Villanueva comments on cuts to Special Victims, Cyber Crimes bureaus were ‘false,’ OIG says

The appointed watchdog for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department excoriated its leaders on Wednesday for what he said were false statements about recent budget cuts, including claims from the sheriff that he was being forced to eliminate investigative units.

At a virtual press conference Wednesday, Inspector General Max Huntsman said the Sheriff’s Department “has falsely claimed they’ve been told to eliminate critical units” like the Special Victims and the Fraud and Cyber Crimes bureaus as a result of hundreds of millions of dollars in cuts taking effect this week.

In an email, Huntsman said he’s “very concerned” over false statements by the sheriff.

“LASD proposed in writing the exact cuts LASD now claims were proposed by the CEO in an effort to ‘defund’ the police,” Huntsman said. “This is the worst sort of dog whistling and is not the first time LASD has personally targeted the CEO.”

For about a week, Sheriff Alex Villanueva repeatedly has said CEO Sachi Hamai’s office, which is in charge of drafting the county’s budget, suggested cutting the two bureaus, as well as the Parks and Major Crimes bureaus, among other units. He also said the L.A. County Board of Supervisors specifically asked for such cuts.

In a Facebook Live video on June 24, Villanueva spoke at length about the cuts in a spontaneous, casual back-and-forth with viewers.

“(The Board of Supervisors) want to eliminate the Special Victims Bureau. Wiped out,” the sheriff said. “These are the people that investigate sexual assaults, child abuse, child pornography, child exploitation, child trafficking.”

A spokeswoman for Hamai’s office says that wasn’t true

“These are the sheriff’s own recommended cuts,” Hamai’s office said in a statement.

The Sheriff’s Department, like every other county agency, was asked to submit possible cuts of 10% to 20% ahead of the finalized budget process that took place on Monday — in those suggestions, the department put the bureaus on the table as being up for cuts to their budgets.

The board on Monday approved billions of dollars in cuts that will eliminate thousands of positions and lead to hundreds of layoffs amidst a severe economic downturn during the coronavirus pandemic.

With their large share of the budget, public safety agencies were hit the hardest. The Sheriff’s Department will see $162.1 million in cuts. About 1,500 positions will be eliminated — most were vacant, but there will still be 457 potential layoffs, mostly among jail staff, the county CEO’s office said.

Even with the cutting, however, it’s not clear if either the Special Victims or Cyber Crimes bureaus will actually be entirely eliminated.

The CEO’s office has said the Sheriff’s Department has options, and that some cuts were avoided. The original plan to cut 10% from its budget was pared down to 8% — and even in that scenario, some jobs were saved.

According to the statement, “the sheriff’s plan would have eliminated 1,525 positions and resulted in 894 potential layoffs,” but the CEO’s budget staff reduced those by half, replacing most of the job cuts with reducing 437 vacant positions.

The remaining 457 layoffs “will come entirely from custody operations,” according to the CEO’s office.

Jails across the county have already been somewhat emptied — at least 5,000 inmates have been released since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, Villanueva has said.

Conrad Meredith, the sheriff’s director of Administrative Services, said the budget cuts would mean closing of of some jail wings.

Meredith provided similar numbers to the CEO’s office of vacant positions being eliminated and layoffs. In an interview, he also said the Special Victims Bureau and others would be “curtailed,” not eliminated.

Villanueva earlier spoke about effects to the Special Victims Bureau from expected cuts — on May 13, he said he was consolidating 10 different bureaus. The Special Victims and Human Trafficking bureaus would be combined into one.

The sheriff said cuts would come to supervisor positions: captains, lieutenants and sergeants. He did not say the Special Victims Bureau would be closed.

Sheriff’s officials did not immediately return a request for comment on the inspector general’s statements on Wednesday.

During his tenure, Villanueva has frequently sparred with the board, with Huntsman’s office and the county CEO. The sheriff has frequently made policy fight a matter of personality.

“If they don’t like who I am,” Villanueva said on May 13, “I can’t help you there.”