Sheriff Lee Baca Answers Tough Questions

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'Liability' was the word of the day for the L.A. County Board of Supervisors. Sheriff Lee Baca defended his department during the contentious meeting.

Supervisor Gloria Molina acted as the force behind the attack. She worried that unclear guidelines could leave the county open to lawsuits. The ACLU recently sued the Sheriff's department for violating human rights in the jail system. The fight during the meeting came down to the use of 'directives' versus 'policies.' Sheriff Baca contends there isn't a difference.

"Well by our standard, and by the common professional standards of the word directive or policy, are one in the same. Directives are policies," said Baca. "In fact, in case law, which is something I'm a little familiar with, the fact that we don't do something, let's say nothing is written, can be interpreted in a court as policy."

Molina didn't buy it and she consulted County Counsel John Krattli.

"Is this the case?" asked Molina.

"I'd want to consider that further," said Krattli.

"I would think so," Molina responded. "I think a good lawyer is going to pull out that there's a difference between directives and policies."

Supervisor Molina also reprimanded the Sheriff for claiming the use of force has decreased in the jails. Molina admits to a county wide decrease, but she says it's actually doubled at the Men's Central Jail.

"Again, I think the issue for us is trying to get a recognition of when you make statements like, 'we've had a decrease of use of force,' and we look at the numbers in December, January, and February of this year, they don't show a decrease," said Molina.

The sheriff's department has planned for the use of 705 new cameras in both the Men's Central Jail and the Twin Towers facility in order to decrease its liability, but the jails computer network needs a $2.5 million upgrade first. Project leader Mario Mejica says the network needs to increase ten times what it is now.

"Basically what that means is like a highway. You're coming across the 5, 10, and 60, and you're just jammed," Mejica said. "Basically what we have to do is we have to increase that highway."

The upgrade is expected to be complete at Men's Central Jail by May, with Twin Towers following in July. Today's meeting only covered three of the recommendations made by Special Counsel Merrick Bobb. The Board and the Sheriff will meet again in the future to discuss them further.