Report 2021-105 Recommendation 23 Responses

Report 2021-105: Law Enforcement Departments Have Not Adequately Guarded Against Biased Conduct (Release Date: April 2022)

Recommendation #23 To: Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department

To strengthen its relationships with its community and mitigate the effects of bias on its officers, Los Angeles Sheriff should develop and begin implementing a documented
strategy to do all of the following by April 2023:
- Collaborate with its communities to establish or leverage community advisory boards consisting of representatives of diverse groups. The strategy should specify how it will partner with the boards in the areas of recruitment, hiring, training, and community engagement, as well as how it will leverage the boards to obtain feedback on how it can better serve its community.
- Ensure that officers at all levels regularly participate in community engagement activities.
- Periodically survey its community to assess the effectiveness of its community engagement efforts and solicit feedback on how to improve its operations.

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From October 2023

The LASD established the Office of Constitutional Policing (OCP) in 2023 to ensure a Department-wide focus on engaging and collaborating with the community and obtaining community feedback. The OCP is in the process of establishing a Department-wide formal community engagement plan, to be distributed throughout the Department. Next, the Department is enhancing its community engagement efforts. Patrol station captains host bi-monthly Captain's Advisory Committee meetings which consist of community leaders, members, and sworn personnel. The Department is in the process of implementing a Community Engagement database to track community engagement events, meetings, and activities. The database will allow the Department to analyze meetings, noteworthy events, and participation by community members.To ensure that our engagement efforts are effective and allow for discussion of difficult and challenging topics, the Department recently partnered with the Department of Justice Community Relation Services to conduct "Community Dialogue" meetings throughout the County. Furthermore, on June 14, 2023, the Department entered into a partnership with the Center Policing Equity. This organization works with research institutes to advance knowledge of law enforcement on sociological and psychological dynamics in policing and community relations. The Department has begun the formation of Advisory Committees.The first such group consists of representatives of the LGBTQ+ community who are already actively engaged to assist the department in better addressing the needs of this community. Additional advisory groups are in the process of being formed and are aimed to ensure those groups traditionally under-served have a voice in their Sheriff's Department. In addition, the Department is directly engaging the community in our training programs. For example, in October of this year the Department is hosting a hate crimes summit where deputies receive annual training on hate crimes.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Pending

We look forward to reviewing LASD's community engagement plan when it is completed.

6-Month Agency Response

Due to staffing shortages, I still do not have a team, which makes it difficult to make substantive accomplishments. The strategic plan is still in progress.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Pending

60-Day Agency Response

We have a tracking mechanism in place which seeks to maintain the hiring of applicants reflective of the diversity Los Angeles County. We are making strides to seek input from elected officials and non-profit organizations, such as the NAACP and the California Legislative Black Caucus. We will also continue to seek input from other ethnicity focus groups and incorporate their valued suggestions into upcoming revisions our marketing plan in cooperation with the County CEO's Office.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Pending

All Recommendations in 2021-105

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.