Alex Villanueva | |
---|---|
33rd Sheriff of Los Angeles County | |
In office December 3, 2018 –December 5, 2022 | |
Preceded by | Jim McDonnell |
Succeeded by | Robert Luna |
Personal details | |
Born | 1963 (age 60–61) Chicago,Illinois,U.S. |
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse | Vivian Villanueva |
Children | 1 |
Education | San Bernardino Valley College (AA) Excelsior College (BLS) California State University,Northridge (MPA) University of La Verne (DPA) |
Signature | |
Police career | |
Country | United States |
Department | Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department |
Service years | 1986–2022 |
Rank | Sheriff (2018–2022) Lieutenant (2011–2018) Sergeant (2000–2011) Deputy Sheriff (1986–2000) |
Military career | |
Allegiance | United States |
Service | United States Air Force California Air National Guard California Army National Guard |
Years of service | 1983–1993 |
Rank | 1st Lieutenant |
Alejandro Villanueva [1] is an American law enforcement officer who served as the 33rd sheriff of Los Angeles County,California from 2018 until 2022. He defeated incumbent sheriff Jim McDonnell in the 2018 L.A. County Sheriff's race,making him the first to unseat an incumbent in over 100 years. [2] Before becoming Sheriff,he was a lieutenant with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. [3]
The first member of the Democratic Party to be elected Sheriff in 138 years,Villanueva campaigned as a reformer and appealed to some progressive values,but has received notoriety for more conservative policies during his tenure,as well as high levels of corruption. [4] Villanueva lost his bid for reelection in 2022 by a wide margin of 61.3% to 38.7% against former Long Beach Police Chief Robert Luna. [5]
Villanueva was born in Chicago,Illinois in 1963 to a Puerto Rican father and Polish-American mother. His family moved to Rochester,New York at an early age. [6] When Villanueva was nine years old,his family moved to Aguadilla,Puerto Rico,where he learned Spanish and walked to school while reading books along the rural back roads beside sugar cane fields. [7]
He began his college education while in Puerto Rico and earned an associate degree in Liberal Arts from San Bernardino Valley College in California in 1986 and a Bachelor of Liberal Studies from the University of the State of New York,Regents College,now known as Excelsior College. Villanueva then earned a Master of Public Administration from California State University,Northridge and a Doctorate of Public Administration from University of La Verne. [8] Villanueva's dissertation was on the subject of leadership diversity in law enforcement. [9]
Villanueva served in the United States military for 10 years. After graduating from high school in Puerto Rico,Villanueva served in the United States Air Force and California Air National Guard from 1983 to 1985. He was stationed at Norton Air Force Base in San Bernardino,California and March Air Force Base in Riverside,California. It was at this time that Villanueva was a Senior Airman in the USAF and was hired by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. Villanueva remained in the military,however,for another seven years,serving in the California Army National Guard from 1985 to 1992 where he was commissioned and served as 1st Lieutenant (2nd Battalion,144th Field Artillery Regiment,40th Infantry Division). [9]
Villanueva joined the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department in 1986 and eventually settled in La Habra Heights,California. After completing the Sheriff's Academy (Class 232),Villanueva was assigned to the Inmate Reception Center,the processing center for the Sheriff's Department's jail system. [10]
In 1988,Villanueva initiated the drive to ban smoking in the Los Angeles County jail system as part of a national effort to ban second-hand smoke. The ban was implemented in 1990. [11] [12]
He patrolled the community of East Los Angeles,California and volunteered to lead one of the first community policing teams in the nation as permitted by the Community Oriented Policing (COPS) grant program launched by President Bill Clinton. The team Villanueva led was located at the Maravilla Housing Project.
After his time at East Los Angeles Sheriff Station,Villanueva transferred to the Training Bureau where he served as a Drill Instructor at the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department Academy. He was promoted to the rank of Sergeant,where he worked Lennox and Carson Sheriff Stations,the Community College Bureau,as well as the Advanced Officer Training unit. Villanueva was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant and served at the Century Regional Detention Facility,which primarily houses female inmates. In 2014,Villanueva moved on to the Pico Rivera Sheriff Station,where he served as Watch Commander. Villanueva retired from the Sheriff's Department in 2018.
