This article is cross-posted from WitnessLA.com with permission of the author Matt Fleischer. Read his other reports on LAs violent and abusive criminal justice system:Part I, Part II and Part III.
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LASD insiders say that, for years, Undersheriff Paul Tanakanot Lee Bacahas ruled the Los Angeles Sheriffs Department though a system built of favoritism, pay-to-play campaign donations, and loyalty rewarded over competence.
Now he has assumed command of the departments two internal investigative unitsInternal Affairs and the Internal Criminal Investigations Bureaua move that many close to the department view as a hostile takeover.
On May 15, 2011, the Los Angeles Sheriffs Department quietly made a series of small, seemingly innocuous changes to its command structure. The Internal Affairs unit, which investigates violations of departmental policy, and the Internal Criminal Investigations Bureau, which looks into criminal acts that may have been committed by department personnel, were taken out from under the oversight of the Leadership and Training Divisionwhere the twin divisions have been for nearly two decades-and were placed under the control of the then-Assistant Sheriff, soon-to-be- Undersheriff, Paul Tanaka. In practical terms, this meant that, instead of the heads of the two bureaus reporting to Leadership and Trainings Chief, Roberta Abner, Tanaka appointed a brand new captain and commander from his own inner circle to head IA and report to him. At the same time, he selected a new captain to run ICIB, also reporting to him. Abner was taken out of the loop altogether, and a commander position overseeing ICIB was eliminated. Two levels of oversight and accountability in the system with which the department investigated itself vanished overnight.
To the casual observer, the moves might appear to be little more than the bureaucratic shuffling of departmental chess pieces. But to those inside the sheriffs department, the sudden switch in oversight was alarming. As one former IA investigator explained, To have a commander and a captain reporting directly to the Undersherifftheres no precedent for that.
In order to check, the LA Justice Report called around to five law enforcement agencies across CaliforniaSan Diego Sheriffs Department; Orange County Sheriffs Department; San Francisco Sheriffs Department; Los Angeles Police Department; and the San Francisco Police Departmentand found that only the SFSD has its investigative services unit report directly to someone as high up as the undersheriff without intervening layers. Were much smaller than LASD, explained an SFSD spokesperson, we only have about 850 employees. So it makes things more manageable.
In a department of 18,000, like the LASD, the layered chain of command existed for good reason, according to our IA source (and validated by other department insiders with IA knowledge). Personnel investigations are extremely in-depth. IA is a relatively large unit, with 35-40 people in it. You have to have time to oversee and manage them. But the undersheriff has constantly got an 800 pound gorilla banging on his head.
So why the change?
LASD spokesman Captain Mike Parker explained in an email that the move was simply so the Sheriff could keep a better eye on the two bureaus. All reorganization changes within the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department are done at the direction of Sheriff BacaRecent changes have been made to the oversight of Internal Affairs Bureau and Internal Criminal Investigations Bureau to increase accountability and efficiency, and to streamline the process.
However, sources inside the department say the move had little to do with increased accountability, but rather was a realignment that allowed the undersheriff to protect any of his insiders that needed protecting.
As The LA Justice Report haspreviously reported, Tanaka has a history of rescuing, promoting and protecting supervisors with less-than-spectacular and often downright troubled performance records, people who then become his most loyal supporters.
There was, for example, Dan Cruz, the highest ranking member of the Sheriffs Department to be put on leave for his role in the recent jail abuse scandaland also a Tanaka appointee and loyal donor to the undersheriffs political campaign in Gardena. Cruz arrived at CJ as an operations lieutenant with a checkered supervisory record. Nonetheless, he was promoted to captain and put in charge of the already troubled Mens Central Jail. Deputy-on-inmate force incidents spiked almost immediately under his watch. The situation was desperate enough that Cruzs direct supervisor,Commander Bob Olmsted, told Tanaka directly of problems inside the jail under Cruzand told Lee Baca as well. Olmsted says he was ignored.
If supervisors like Olmsted came to Tanaka with reports of uncontrolled violence and were waved away, how will the undersheriff respond to critical IA and ICIB investigations into favored people and groups his department?
セントピーターズバーグ、フロリダ州（PRWEB）2012年2月29日は
