Los Angeles Sexual Assault Lawyer Blog

A two-year investigation recently concluded by the U.S. Department of Justice has found that sheriff's deputies in the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department's northern sectors of Palmdale and Lancaster routinely used racial bias in subjecting black public housing residents to unnecessary stops, seizures and the use of excessive and unreasonable force, even when individuals were handcuffed.

Our Los Angeles sexual assault attorneys are appalled by what has apparently been allowed to unfold in these regions for years unchecked by higher-ups within the agency.

The Mojave Desert stations, located about 70 miles north of Los Angeles, became the subject of a federal inquiry after a series of similar complaints were lodged by black residents who had recently moved to the area. Virtually all of their stories were the same and involved a violation of their civil rights by officers who had formed an opinion against them primarily on the basis of their skin color and also where they lived.

The report minced no words: The LASD engaged in a pattern of unreasonable force against its minority populace. What's more, of 180 officer misconduct complaints made by residents over the course of 12 months, only one of those complaints was formally investigated internally by the agency.

This is not the first time the agency has come under scrutiny for its interactions with minorities, specifically in the Antelope Valley region. A 2010 report released by the Police Assessment Resources Center found deputies there were more likely to use force in obstruction arrests against minority suspects than with their white counterparts.

The following year, the Community Action League and the NAACP filed suit alleging that deputies in Lancaster and Palmdale were racially discriminant against those who lived in low-income housing areas.

Sheriff Lee Baca has said that he disagrees with the conclusion of the federal report, but nonetheless has "instituted reforms to improve the department." Of course, if nothing was wrong, why would it require improvement?

A spokesman for the department was quoted as saying it firmly denies any allegation of discrimination or racial profiling, saying, "We haven't seen any." Of course, that's easy to say when your agency turns a blind eye to such problems by simply refusing to investigate the claims.

In Palmdale, the city is comprised of two-thirds black residents, according to data from the U.S. Census. It's worth noting that the area of Antelope Valley had the highest rate of alleged hate crimes in Los Angeles County as of 2010, according to federal authorities.

Latino and black residents were more likely than those of any other race to be pulled over and searched. However, most weren't cited, calling into question whether deputies ever had any real probable cause to initiate most of these stops in the first place. Additionally, it was reported that sheriff's deputies, in violation of the Fourth Amendment, routinely placed black suspects in the back of police cruisers for minor offenses.

Among the reforms promised by Baca include re-training deputies on the use-of-force policy and participation in community feedback meetings. Deputies must also carry complaint forms when they are out on patrol. However, it's unclear what good that will do if the agency doesn't take any meaningful steps to alter its approach to actually investigating those complaints.