WitnessLA

Intro: Is LA County’s women’s jail still an unsafe place for women to be? A new lawsuit says YES

Six years ago, in February of 2018, a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy named Giancarlo Scotti, who was working at LA ...
WitnessLA

#Oversight

As most readers know by now, Max Huntsman, Los Angeles County’s longtime and highly respected ...
Witness LA

After Months of Uncertainty and Rising Jail Numbers, LA’s Office of Diversion and Reentry Gets Funding for 750 More Beds

For the past year and a half, the Los Angeles County Office of Diversion and Reentry’s housing programs have been operating at maximum capacity, meaning that ODR has been forced to turn away people ...
Witness LA

Youth Diversion Programs in LA and SF Offer Kids Accused of Serious Crimes a Chance to Make Things Right

For a little over six months, kids accused of some serious crimes in Los Angeles County have the opportunity to avoid incarceration, court, and convictions through a special youth diversion program ...
Witness LA

Deconstructing the Conviction of Mark Ridley-Thomas: Part 10 – The U.S. Government changes its story

On May 30, of this year, the conviction of former President Donald Trump by the Manhattan District Attorney prompted a renewed discussion on the importance of the rule of law in the U.S. A reminder of ...
Witness LA

A good California Supreme Court decision curbs the family police

A decision by the California Supreme Court sheds rare light on how family police agencies (a more accurate term than “child welfare” agencies) like the Los Angeles County Department of Children and ...
Witness LA

DANGEROUS JAILS: Part 1 – by Matthew Fleischer

EDITOR’S NOTE: The article below is Part One of WitnessLA’s multi-part investigation into the culture of violence and abuse that, for years, has been reported to exist inside the Los Angeles County ...
Witness LA

41st and Central, 1969 – The Black Panther Shootout & the birth of SWAT

On December 9, 1969, a four-hour shootout took place at the Southern California Headquarters of the Black Panther Party. The massive exchange of gunfire was between a cluster of six Panther members ...
Witness LA

Deconstructing the conviction of Mark Ridley-Thomas: Part 5 – Alleged Quid Pro Quo Contracts & MRT’s Prison Sentence

The sentencing of Ridley-Thomas was originally set to take place on Monday, August, 21. But by Friday, August 18, as residents of Los Angeles County were nervously eyeing a the approach of a hurricane ...
Witness LA

LASD whistleblower takes her case to trial, while Villanueva testifies that deputy gangs don’t exist, & Sheriff Luna says there’s a new deputy gang

Wednesday, civil rights attorney, Alan Romero presented closing arguments in the whistleblower lawsuit brought by LASD Captain Angela Walton, against the County of Los Angeles, and former LA County ...
Witness LA

A controversial prosecution, a series of threats, & the struggle to provide genuine oversight for the nation’s largest sheriff’s department – Part 1

On Thursday, March 20, 2025, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna attended the monthly meeting of the county’s Sheriff’s Civilian Oversight Commission—or COC. The sheriff was scheduled to give a ...
Witness LA

The Executioners: Does a Violent Deputy Gang Rule LA County’s Compton Station?

In a new legal claim, a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputy describes how the Compton Sheriff’s Station has, in the last few years, been permeated by “a violent deputy gang” called the Executioners.