Supervisors keep parking enforcement with LA County Sheriff’s office

By ANUSHA SHANKAR | City News Service

Following months of discussion about shifting responsibility for parking enforcement in unincorporated portions of Los Angeles County away from the sheriff’s department, the Board of Supervisors voted on Tuesday, July 9, to keep the responsibility within the sheriff’s purview but with more oversight and expanded operations.

Supervisor Holly Mitchell introduced a motion in October 2023 calling on the county to explore transferring parking enforcement services from the sheriff’s department to the Department of Public Works, mirroring the system in some other jurisdictions.

Mitchell’s motion noted that the sheriff’s parking enforcement efforts operate with limited hours, leading to complaints from some residents about poor response times and lack of response to requests for service.

Over the ensuing months, a series of reports were developed, leading to proposals from both the sheriff’s department and public works officials on how each agency would oversee and improve enforcement efforts.

In the end, the county CEO recommended in a letter to the board late last month that the operations remain with the sheriff’s department, with modifications improving service hours to 24 hours per day, but with a public works employee “embedded” in the sheriff’s parking enforcement unit and creating a workgroup to study ways of discouraging illegal parking beyond just issuing tickets.

“The (CEO’s) report concludes that although the public works plan has strong components, the sheriff’s plan is favorable at this time in part because of the advantages that come with running the existing operations,” according to the motion put forth by Mitchell and Supervisor Janice Hahn.

“It appears to be the most cost-effective and quickest way to make changes and enhancements to the current operations.”

The CEO’s report noted that the sheriff’s department proposal for maintaining the enforcement operations was about $12 million less expensive than the public works proposal.

The plan requires the sheriff’s department to meet a series of performance measures, and it leaves open the possibility of reviving the transfer of the operations to the Department of Public Works if the sheriff’s department fails to show adequate improvement over the next three years.

DPW was also directed to have an implementation plan handy, updating it annually, in the potential case that the transfer of responsibilities is reconsidered.