From 2006 to 2010,Villanueva was an adjunct professor of criminal justice at California State University,Long Beach. [13]
Villanueva was sworn into office as sheriff on December 3,2018.
In 2012,the ACLU exposed widespread abuses in the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department,prompting an FBI investigation. Sheriff Lee Baca,Undersheriff Paul Tanaka,and numerous other department employees were caught in the scandal and were later convicted of various federal charges. [14] Former Long Beach Police Chief Jim McDonnell was elected Sheriff in 2014,with the expectation he would fix the problems. However,Villanueva,then close to retirement,stated that he decided McDonnell had failed to restore trust,saying "everyone expected Jim McDonnell to clean house. But he didn't do that." [15] McDonnell removed only a few upper-rank staff,instead focusing on catching lower-rank personnel in infractions. Villanueva called it "management by gotcha." [16]
Villanueva announced his campaign for sheriff of Los Angeles County on June 28,2017, [16] promising to "reform,rebuild and restore" the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department by "reforming the organization around the principles of community policing and ethical standards of conduct." [15] He competed against incumbent Sheriff McDonnell and retired Commander Bob Lindsey. Villanueva received 33% of the vote,to McDonnell's 47%,and Lindsey's 19%. Villanueva and McDonnell advanced to the general election runoff.
Villanueva won the general election on November 4,2018,with 53% to 47% for McDonnell. Villanueva was the first person in 104 years to unseat a sitting sheriff of Los Angeles County. Though the election is non-partisan,he was also the first Democrat to win the sheriff's seat in 138 years. [17] He claims to be "a Democrat of the party of JFK and FDR." [18]
Villanueva lost his bid for reelection in 2022 to Robert Luna by a margin of 61% to 39%. [19] The race focused on issues that included alleged deputy gangs,lack of oversight,and allegations of internal harassment and retaliation against purported whistleblowers.
Villanueva inherited a department that was understaffed by at least 1,300 personnel. [20] [21] According to an op-ed Villanueva wrote,he hired 1,100 deputies in his first year and banned the recruitment and hiring of out of state applicants for deputy sheriff,believing deputies should reflect the communities they will serve. [22]
He has described 80% of the LASD as "Conservative and far right". [18]
Numerous bodies in Los Angeles County and California have clashed with Villanueva over the accountability of the Sheriff's office. Following several occasions during which the sheriff refused to appear before them,the Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission called on Villanueva to resign in October 2020. [23] In January 2021,California Attorney General Xavier Becerra launched a civil rights investigation of the LA County Sheriff's Department which sought to determine whether the LASD has engaged in a pattern or practice of unconstitutional policing,following allegations of excessive force,retaliation,and other misconduct. [24]
In 2022,a LASD commander filed legal papers accusing Villanueva of obstructing an investigation into a 2021 incident where a police deputy kneeled on a handcuffed inmate’s head,as well as retaliating against whistleblowers. [25] In response,Villanueva held a press conference and presented a graphic with arrows linking an LA Times reporter,a political rival,and the sheriff department's inspector general,stating that all were subject to a probe,later clarifying on Twitter that the reporter was not being criminally charged. [26]
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department has a long history with deputy gangs,some of which have been accused of violence. [27] One of the most prominent such groups is the "Banditos" at East Los Angeles Sheriff Station. [28] [29] On his first day in office,Villanueva removed the captain of East Los Angeles Sheriff Station and transferred 36 deputies away from the station. Ultimately,22 deputies were suspended for misconduct and four were terminated. [28] Despite this,reports have surfaced from organizations like the RAND Corporation that deputy gangs persist,documenting at least four groups in the Sheriff's Department that still remain active as of 2021. [30] In 2022,an investigation was launched into alleged gang activity within the LASD,by Inspector General Max Huntsman.
