By Arnold Adler
Contributing Writer
LAKEWOOD — Deputies from the Lakewood Sheriff’s Station will patrol the neighboring cities of Bellflower and Paramount for the next five years, under new contracts approved June 24 and 25, respectively.
Terms include that liability costs from legal actions against the department will be shared by the contracted cities.
Forty-two cities of the 88 cities in Los Angeles County currently contract with the Sheriff’s Department for primary and supplemental law enforcement services, including Lynwood, Norwalk, Pico Rivera, Maywood and Cudahy.
The Bellflower City Council voted 5-0 to approve the new agreement with the Sheriff’s Department, which runs through June 30, 2029.
Estimated cost over the five-year period is $13.6 million, said Brian McNerney, interim director of public safety for the city.
The Paramount contract, also approved on a 5-0 vote, is estimated to cost a total of $9.3 million, said Margarita Matson, Paramount’s public safety director.
“The resources included various types of deputies and public safety equipment, with a total service provision of 2,887,875 sworn minutes at a cost of $9,316,388.24,” Matson said.
It includes a 12% charge to the Liability Trust Fund to cover legal settlements and tort claims arising from enforcement operations.
“Over the past year, a subcommittee from the California Contract Cities Association consisting of city managers, met with the county and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department to potentially negotiate and revise the Municipal Law Enforcement Services Agreement. The proposed agreement includes revisions that were mutually agreed upon by the county and the,” Matson said.
“Changes to the Municipal Law Enforcement Services Agreement do not alter the cost structure of the previous agreement,” McNerney said. “Rates for law enforcement services are provided annually by the county … and are determined based on the fully burdened cost of deploying service units, including variables such as salary, benefits, equipment (vehicles, radios, maintenance, etc.), management overhead, vacation and sick relief, detective services, dispatch and front desk personnel, station jailer services and civilian positions,”
For 2024-25, the Bellflower will procure the same number of resources, with estimated costs increasing by 3.9%. This is comprised of a 3.4% increase for a deputy service unit plus a 0.5% increase to the liability trust fund, which will go from 12% to12.05%, McNerney added.
Matson noted that the county and contract cities agreed to split the liability and funding responsibility equally for certain cases involving deputies or other peace officers incurring felony convictions or any criminal convictions of certain sexual crimes
But while the county accepted some of the recommended subcommittee changes, there were a number of changes that were not accepted, she added.
“Additionally, no agreement on changes to liability and indemnity language was reached prior to the renewal deadline,” she said. “The subcommittee and county will continue discussions intended to revise liability and indemnity language to share in the financial exposure with the county instead of the current burden falling completely on the Liability Trust Fund, and by extension, the contract cities,” Matson said.
In a second law enforcement matter, Bellflower Assistant City Attorney Timothy Campen announced that the executive committee of the Los Angeles Superior Court has approved the city’s bail schedule for the new fiscal year.
“Approval of this bail schedule facilitates the city being able to file criminal misdemeanor complaints for designated violations of the Bellflower Municipal Code,” Campen said. Criminal prosecution is but one of multiple means available to the city attorney’s office for enforcing the Bellflower Municipal Code.
