Report 2021-105 Recommendation 22 Responses
Report 2021-105: Law Enforcement Departments Have Not Adequately Guarded Against Biased Conduct (Release Date: April 2022)
Recommendation #22 To: Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department
To better assess whether peace officer applicants have the ability to work with diverse members of their communities and whether they possess detectable disqualifying biases, by no later than October 2022 Los Angeles Sheriff should begin using documented procedures that adhere to best practices to identify and review applicants' public social media profiles for content indicative of disqualifying biases, such as hate group affiliation.
1-Year Agency Response
The process of checking social media for disqualifying biases has remained the same since the update in October 2022.
- Completion Date: October 2022
- Response Date: May 2023
California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Pending
Los Angeles Sheriff did not provide documentation to support that it has developed procedures for identifying and reviewing applicants' social media pages for potentially biased conduct.
- Auditee did not substantiate its claim of full implementation
6-Month Agency Response
The Department members are currently using Google and Lexis Nexus to identity unreported social media accounts for all applicants that could be displaying any disqualifying
- Completion Date: May 2022
- Response Date: October 2022
California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Pending
Los Angeles Sheriff lacks documented procedures for identifying and reviewing applicants' social media pages for potentially biased conduct.
- Auditee did not substantiate its claim of full implementation
- Auditee did not address all aspects of the recommendation
60-Day Agency Response
Effective April 11, 2022, our Background Unit investigators will consistently use multiple databases to verify reported and identify unreported social media accounts for all applicants.
- Completion Date: April 2022
- Response Date: June 2022
California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Pending
Los Angeles Sheriff provided an order directing investigators to review social media profiles for applicants; however, it does not set forth procedures for how investigators will identify content indicative of disqualifying biases. Additionally, it does not specify that investigators should attempt to independently identify social media activity beyond that which the applicant discloses.
- Auditee did not substantiate its claim of full implementation
- Auditee did not address all aspects of the recommendation
All Recommendations in 2021-105
Agency responses received are posted verbatim.