Within hours of Tiger Woods’February 2021 crash in Rolling Hills Estates,Sheriff Villanueva announced that the crash was purely an accident. Woods was traveling twice the speed limit in the middle of a clear day when he totaled the SUV he was driving. [31] He had an empty,unlabeled pill bottle in the vehicle. No blood or alcohol tests were performed at the scene of the accident nor at the hospital. Villanueva stated he was not under the influence of any substance,and so no tests were warranted. [32]
In January 2020,former Los Angeles Lakers basketball player Kobe Bryant,his daughter Gianna,and seven others were killed in a helicopter crash in Calabasas,California. Within several weeks,the department learned that a deputy at the scene had shared a photo of the accident scene with an unauthorized person at a local bar. [33] Department policy at the time did not prohibit such an act. Villanueva created a new policy to ban such behavior,and supported Assembly Bill 2655 also known as 'The Kobe Bryant Act of 2020'. [34] The purpose of the bill was to ban and criminalize unauthorized taking or distribution of photos at accident scenes by first responders. [35] [8] [36]
During the COVID-19 pandemic,Villanueva declined to enforce vaccine requirements for LASD staff. [37]
Department officials conducted a threat assessment in August 2020 to identify risks to the sheriff’s safety. They began work on an emergency helicopter landing pad on private property above his home in 2021 to be able to quickly extract him. County attorneys received a cease-and-desist letter from Southern California Gas that owned the property and had not given written consent for the grading and installation of the landing pad. A lawyer for the department stated “This activity was without the authorization or approval of SoCalGas,for which SoCalGas would be entitled to damages for trespass and inverse condemnation”. [38] The department also did not seek a required permit from the state for construction of an emergency use helipad. [39]
In September 2020,Villanueva secured $35 million in funding from the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to implement a body-worn camera program across the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. [40] Though the LASD was one of the first law enforcement agencies in the nation to test body-worn camera technology,prior sheriffs had failed to implement such a system. [41]
Villanueva directed the removal of federal immigration agents from Los Angeles County jails,court facilities,and patrol stations. [42] [43] During his 2018 campaign,Villanueva promised to end the "pipeline to deportation",which he described as being built upon the sheriff's department's cooperation and financial ties with federal immigration authorities. In August 2018,Villanueva instituted a permanent moratorium [44] on transferring undocumented immigrants to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. [45]
From 2005 to 2018,the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and Board of Supervisors accepted $122,189,627 from the United States Government in exchange for a database of inmates without proof of valid immigration status. Villanueva suspended the department's participation in this program immediately after taking office,describing the cash payments as "blood money". [46] [47]
On September 12,2023 Villanueva announced his candidacy for the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors,challenging incumbent Janice Hahn. In his announcement,Villanueva blamed the board of supervisors for neglecting their "responsibility to provide for the health,safety and welfare of the county". [48] He lost the race to Hahn in the March 5th Primary by a margin of 28.1% to 57.8%. [49]
Villanueva is married to Vivian Villanueva,who retired from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department in 2016 after 24 years of service. [50] They have one child.
Paul K. Tanaka is an American convicted felon,former politician,and former law enforcement officer who served with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department until his conviction in 2016. He was convicted April 4,2016,in Federal Court of conspiracy to obstruct justice and obstruction of justice. Tanaka served as Undersheriff of Los Angeles County from 2011 to 2013. He was also mayor of the City of Gardena,California. His tenure has provoked controversy due to allegations of violence,corruption,and alleged membership in the Lynwood Vikings,a deputy gang,which was described as a "neo-Nazi,white supremacist gang" by a federal judge.
Leroy David Baca is a former American law enforcement officer and convicted felon who served as the 30th Sheriff of Los Angeles County,California from 1998 to 2014. In 2017,he was convicted of felony obstruction of justice and lying to the FBI.
The Compton Police Department was the municipal law enforcement agency for the city of Compton,California until it was disbanded by the City Council in September 2000. The Compton City Council then contracted with the County of Los Angeles for law enforcement services provided by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
The History of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department began with its founding in 1850 as the first professional police force in the Los Angeles area.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD),officially the County of Los Angeles Sheriff's Department,is a law enforcement agency serving Los Angeles County,California. LASD is the largest sheriff's department in the United States and the third largest local police agency in the United States,following the New York Police Department,and the Chicago Police Department. LASD has approximately 18,000 employees,9,915 sworn deputies and 9,244 unsworn members. It is sometimes confused with the similarly-named but separate Los Angeles Police Department which provides law enforcement services within the city of Los Angeles,which is the county seat of Los Angeles County,although both departments have their headquarters in downtown Los Angeles.
