The California Contract Cities Association has announced the formation of a public safety working group to address concerns about use-of-force policies by law enforcement officers and other public safety issues.
The CCCA represents 70 cities in California that contract for services such as policing and firefighting rather than maintaining their own police and fire departments. West Hollywood Mayor Lindsey Horvath recently was elected president of the CCCA.
A letter from Horvath announcing the formation of the working group noted that “the recent deaths of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and Ahmaud Arbery, among others, have sparked nationwide calls on local elected officials to review law enforcement use-of-force policies and to ensure that supportive care is prioritized in response to the contributing factors for public safety concerns.”
The letter mentions concerns raised “regarding incidents of use-of-force, ongoing liability concerns, and other issues raised by residents in your communities.”
West Hollywood this fiscal year is paying $19 million for 64 deputies and other officers and personnel at the West Hollywood Sheriff’s Station. Eleven percent ($1.8 million) of the amount paid for deputies’ salaries is to cover the settlement of lawsuits filed against the Sheriff’s Department over issues in all of the 44 cities that the department contracts with. The liability insurance rate has grown from 4% ($550,336) in 2015 to 11% this fiscal year as the department has had to settle a growing number of lawsuits.
The working group will address a broad range of issues that include public safety enforcement and accountability; law enforcement protocols and reforms; LASD contract terms and overhead rates; LASD liability/risk reduction efforts, and the LASD’s response to issues such as mental illness and substance abuse.
Horvath’s letter notes that under the current system “Sheriff’s deputies address issues related to homelessness throughout the region, including mental illness and substance abuse, in which most of the Department is not specialized.”
The public safety working group will seek input from L.A. County Sheriff Villanueva and others from the Sheriff’s Department, as well as the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisor and other county staff members. Villanueva and the Board of Supervisors have been engaged in a battle over Villanueva’s management of the department and whether or not to re-allocate part of its budget to pay for support for the mentally ill and homeless rather than have Sheriff’s deputies deal with those issues.
Horvath and West Hollywood City Manager will be members of the working group. Others include Lomite Mayor Pro-Tem Mark Waronek, Artesia Mayor Ali Sajjad Taj, South El Monte Mayor Gloria Olmos, Compton Councilmember Michelle Chambers, Cudahy Vice Mayor Jose Gonzalez, Carson Mayor Pro-Tem Cedric Hicks, Lawndale Mayor Pro-Tem Bernadette Suarez, Duarte Councilmember Toney Lewis, Malibu City Manager Reva Feldman, Paramount City Manager John Moreno, and Santa Clarita City Manager Ken Stripland.
The West Hollywood City Council currently is seeking input from the city’s Public Safety Commission and other bodies on a plan to engage an independent contractor to evaluate public safety services in the city.
Wouldn’t it be nice if we lived in a World where Common Sense existed over complex Economy of action.
This is calling the kettle black! A law breaker wants to lead the charge on police reform?
She couldn’t get her task force approved by her own city council but goes around and does this to make a name for herself?
Forget Lindsey. She doesn’t care about you. The November riots are coming. Defend the police.
Likewise, in addition to the comment on Cannabis/Tobacco tolerance in residential units, Ms. Horvath should demonstrate constructive action in this discussion. The time has passed for her to demonstrate leadership individually and as a representative of a city that makes exponential claims of leadership. With the possible exception of one of two categories, the amount of leadership could be contained in an eye dropper.
In this era of Faux Leadership, how about becoming a competent Worker Bee and let the results decide the acclaim.
To self-ascribe the descriptor of leader is akin to calling oneself an intellectual. They are community observations which should never find their genesis in ones personal ego. The same holds for courtesy titles and honorifics. A person of proper manners and social grace would never introduce oneself as Mr. Smith or Dr. Jones, or seek to insist upon any display of title or status (as happens in WeHo and elsewhere in the game of politics). One doesn’t demand respect, one earns it.
This is laugh out loud time. Lindsey Horvath, president of this organization, is going to talk about police reform!
She should be talking about “mayor” reform. She supported the trans flag being painted by her great friend John Erickson and advocated it should remain in the middle of the WEHO intersection. These two hair brain millennials then spent hours tweeting as they defended their support and actions.
The city manager, an adult, immediately had the flagremoved. Because it was against the law! This is another reason Lindsey Horvath should be sued for Breach of Trust.
Couldn’t agree more.
CCCA’s 2020 policy platform is pretty good on criminal justice and sentencing reform, but tepid on police reform. No surprise they prioritize concerns of City liability, hopefully not at the cost of meaningful police accountability measures…
An expansion of the COPPS Team would be excellent. They have the apparent right character, work ethic and are heads above many deputies that appear to be misguided, roaming around West Hollywood having sprint car races and ignoring obvious issues.
West Hollywood has only 6 member of this team.
Community Oriented Policing and Problem Solving.
This is what the highly respected retiring member Sgt. Jon Klaus was a part of.
The workable answer is right in front of our Mayor yet she and the city council don’t see it and will travel to conferences to engage in busy work to find complicated solutions to simple problems.
Logic, ethics, strategy accountability are guiding forces that generally work.
Weho supports the sherrif’s department.
No, no we don’t. Villanueva needs to go. The only reason I voted for him was that the Dem party supported him. Worst designation ever!
Lots of buyers remorse. Dems are at it again with Gascon.
A fundamental problem (one of many) is that Queen Lindsey continues to refer to herself as an elected official, and that overly officious arrogance that is her station in political life. A decorum of modesty and true calling to helping the human condition would have such a person refer to themself as a public servant, eager to do the work of the people, rather than the work of the ego. One wonders if she has already engaged a real estate agent in Sacramento.
Lindsey Horvath wouldn’t have a ghost of an idea how to add valuable insight to this group. Perhaps she isn’t required to because her mission there is to act as a figure head.
there’s nothing wrong with the police. quit pushing this false narrative.
Why? Weho has a good relationship with the Sheriffs Department. We will need them for the riots in November after the election.