Civilian oversight approved for Los Angeles Sheriff's Department

Source: Reuters

A plan to create a civilian oversight panel for the troubled Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department was approved on Tuesday, as county leaders moved to avert problems of the kind that triggered unrest in Ferguson, Missouri.

The measure is a bid to tackle thorny issues faced by the sheriff's department, such as allegations of excessive force and poor management of its jail system, the nation's largest.

The county Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 to create the panel, which had been debated for two years and gained the support of newly elected Sheriff Jim McDonnell.

McDonnell joins a working group appointed by the board to thrash out details of the commission's mission, structure and ties with the sheriff and the department's inspector general, the office of Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas said in a statement.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/12/10/us-usa-sheriff-losangeles-idUSKBN0JO0AQ20141210?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews