The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors may move Tuesday to increase oversight of how the Sheriff's Department handles complaints of harassment and retaliation from families of people killed by deputies.
“Many of these families are traumatized," said First District Supervisor Hilda Solis.
“Some have been threatened. Some have had to move away because of the harassment.”
Solis said families shouldn't have to go through that after losing a loved one.
“It is an over abuse of power, and we should not be allowing that. I think it’s time for us to do something,” she added.
She and Supervisor Holly Mitchell are co-authors of a motion -- coming up for a vote Tuesday -- that would direct county counsel "to pursue all legal remedies" to release body-worn camera footage and other information about such complaints to the inspector general. The motion also calls for the district attorney’s office to investigate any allegations of criminal misconduct.
When the Board of Supervisors took up the issue of harassment by sheriff’s deputies in May, Sheriff Alex Villanueva accused supervisors of trying to advance a "false narrative"
“We have not found a single incident of it. That is very telling.”
While the Sheriff's Department said it has not found such an incident, a May report issued by the National Lawyers Guild Los Angeles found that families were harassed with warrantless searches, deputies' parking outside families’ homes and even taunting the families at a memorial site.
The report focused on two families whose loved ones were shot and killed by LASD deputies, reportedly prospective members of the Banditos deputy gang in the East Los Angeles LASD station.
“Because of the constant sheriff’s department harassment, we feel like we have no sense of security walking or driving in the streets that we grew up in,” said Valerie Vargas in a statement. She is the aunt of Anthony Vargas, who was shot and killed by deputies in 2017.
“We feel trapped with nowhere to go. It’s been relentless.”
Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Los Angeles, asked last week for a federal probe into the reported existence of a gang within the LASD at the Compton sheriff’s station.
The Solis-Mitchell motion also seeks ongoing funding to provide support for families that lose a loved one due to an in-custody death or a fatal use-of-force incident.