Scandals Damage LA Sheriff's Department

LOS ANGELES - The nation's largest sheriff's force is seeing its once-shining image dimmed by a major drug money scandal, large brutality settlements and allegations of ganglike behavior by some deputies.

The 8,000-member Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department suffered its biggest blow last week when a jury convicted six deputies, all formerly with an elite narcotics squad, of skimming cash seized in drug raids. The scandal led to a shake-up in the department's drug operations and jeopardized scores of criminal prosecutions.

``All law-enforcement people feel tainted when something like this takes place,'' said Lt. Mike Post, who heads the vice-narcotics bureau for suburban Glendale's Police Department, which sometimes works with the Sheriff's Department.

This year's problems stand out because the Sheriff's Department has enjoyed a good reputation until now, avoiding the highly publicized scandals of other large law enforcement agencies, including those in New York and Miami.

Admirers have taken a new look at Sheriff Sherman Block's department. And critics have held no fire.

``Sherman Block runs a sloppy, corrupt organization that finally got caught,'' said Stephen Yagman, a lawyer who has successfully sued local law enforcement agencies in brutality cases.

Los Angeles police patrol within the city of Los Angeles and the sheriff is responsible for the sprawling county's unincorporated areas. The sheriff also works in the county's smaller cities that have contracted with the department for police protection.

Block, who was appointed sheriff when his predecessor retired in 1982 and subsequently was elected three times, portrayed the drug money scandal as the work of a few bad deputies in an otherwise fine department. ``It's a tremendous feeling of betrayal,'' he said, calling the personal feeling of loss second only to an officer's death in the line of duty.

Acting in an investigation Block initiated, a grand jury last February indicted 10 sheriff's deputies, including the head of a narcotics unit, on charges they stole $1.4 million in confiscated cash and used the money to buy vacations, boats, houses, luxury cars and electronics.

A federal jury Monday convicted six deputies of stealing $48,000 in confiscated money, and convicted a seventh of circumventing bank requirements to conceal large cash deposits. The prison terms could be as long as 53 years.