“It’s one thing to hear about excessive force incidents inflicted upon LA County jail residents at the hands of Sheriff’s Department personnel. It’s another thing to see them. Either way it’s troubling, but recently released videos of blatant assaults on individuals in the county’s care struck a more urgent chord.”
“LASD has sought to blame these failings on a lack of staff. But hiring more staff to ‘address’ the excessive force problem will do nothing if those staff continue to be trained, supervised, and led in ways that only feed a long-troubled culture. Without interrogating and upending the status quo, adding staff would only result in more personnel who engage in abuse or stand idly by while individuals behind bars are assaulted.
As the CCJV report noted years ago, what is needed isn’t rocket science — the right policies, the right accountability measures, and consistent enforcement of those measures. These recommendations still hold true, though several are more urgent than ever.”
