There’s a new sheriff in L-A County – and he’s not afraid to shake things up.
Alex Villanueva is sweeping out the old ways of deputy discipline.
”In the previous administration, the perception was, ‘Off with your heads first and lets figure out later if maybe we’ll let you come back after you’ve had your entire life destroyed.’ And that really depressed morale.”
He said he will work to recruit deputies who grew up in the communities where they will serve.
”We need to hire locally, because these people will have a stake in the outcome of a safe community.”
And he’ll restore focus on the biggest sources of trouble in the county’s jails.
”Inmate on inmate violence and inmate violence on staff; two out of the three prongs of violence were literally ignored totally.”
Villanueva has taken the reins of a large bureaucracy with enormous law enforcement responsibilities. But the window of time to make the transition has been very narrow.
“I wish I had even the normal time which is roughly one month is still short. But at least it would have allowed me more time to do a lot more of the things, you know, at a steady pace with the luxury of time to do the vetting and make sure we dot all our I’s and cross our t’s.”
Alex Villanueva was a guest on McIntyre in the Morning.
By Sandy Wells
KABC News