Dennis RomeroThe county's top cop is about to get a new boss — Judge Carlos R. Moreno, who was appointed to the Citizen's Commission on Jail Violence.
County Supervisor Gloria Molina today announced the appointment to the body that was formed “in response to allegations that Sheriff's Deputies working in county custody facilities engaged in unnecessary use of force–and that complaints about such behavior were systematically downplayed, ignored, or covered up.”
Of course, Sheriff Lee Baca, who for years has seemed impervious to the allegations, really has only one boss:
You — the voter — because he's an elected official.
Even his quasi-bosses at the Board of Supervisors don't seem to get it through his bald head that the jail beatings have been a real problem, with reports dating back to the late 1990s.
Baca.; Credit: David Markland
Only recently has Baca acknowledged the issue and vowed to do something about it (more internal investigations, even though the FBI is now on the case).
Too late. Molina:
Justice Moreno's breadth of experience, intellect, integrity, and judicial temperament will be a vital and necessary component in the success of the commission's work of reviewing use of force by deputies in the jails … He has personally visited some of our county jail facilities–including Twin Towers, Men's Central Jail, and the Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood–as well as several state and federal prisons.
The whole board of supes will have to approve the appointment Tuesday, though dissidence on this is unlikely.
The Yale-educated Moreno was an associate justice on the state Supreme Court from 2001 to 2011.
[@dennisjromero/djromero@laweekly.com]
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