:
As per the LA Times [latimes.com], Villanueva has said that 80% of his department is conservative or far right.
Villanueva claims that he supports law and order, like many other conservatives. However, it is clear that he believes that he and his department should not be subject to the rule of law. In addition to the claims raised in this article, Villanueva refused to enforce a vaccine mandate passed by the city council. As per The Hill [thehill.com]:
This is exactly the types of abuses and lawlessness that you get when voting for conservatives and Republicans. Villanueva may have once not been a conservative but has since taken a hard turn to the far right. You'll get more lawlessness like this if you vote for Republicans this November and for Trump in 2024.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 17 2022, @08:36PM
Yeah, too bad there are no liberals on the ballot. Democrats like Villanueva just pay lip service to contain the opposition.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 17 2022, @08:54PM (10 children)
All the conservatives moved to Orange County, years ago. Once the marxists took over the OC, the conservatives gave up and left CA. Now "protection" is provided by lefties, who are marking time, running out the clock, waiting to turn 55 so they can creep away on a good pension. California expects everyone to die soporifically at 75, anyway.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 17 2022, @09:56PM (9 children)
Jesus Christ, the marxists? Republicans are so fucking dumb.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 17 2022, @10:48PM
There are fascist Nazis creeping everywhere and destroying our dimocracy, but Marxists in universities and cities? IT CAN'T BE TRUUUUUUU
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 18 2022, @12:05AM (1 child)
Groucho, Harpo, Chico or Zeppo?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 18 2022, @02:42AM
Hart Schaffner.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 18 2022, @12:37AM (1 child)
Marxist is slang for "Jew."
Basically GP is jealous that the Jews held on to their culture and heritage even if in diaspora, and the Vikings at least had Snorri Sturluson to write down their myths and legends before switching to the danker meme, but GP's ancestors just flat out caved, being too stupid and illiterate to appreciate the value of documenting their culture before letting somebody con them.
Not only that but his Christian faith is probably not even authentic, since it is likely Protestantism and based on the explicit, doctrinal rejection of living tradition, reducing Christianity ultimately back to a mystery cult, now called Q. So this is how GP finds himself, being proletarianized, too stupid to understand, just knowing that it must, somehow, be the fault of one of the oldest living traditions in the world, still under attack from SPQR.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 18 2022, @01:40AM
Angry teenagers hate their parents, and similarly the descendant religions Christianity and Islam hate their parent religion Judaism. It is pretty silly, with the differences between the religions mimicing the tales of Gulliver and the reasons the little people were at war, like the way they ate hard boiled eggs.
Humanity is dumb because misinformation and ignorance is profitable for those who want to cling to power. Individually we know a lot, and between just the small group here there is a wealth of knowledge. We're stuck fighting each other because sadly conservatives tend toward unreasonable hate in their fear of unknown changes. Makes it real hard to fix problems, though the restraining hand of caution is a viewpoint worth considering when unpolluted by hate.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 18 2022, @02:15AM (3 children)
Calling people "dumb" does not test market well any more. It only appeals to dumb people, who want to believe that those other people are somehow actually dumber than they are.
Stupid is as stupid does.
Life is like a box of chocolates.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 18 2022, @02:16PM (2 children)
You do not test brain well any more. Stop watching Fox and reading Breitbart, you'll be instantly smarter by not exposing yourself to hate filled propaganda. Until then coddling rightwingers has been proven to only embolden their fascist tendencies, so fuck any dumb idjits that still support the traitorous GOP.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 18 2022, @05:25PM (1 child)
You must have a checklist of lame, disjointed points to hit, and get an extra nickel for every one you insert in a post. But on the other hand, at least you have a job.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 18 2022, @06:22PM
We are so sorry reality bothers you so much. If you provide your address we will send you a full copy of Blue's Clues, should help teach you some critical thinking skills. For your writing issues I recommend a remedial community college class.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 18 2022, @01:52AM
*yawn*
This is Commiefornia. The place is run by Dems. The most conservative politician in Commiefornia is a bleeding heart liberal. A person who runs as a Republican is simply less progressive than any of his opponents on the D ticket. He's still far too liberal for Flyover Country.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 19 2022, @01:28AM (2 children)
https://twitter.com/GoodPoliticGuy/status/1582377655336579072 [twitter.com]
70% of them think Trump did a good job.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 19 2022, @02:04AM (1 child)
Shall we compare and contrast four years ago, with today? How you doin'?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 21 2022, @02:03AM
Quite well. Not worried about someone overthrowing the US Constitution, or shelling Mexico, like I used to be. Not dead of Covid, steadily employed with health insurance. Life is good, when orange man gone.