14-B
TO: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
FROM: Ryan Smoot, City Manager
SUBJECT: Consideration and possible action to authorize the Mayor to submit a letter to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors requesting action to reduce the number of vacancies and support adequate detention capacity County-wide.
DATE: March 24, 2025
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The costs of the services provided by the Los Angeles Couty Sheriff’s Department (“LASD”) continue to increase. The anticipated increase for fiscal year 25-26 is expected to be 3.5-4.5% for the standard contract rate and an additional 0.5% for the Liability Trust Fund. Despite these cost increases, and the significant increases in recent years, LASD is facing a staffing crisis with over 1,400 vacant Sheriff Deputy positions, leading to deputy fatigue and diminished quality of services provided to residents. As public safety remains a top priority for Bellflower, this crisis directly impacts the City. This action would authorize the Mayor to submit a letter to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors requesting action to reduce the number of vacancies and support adequate detention capacity.
RECOMMENDATION TO CITY COUNCIL
1) Authorize the Mayor to submit a letter to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors requesting action to reduce the number of vacancies and support adequate detention capacity County-wide; or
2) Alternatively, discuss and take other action related to this item.
FISCAL IMPACT
No fiscal impact with respect to this item.
BELL F O «‘1 X
t r o taft'ep s
Staff Report – Letter to Board of Supervisors Regarding LASD March 24, 2025
DISCUSSION
Bellflower residents continue to identify public safety as their top priority, and as one of the 44 cities contracting with the LASD, there is a growing concern surrounding the staffing crisis in the LASD and the inadequate capacity of detention facilities county-wide. Sheriff Luna recently reported over 1,400 vacant Sheriff Deputy positions and has expressed challenges regarding the County’s need to reduce inmate populations in county jails. These shortages have led to increased fatigue and diminished service quality to our residents, but despite ongoing efforts by local leaders, our request for more deputies has gone unanswered. There is also a growing concern that this staffing crisis will worsen as deputies choose to leave for other agencies. As one of the cities that is served by the LA County Sheriff’s Department, Bellflower is and will continue to be directly impacted by this ongoing staffing crisis.
The attached letter requests that the County Supervisors provide immediate relief to these challenges by taking all available measures to increase recruitment and training of Deputy Sheriffs, and to increase available detention capacity County-wide.
ATTACHMENT
Letter to LA County Board of Supervisors ....................................................................... 3
Honorable Janice Hahn
Los Angeles County Supervisor, 4th District
Los Angeles County Hall of Administration
500 West Temple Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Dear Supervisor Hahn,
The City of Bellflower maintains a longstanding partnership with Los Angeles County to keep our community safe, and public safety continues to be a top priority for residents and for the City. Public safety remains the most important issue in the City of Bellflower and our residents. For many years the Sheriff’s Department has been unable to provide the staffing levels our community needs to properly patrol and secure our neighborhoods, and even when arrests are made, the County has been unable to adequately provide for detention facilities necessary to hold those convicted of crimes, so arrestees are released back into our communities. Despite the City Council’s commitment to funding additional patrol units in Bellflower in each of our recent budgets, the Sheriff’s Department is unable to provide additional patrol deputies to serve our community.
It is readily apparent that the primary challenges hindering our ability to maintain public safety in our communities are two-fold. First, the inability of the Department to recruit sufficient numbers of personnel to fill existing and anticipated vacancies. And second, the inadequate and appalling lack of sufficient detention facilities to hold those convicted of serious crimes. Without significant action by the County to increase recruitment efforts and increase the availability of detention facilities, local communities will be forced to continue to seek alternative means of meeting our residents’ needs and the quality of service will continue to decline. It is time the County recognizes the demands of the communities it serves to keep their neighborhoods safe.
The ongoing challenges faced by the Department have forced communities like Bellflower to seek alternative means to meet the demands of our residents. In recent years, the City has spent millions of dollars to provide private security patrols of our local neighborhoods and supplement our Sheriff’s personnel with non-sworn Community Service Officers hired by the City. Recently the Cities of Lakewood, Paramount and Bellflower have formed the Station Cities Joint Powers Authority to provide collective resources to creatively provide public safety services in our communities – services that could be better provided by sworn deputies patrolling our communities.
Even with these efforts, our local Lakewood Station personnel assigned to Bellflower are overtaxed and are heavily reliant on overtime to meet the basic contractual obligations. And, when our deputies are able to make arrests, the department is often forced to release individuals to return right back out into our neighborhoods. We have witnessed firsthand the toll these staffing and detention shortages are having on the morale of the personnel serving our community, and as importantly the impact it has on the public’s perception of law enforcement.
We urge you to match the sentiments of Sheriff Luna and take all measures necessary to improve and bolster recruitment efforts for the Department. We also urge you to expedite plans for additional detention capacity Couty-wide. These investments are critical to ensure the County can continue to provide the public safety services our community relies on and that our residents demand.
Our residents are depending on you to take swift and timely action on this issue and report your progress to local leaders so we can assure our residents, businesses, and visitors that the Sheriff’s Department’s staffing crisis is on its way to resolution.
Sincerely
Raymond Dunton
Mayor, The City of Bellflower