Baca urged to place more cameras in jail

Baca urged to place more cameras in jail

Sheriff Lee Baca, appearing Tuesday before the Board of Supervisors to report on what he is doing to prevent unprovoked violence by deputies against inmates in the county jails, was urged to speed up the installation of several hundred additional surveillance cameras.Baca, in uniform, appeared alongside a task force of four jail commanders he assigned to reduce the use of force in the lockups.“It is my intent to reduce force to the barest possible minimum,” to ensure that deputies are “not the provocateurs of force, but responders to need,” Baca said.

The use of force to manage the jail population had been averaging 45 to 50 incidents per month, but in October, there were 17 incidents, and only seven of those were significant, he said.The sheriff was forced to take action based on fallout from the Oct. 3 release of an American Civil Liberties Union report alleging the pervasive use of violence, intimidation and excessive force by deputies against inmates. The allegations were supported in part by eyewitness reports from private citizens volunteering in the jails, including a chaplain.

A former top rookie in the department also charged that his supervisor made him beat a mentally ill inmate at the Twin Towers jail and then tried to cover it up, the Los Angeles Times reported. The FBI is also investigating alleged abuses and corruption.The Times cited confidential internal department reports as evidence that high-ranking deputies were aware of the abuse as far back as two years ago, although Baca claimed those reports were not shared with him.“Before they get up to your command, somebody spikes them?” Supervisor Michael Antonovich asked.