Oversight Commission to Pursue Legal Action Against Villanueva

Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva

The Civilian Oversight Commission voted unanimously on Thursday to pursue legal action against Sheriff Alex Villanueva for defying a subpoena to appear before the committee.

Villanueva has refused to appear at multiple commission meetings and recently missed a critical meeting to address measures to protect incarcerated people against the Coronavirus infection, and a dispute with the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisor’s over issues related to the budget.

At that time, local residents were hoping to hear from the sheriff on closing substations in Altadena and Marina Del Rey.

Villanueva later walked back those plans.

“The subpoena, Measure R, the ordinance [approving subpoena powers] enacted by the Board of Supervisors, all these things were generated without oversight, without any third-party legal analysis of its constitutionality,” Villanueva said in a video conference streamed on a department social media account. “That still remains in doubt, and until that issue is resolved I will not be adhering to any subpoena issued by either entity, be it the inspector general or the Oversight Commission.”

The commission is tasked with oversight of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

The May 7 vote was the first time the oversight body, which is appointed by the county Board of Supervisors, used its newly granted subpoena authority.

Villanueva has been engaged in a feud with the County Board of Supervisors of the department’s budget.

According to supervisors, the county’s jail population has decreased by 5,000 inmates, yet Villanueva has not decreased the staffing in the county’s jails.

Supervisors also want Villanueva to further cut overtime.

Last week the two sides traded insults as they sparred over the department’s $3.5 billion budget.

Villanueva was elected in 2018 when he beat incumbent Jim McDonnell, becoming the first outsider to lead the department in a century. He soon came under fire for critics for hiring deputies formerly fired.