Men's Central Jail is a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department county jail for men in Los Angeles,Los Angeles County,California,United States. Built in 1963,it is one of the oldest county jails in California. The Men's Central Jail is located at 441 Bauchet St.,Los Angeles 90012. The Men's Central Jail houses men who are awaiting trial or who have been convicted of crimes.
James McDonnell is an American law enforcement officer who has been the 59th Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department since November 8,2024.
The Lynwood Vikings is one of several deputy gangs of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD),appearing to meet the legal definition of a gang when taking into account the department's repeated illegal conduct. The Vikings,formerly based at the now-defunct Lynwood station,are composed of sworn deputy sheriffs in the LASD.
On February 4,2018,Anthony Weber,a 16-year-old African-American boy,was fatally shot by deputies from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department in Westmont,California. Deputies came to the scene because they received a 911 call. The caller claimed someone had pointed a gun at him. The deputies claimed that Weber reached into his waistband so they shot him over ten times. Deputies did not find a gun on Weber.
The Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs (ALADS) is one of two police unions for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD) officers,the other being the Los Angeles Sheriff's Professional Association (LASPA).
Andres Guardado was an 18-year-old Salvadoran-American man shot in the back and killed by a deputy sheriff from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department on June 18,2020,in the unincorporated community of West Rancho Dominguez,California,just outside of the Harbor Gateway section of the City of Los Angeles. Guardado ran from two uniformed police officers into an alley,where he died after being shot by deputies. Seven shots were fired and Guardado was hit in the upper torso. Police say that Guardado produced a handgun during the chase. Investigators do not believe it was fired. Accounts of the incident are disputed between police and witnesses. Police stated they were searching for footage of the incident. Store-owner Andrew Heney reported that several cameras at the scene,including a digital video recorder that stored surveillance footage,were taken and destroyed by police.
Dijon Kizzee,an African-American man,was shot and killed in the Los Angeles County community of Westmont on August 31,2020,by deputies of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD). For days,protesters gathered outside the South Los Angeles sheriff's station. By September 6,those demonstrations had escalated to clashes,with deputies firing projectiles and tear gas at the crowds and arresting 35 people over four nights of unrest.
The Compton Executioners is a deputy gang within the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD). In July 2021,U.S. Congressional Representative Maxine Waters called for a Department of Justice inquiry into the existence of the gang.
The 2022 Los Angeles County elections were held on November 8,2022,in Los Angeles County,California,with nonpartisan blanket primary elections for certain offices being held on June 7. Two of the five seats of the Board of Supervisors were up for election,as well as two of the countywide elected officials,the Sheriff and the Assessor. In addition,elections were held for the Superior Court,along with two ballot measures.
Cerise Castle is an American journalist. She received the IWMF Courage in Journalism Award and the American Mosaic Journalism Prize for her investigative series on deputy gangs in the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
Robert G. Luna is an American law enforcement officer who is the Sheriff of Los Angeles County,previously serving as Chief of the Long Beach Police Department before defeating Sheriff Alex Villanueva in the 2022 election.
Max Huntsman is an American attorney who became the first Inspector General of Los Angeles County,California in 2013. He is recognized for his oversight of the county's law enforcement agencies,with a focus on constitutional policing and justice administration. Huntsman graduated from Yale Law School and started his career as a civil servant in 1991,at the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office,where he handled political corruption and police misconduct cases.
Since the 1970s,several deputies of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department have formed gangs in which membership is exclusive to certain sheriff's deputies,often along ethnic lines,and requires certain acts,such as police violence,in order to be initiated into said gang. Members are often tattooed and are expected to maintain the blue wall of silence,fabricate evidence,engage in police corruption,and engage in criminal activity such as vandalism and homicide,among other things. Historically,almost all instances of deputy gang violence has either been ignored by the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office or the office has stood by the members of the deputy gangs,alongside the tolerance or assistance of the county sheriff. Although not unique to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department,it suffers from the most prolific case of the existence of law enforcement gangs in the state.
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