The Sheriff’s Department had previously been warned about problems with probationary evaluations, the inspector general’s report noted. New sheriff’s deputies who perform poorly on the job during their first year are not being weeded out, leaving them to potentially cause problems years down the road in life-or-death situations, according to a report by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s inspector general. In 2010, the Sheriff’s Department hired nearly 300 officers from a little-known county police force, including some who had accidentally fired their weapons, had sex at work and solicited prostitutes. The Sheriff’s Department has a history of hiring some deputies with checkered pasts, and misconduct has been a recurring issue, especially in the jails, where deputies begin their careers before moving on to street patrol assignments. In its landmark 2012 report, the Citizens’ Commission on Jail Violence stated that new deputies needed to be rigorously assessed.

Source: Los Angeles Times June 29, 2016 12:00 UTC