SIB Staff

Sheriff Alex Villanueva addresses policy on deputy cliques and subgroups With Department Members.

Sheriff Alex Villanueva is the FIRST Los Angeles County Sheriff to successfully implement a policy banning “deputy cliques.” The policy went into effect in February 2020, and a video reinforcing his message was recently released to the Department. All sworn Department members have been briefed and are being held accountable. This is what culture change within the organization looks like.

View LASD Policy

PROMOTION ANNOUNCEMENT – MARK REYES PROMOTED TO CAPTAIN, TEMPLE STATION

Mark Reyes has been selected by the area contract cities and Sheriff Alex Villanueva as the next Captain of Temple Sheriff Station (TEM), following the recent retirement of Captain David Flores.  This will be Reyes’ second tour at TEM, having previously been assigned there as a lieutenant.

Reyes began his time on the Department as an explorer at 16 years old.  He was also a community service officer and a custody assistant prior to becoming a deputy.  In 1995, he became a custody deputy at Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood.  He worked in patrol at Transit Services Bureau and Industry Station.  He was a field training officer and a member of a gang task force with the Community Oriented Policing Bureau before promoting to sergeant.

Reyes served five years as a sergeant, both in custody and in the field.  He also worked as an investigator at Internal Affairs Bureau.
When Reyes promoted to lieutenant, he transferred to North County Correctional Facility where he worked as a watch commander.  He then transferred to TEM, where he served as a watch commander and Detective Bureau lieutenant.  From there, he moved to Narcotics Bureau where he was assigned as the operations lieutenant.

Since 2019, Reyes has served as an executive aide for Central Patrol Division, the Assistant Sheriff of Patrol Operations, and lastly, for the Undersheriff’s Office.

This will be Reyes’ first assignment as a captain.  He grew up in the TEM area and is a graduate of Rosemead High School.  He has a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice from Union Institute & University and is fluent in reading, writing and speaking Spanish.  Reyes has two adult children; his daughter is a graduate of Azusa Pacific University and his son is a police officer for another local agency.  He enjoys traveling, golfing and spending time with his family and friends.  Reyes is also a recipient of the Department’s Meritorious Conduct Gold award for rescuing a pilot after an airplane crash.

Temple Station was established in 1926 and provides law enforcement services for the cities of Bradbury, Duarte, Rosemead, South El Monte, and Temple City, as well as the unincorporated areas of Arcadia, Monrovia, Pasadena and San Gabriel.  Reyes will be in charge of approximately 200 professional and sworn personnel who handle an average of 3,900 calls for service per month.

Transparency via SB 1421: Update

Effective January 1, 2019, Senate Bill 1421, the Right to Know Act, went into effect.

This CA bill essentially made public previously confidential records about law enforcement officers involved in shootings or other serious uses of force, as well as those who committed sexual assaults or acts of dishonesty. 

As this law went into effect, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) had very little infrastructure in place to prepare for the onslaught of Public Records Act (PRA) requests that were to come.  As the requests began to pour in, Sheriff Villanueva had been in office for one month and was left with no infrastructure to handle this massive undertaking.  The Sheriff understands the value of transparency and accountability, to that end, the LASD requested funding for personnel, and tracking and redaction software, but was denied multiple times.

As a temporary fix to meet the law’s requirements, Sheriff Villanueva temporarily re-assigned personnel in an effort to meet the demand and instructed LASD’s Data Systems Bureau to create software to move forward at a faster pace.

We are thankful that In November of 2020, the CEO provided funding for the software which is currently in the procurement stage.

Since January 1, 2019, LASD has received 3,725 SB-1421 requests, and Sheriff Villanueva is proud to announce we have managed to fulfill 3,593 of those requests to date.  Given the extraordinary amount of meticulous tracking and legally mandated redacting necessary for every document requested, it is a huge feat that LASD has nearly accomplished the enormous number of SB-1421 requests.  Also noteworthy, LASD currently has 335 SB-1421 cases PUBLICLY posted on www.lasd.org under a new digital page titled “LASD Transparency.”  As new records are released to the requestor, they will be continued to be posted online to that page.  Finally, only those cases that are still being investigated and/or involve civil litigation, cannot be publicly released.

LASD, being the largest Sheriff’s Department in the nation, is the recipient of probably the highest number of PRA requests given the sheer size of our Department and the 10 million residents we serve.

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Operation Safe Streets Bureau Seize Large Amount of Drugs and Illegal Firearms

On the morning of Tuesday, December 1, 2020, Detectives from Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, Operation Safe Streets (OSS) Bureau, conducted a follow up investigation involving a felon in possession of a firearm. Detectives authored and served two search warrants for two locations in the city of El Monte.

During the search warrant, detectives seized eight firearms and a large amount of narcotics which included over 100 lbs. of methamphetamines and approximately 15 lbs. of heroin. Two suspects, both adult males, were arrested for felon in possession of loaded firearms and narcotics for the purposes of sales.

“Despite trying times, our personnel continues to proactively provide the best public safety possible. A lot of delinquent lifestyles start at a young age and involve drugs, gangs and of course, violence. I’m really proud of our OSS Bureau’s dedication, determination and commitment to keep our community safe,” said Sheriff Villanueva.

OSS provides enforcement aimed at combating the criminal activities of hard-core gangs, while intervening to discourage youth from continuing in gang activities.  

Even in the middle of a pandemic criminal activity does not stop. This year, teams from OSS have arrested 461 suspects for violent crimes, and they have seized 305 firearms and conducted 470 search warrant operations.

Anyone who sees activity that appears to be suspicious or criminal in nature should contact their local sheriff’s station, or remain anonymous and call “Crime Stoppers” at (800) 222-TIPS.