Los Angeles supervisors call for Sheriff Alex Villanueva’s resignation and the response is aggressive

Photo: Aurelia Ventura / Impremedia / La Opinion

After some Los Angeles County supervisors joined the call from the commission overseeing the Los Angeles Sheriff’s performance to call for Alex Villanueva’s resignation, the troubled department responded with a defensive statement.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said Villanueva will remain in office and criticized: “The mere fact that this motion is being considered, particularly when two members of our department fight after an ambush that could cost them their lives, is morally disgusting and emblematic of the commission’s political animosityThe department said in a statement.

“It is with great reluctance that I ask the resignation of Sheriff Villanueva,” Robert Bonner had said this Thursday during a meeting of the Civil Surveillance Commission. “The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deserves better and so do the people of Los Angeles County.”.

Supervisors Shelia Kuehl and Mark Ridley-Thomas expressed their support for Commissioner Bonner, while Supervisors Hilda Solís and Kathryn Barger commended comments of praise for Bonner and concerns about the Sheriff’s Department.

“He really is a rogue sheriff.”said supervisor Ridley-Thomas about Villanueva. “It is really important for this sheriff to understand that his conduct, his violation of any of the common rules that govern a law enforcement agency is the greatest threat to public safety.”

Villanueva has accumulated criticism with the addition of scandals related to corruption, practices without transparency of the department he leads, such as the existence of gangs of sheriffs within the department, and abuses of authority against citizens, activists and even journalists.

In that atmosphere, the previous Saturday there was a cunning attack on two sheriffs at a subway station in Compton.