What's Going on With LA/OC Sheriffs?

In the past month, bad news and controversy have surrounded the sheriff's departments of both Los Angeles and Orange County.

• On October 27^th, a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy who was attacked by a motorist near the scene of a fatal accident in Willowbrook was forced to draw her weapon and shoot the man. The deputy responded with another deputy to a call of a fatal accident at 124th Street and Compton Avenue.
• Former Orange County's sheriff Michael S. Carona's corruption trial opens this week. Carona and his attorneys are striving to maintain a polished image as a family-oriented, conservative and charismatic crime-fighter who could comfort victims and captivate crowds with his thoughtful words and reverent manner. Behind the scenes, prosecutors allege, he was a graft-taking womanizer who prostituted his office even before he won it, trading political favors for hundreds of thousands in cash and gifts for himself and others, ranging from vacations to World Series tickets to Mont Blanc pens.
• The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department is reexamining how it collects towing fees after allegations emerged a former traffic sergeant took nearly $500,000 from the city of La Puente. Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said while several potential policy changes are on the table, Sheriff Lee Baca wants to take the department out of the collection process completely.
• Overtime pay in the Orange County Sheriff's Department has skyrocketed in recent years because the department lacks a comprehensive policy or effective controls on the extra pay, according to an audit released Wednesday. Overtime in the department totaled nearly $48 million in the last fiscal year, more than double its level eight years ago, the report by the county's performance audit director found.

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