Subpoena power process explained & LASD highlights their website
Los Angeles, CA – The Los Angeles County Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission hosted its monthly meeting today. The Commission listened to presentations from L.A. County Office of the County Counsel and L.A. County Sheriff's Department as well as public comments.
Subpoena Power
L.A. County Counsel Principal Deputy Lauren Black provided an overview of subpoena power. Black highlighted the amendments to the County Code from the updated Commission ordinance and the Inspector General ordinance. These ordinances will take effect February 27, 2020.
“Subpoena power does not allow unlimited access to information, instead it is a mechanism to obtain materials that are not otherwise protected by law,” explained Black. “So what that means is that if something was legally protected before this ordinance amendment, it doesn’t change character by the passage of this county ordinance, so it’s still protected.”
Black acknowledged that if Measure R passes on the March 3 ballot, it would amend the Commission ordinance. The County Measure R official summary and full text is available on lavote.net.
Updated LASD Website
L.A. County Sheriff’s Lieutenant John Satterfield presented on the updates to the Department’s website, highlighting the intention to have the entire contents of the Sheriff’s Department available online, with three legally mandated exceptions. He provided an overview and showed the updated webpage on deputy involved shootings. He explained the goal to post additional information online, such as a summary, reports and videos.
“I’m hopefully that those summaries are also going to be presented with a trauma informed lens,” said Patti Giggans, L.A. County Civilian Oversight Commission Chair and Executive Director of Peace Over Violence. “We all want transparency, but we also need sensitivity, compassion and empathy. We don’t want families to be reading information on a public forum… and the families have not been adequately informed.”
Next Meeting
Executive Director Brian K. Williams announced that the next Commission Meeting will be held on Thursday, March 19 from 9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. at St. Anne’s Conference Center, 155 N. Occidental Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90026. RSVP.
Audio Recording:
To listen to the full audio recording of the meeting.
Media Contact:
Jennifer Osborn, Community Information Officer
josborn@coc.lacounty.gov
Office: (213) 253-5678
Cell: (213) 952-9036
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