There has been a dramatic upswing in the number of Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies arrested for alcohol-related offenses in recent years, suggesting a growing drinking problem within the department, a county watchdog agency reported Wednesday.
Last year, 70 sworn and civilian employees of the Sheriff's Department were arrested. The majority of those arrests involved employees driving off-duty while under the influence of alcohol, according to an annual report produced by the county Office of Independent Review. In many cases, drunk deputies were carrying firearms at the time of their arrests.
Michael Gennaco, the head of the office, said alcohol-related arrests have nearly tripled since 2004. Alcohol-related incidents in 2009 are at the same pace as last year, he said.
In one case last year, an off-duty deputy who drank heavily at a New Year's party inadvertently shot his cousin in the lower abdomen while showing off his new holster.
"From one point of view, this incident was a fluke, an accident that could have been much worse if the bullet had struck a vital area," Gennaco wrote in his report. "But the investigation of the incident made it clear that the event would likely not have happened if either the deputy had not been intoxicated or he had not had his firearm on him."
As a result of that incident, Sheriff Lee Baca sought to implement one of the nation's toughest policies barring deputies from carrying firearms while under the influence of alcohol. The unions have opposed the policy, saying that it would endanger deputies. The matter is now with the county's employee relations commission.
Gennaco's report also cited two cases in which deputies drew their guns after coming out of bars. In one case, a deputy followed a bar hostess to her car, flashed his badge, told her he'd "like to molest her" and kissed her on the neck. He displayed his handgun before kissing her again, according to the report. The deputy pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of disturbing the peace and was suspended for 15 days, the report said.
In the other case, an intoxicated deputy got into an argument with bar patrons and waved his handgun to prove he was an officer, the report stated. That deputy received a "significant suspension," according to the report.
Gennaco said the department, which in the past had been reluctant to talk about alcohol abuse with its employees, has recently taken steps to educate them about the problem.
