On May 6, 2025, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna stood among law enforcement officials at the California Peace Officers’ Memorial in Sacramento, bowing his head and laying a wreath for fallen officers. But back home, the very department he leads is imploding under his watch. While Luna posed for the cameras, many in the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) saw his attendance not as a tribute – but as a tone-deaf performance by a leader who’s presided over one of the most devastating mental health collapses in LASD history.
12 Suicides. Zero Accountability.
Since Luna took office in December 2022, 12 LASD deputies and staff have died by suicide. Four of those tragedies occurred within a single 24-hour period in November 2023. One of them, Commander Darren Harris, was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head at his Santa Clarita home. The same day, retired Sgt. Greg Hovland shot himself in the chest in Lancaster. Hours later, custody assistant Corina Thompson took her own life in Stevenson Ranch. The fourth victim was discovered the next morning at the North County Correctional Facility in Duarte, where his wife—according to sources—confronted Luna and Chief of Custody Sergio Aloma at the hospital, blaming the relentless overtime and toxic work conditions for her husband’s death.
The scene inside the department has been described by sources as one of despair, frustration, and betrayal. Luna, reportedly “visibly shaken,” admitted privately, “I know everyone thinks I’m a phony.” That sentiment was confirmed publicly by deputies who’ve called him exactly that—to his face.
Burned Out, Overworked, and Dying
The department is currently short 1,400 sworn personnel. To keep the jails running and patrols on the street, deputies are being forced into endless cycles of mandatory overtime—many working 12+ days straight, double shifts, with denied time-off requests, while raising families and coping with trauma that comes standard with the badge.
The numbers are staggering: In 2024, LASD logged over 4.3 million hours of overtime, costing taxpayers $458 million. In jails like the Century Regional Detention Facility, staff are mandated to work two overtime shifts every week—on top of full 40-hour workweeks and their commutes.
But the cost isn’t just financial. It’s fatal.
Deputy Arturo Atilano-Valadez took his own life last year after working 99 hours of overtime in a single month. His widow has since filed a $20 million wrongful death lawsuit against the County, citing the crushing workload as a key factor in his death. A second lawsuit followed in April 2025. And more are expected.
A Department Cracking from the Inside
As tragedy after tragedy unfolded, the department turned into a pressure cooker of suppressed grief, unchecked exhaustion, and exploding morale issues. Anonymous “Just a Deputy” letters began circulating throughout the ranks and on social media, exposing Luna’s failures in graphic detail. The third letter, released in the wake of the November suicides, painted a grim picture:
“We work multiple overtime shifts a week, often only getting a couple hours of sleep between continuous double shifts… We are frequently denied time off… Our leadership sides with criminals while condemning us.”
The letter didn’t stop there—it exposed more horrors: from deputies denied adequate time off to grieve Deputy Ryan Clinkunbroomer’s murder, to a preventable explosion that left two deputies clinging to life in a jail range trailer because a $25,000 electrical upgrade was “deemed unnecessary.”
And Luna? According to insiders, he landed at Lancaster Station the day of the suicides—not to grieve, but to catch a helicopter to a meeting with an anti-law enforcement community group.
The betrayal runs deep.
A Legacy of Lip Service
This isn’t Luna’s first rodeo with a mental health crisis. Retired Long Beach PD personnel recall similar patterns under his command there. At LASD, his response to the wave of suicides has been a now-infamous department-wide email filled with platitudes and hotline numbers.
He told media:
“We are urgently exploring avenues to reduce work stress factors.”
But behind the scenes, sources say the real focus has been on a bureaucratic “restructuring” designed to empower allies of former Sheriff Jim McDonnell—further alienating Luna from rank-and-file deputies.
The Human Cost of Bureaucratic Theater
According to Blue H.E.L.P., an organization tracking law enforcement suicides, LASD accounted for 10% of all known police suicides in the U.S. in 2023. And instead of confronting that crisis, Luna chose to grandstand in Sacramento—eulogizing the dead while ignoring the pleas of the living.
When Sheriff Robert Luna stood on those Capitol steps, he didn’t just honor the fallen—he dishonored the 12 who died under his watch, and the thousands still working themselves to death inside his department.
The California Peace Officers’ Memorial is sacred. But using it as a photo op while your own house is on fire? That’s not leadership. That’s hypocrisy.
If you or someone you know in law enforcement is struggling, please reach out:
CopLine (24/7): 1-800-267-5463
National Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: 988
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