Editorial: Let voters determine the supervisors' power to remove a sheriff (via latimesopinion)
. If that kind of oversight is good in San Bernardino, it’s worth considering in Los Angeles. The board should move forward.
Ever since the current L.A. County charter took effect in 1913, power over the Sheriff’s Department has been a tug of war.just over a century ago by going to court to accuse him of misfeasance in office. The board appointed his replacement, as well as half the sheriffs over the course of the rest of the century.
Of course the Sheriff’s Department was not meant to be, and should not be, independent of the rest of government. Nor should any law enforcement agency or elected official. Most L.A. County sheriffs had the savvy to recognize that. A carefully crafted ballot measure could restore some of the cooperation that has been lost to the detriment of L.A. County residents, whether or not the board ever actually exercises its power to remove a sheriff.
The method the board used to remove Cline in 1921 remains available, as does the recall process, which is currently being tried against Dist. Atty. George Gascón. Board pressure played a role in thein 2014 after the supervisors created a commission to probe jail violence and Baca’s role in preventing it from being discovered and stopped earlier than it was.
If the motion passes, county lawyers must draft appropriate criteria for removal. Allegations that are too vaguely defined, such as “flagrant and repeated neglect of duties,” as in the San Bernardino ordinance, would probably invite lawsuits, long trials and court rulings over just what constitutes “neglect.” Removal for criminal offenses, on the other hand, would in most cases be redundant because sheriffs are already removable upon criminal conviction.
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