Newly-elected Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell is wasting no time in trying to increase and improve accountability in his new agency.

In a letter from McDonnell to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, dated December 9, 2014, the Sheriff explains that he won’t be able to attend their upcoming meeting on the topic but was writing to support the proposal.

McDonnell has long been a strong advocate of increased civilian oversight at the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department (LASD.) Now that he heads that organization, he appears to be making strong efforts to ensure that this comes about.

The Independent Advisory Civilian Commission (IACC) which McDonnell envisions would have several characteristics:

  • 7-9 members comprised of highly regarded and esteemed members of the community appointed by both County Supervisors and other appointing authorities (might include justice system partners and community stakeholders)
  • Serve a set term of years (removable only for cause) and be empowered to select their own staff and leadership
  • Should oversee and guide the work of the county Office of the Inspector General (IG). The IG and his office should be the “engine” that fuels the work of the Commission and the IG should report to that body

As to the overall purpose of such a Commission, McDonnell believes that the “Commission should be a vehicle for the community to transparently hear about and offer input into the department’s strategies and challenges and also a place for the vetting of new ideas. This body can also be a place to discuss markers of progress in regard to moving LASD beyond past challenges and a place where we can endeavor to work together to address existing barriers.”

All of this sounds very good to me and it saddens me that there has apparently existed no such Commission in Los Angeles County to date. According to this article, former Sheriff Lee Baca also claimed to support the creation of such a commission, however, since Baca had served as Sheriff since 1998 it would seem that if he had truly wanted such oversight, he surely had ample time to help make that happen.

Sheriff McDonnell’s letter and the County Supervisors’ pending consideration of this proposal should matter a great deal to Long Beach residents. Long Beach is part of L.A. County. LASD deputies routinely operate within the city, most notably along the Blue Line route and in the Court House but also in all neighborhoods throughout the city as they serve various criminal and civil summons and follow up on criminal investigations which have originated in the areas deputies typically patrol.

Another reason Long Beach residents should be interested in McDonnell’s proposal is that it might later serve as a model for restructuring Long Beach’s own Civilian Police Complaint Commission (CPCC).

On paper, the Long Beach CPCC is comprised of “11 members. Nine Commissioners are nominated by District City Council members and two at-large Commissioners are appointed by the Mayor.” According to the linked website, however, the District 1 position is currently vacant.

The CPCC has more than a few critics throughout Long Beach. Apparently, according to its own by-laws, the CPCC answers to the City Manager, rather than directly to the City Council. I think that should change. I think the CPCC should answer to the full Council, but report on a monthly basis to the Council’s Public Safety Committee.

Similarly, the LBPD Internal Affairs Division (I.A.) should have to make concurrent reports to both the Chief of Police and the CPCC. While the Chief of Police has the responsibility and authority to investigate and discipline his own employees (as is the case for every other city department head) and reports to the City Manager, the Chief should also be directly answerable to, and cooperate with, the Council’s police oversight arm, the CPCC.

So when is police oversight not a good thing? It is not a good thing when it appears inefficient or ineffective. It is not a good thing when it appears that it does little more than rubber stamp the findings of a police agency’s own internal investigations. It is not a good thing when the supposedly independent overseers are answerable to the very same appointed executive to which the police agency’s own chief executive also answers.

Hopefully both the County and the City will continue to make every effort to ensure that civilian police oversight is always a good thing.