An impressive law enforcement presence descended upon Washington DC February 8th-10th, as Sheriffs of departments across the country attended the Major County Sheriffs of America 2024 Winter Conference to discuss threats facing law enforcement and strategies to address them.

The Sheriffs were briefed by FBI director Christopher Wray and several federal agencies regarding the most critical threats in the U.S.’s most populous counties including violent crime, extremism, border security, election security, and swatting.

Just days after the conference, Sheriff Rick Jones of Butler County, Ohio, held a press conference to inform the press and his constituents the best way to prepare for the potential of these critical threats occurring locally, which according to Jones, FBI Director Wray informed the Sheriffs in attendance: “It’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when”.

Jones shared the most information he could publicly without compromising any on-going investigations and disseminating intelligence telling the press Wray’s level of concern was clear: “There are more red flags now, than then” referring to 9/11.

Jones also shared how he learned at the Sheriff’s conference the important role Israeli local law enforcement played in the Hamas attack.

“We were told five sheriffs went to Israel five weeks after the attack. The only thing that saved the Israelis… was the local police.” he said.

They were outgunned, outmanned, they came over, the Palestinians did, they killed, raped. The Sheriff’s there talked to the police. The local police are what saved that country.

The Israeli police, when our guys got there, the Sheriffs, said they just don’t hate us, they hate you equally. These are people that want to kill us and do harm to us.”

Sheriff Jones revealed President Biden “refused to meet with the hierarchy of the 3300 Sheriffs or Police Chiefs” around the country.

“This is from the federal government who told us they are going to attack our elections… just not the national, they’re going to the locals. They encouraged us to talk to our local election officials and be prepared as much as they can for cyber attacks. Even locally, you have to be prepared.”

Jones went on to explain the different countries, bad actors, that have hacked Butler County’s computer system including their emergency communications for dispatching for police and fire, as much as five times a day and what he plans on doing to train citizens to prepare for disaster.

With the California Primary just a days away and critical high-profile races on the ballot such as L.A. County District Attorney, local election security, according to federal officials, should be a major concern.

So you might be wondering what L.A. County Sheriff Robert Luna took away from this important conference?

So far, all we can see is an award for innovation from the FBI National Executive Associates Penrith Award post on the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department’s Instagram.

The Penrith Award, first initiated in 1991 by Gary Penrith, now retired FBI Special Agent in Charge and Past President of the FBI NEIA, is named in honor of Gary’s Father, a prominent Chicago businessman slain during an armed robbery.

“National leadership, courage in the face of adversity, substantial or innovative contributions to the administration of law enforcement” are among the traits that are considered by the selection committee.

It is unclear how Sheriff Luna qualified for this award given the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is currently in shambles with severely depleted resources and tanking morale after a devastating first year under the Luna’s new administration, which included 9 department member suicides which could possibly be the most law enforcement officer deaths per capita than any commanding officer in the nation.

“BUNKER BOB”

Luna’s lack of leadership abilities should not come as a surprise to anyone.

In 2020, during the pandemic and the George Floyd riots, Robert Luna was Chief of the Long Beach Police Department.

After many changes to law enforcement response to riots and protests since the Rodney King and the Occupy movements, the Long Beach Police Department command staff had been attempting to upgrade their mobile field force strategy and tactics. The overriding philosophy of mobile field force was “don’t be the story”. This allowed for a much more passive approach to crowd control, as the police did not want the story to be about law enforcement using force due to the optics.

Unfortunately, the pandemic shut down their ability to continue training and the LBPD was woefully unprepared tactically when the George Floyd riots wreaked havoc in their city.

As the preparations for the scheduled protest in Long Beach on May 31, 2020 were finalized, Luna designated Robert Razo, a retired Sergeant and former SWAT team member on crowd control to ride in the department helicopter as an observer.

At the time, Razo was advising Luna as a civilian.

Personnel on the ground heard his observations of the crowd, which was confusing as officers had no idea who they were communicating with in the helicopter. When it came time for troops to take action, there was no one with authority to issue commands in the helicopter.

According to retired Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Captain Mike Bornman “The tactical issue of then Chief Luna putting his retired buddy in the department chopper instead of an existing SWAT supervisor was a critical error. Retired Sergeant Razo had no supervisory authority over the troops and the troops could have gotten into serious jeopardy if mayhem ensued as a result of Razo’s direction. Was Luna intimating that none of his currently employed tactical commanders were good enough to do the job?”

While the LBPD prepared as best they could, no decisions were being made by personnel on the ground due to competing political agendas by city officials who were involved in the final decision making.

This was indicative of the pre-pandemic crowd control philosophy that decisions were only to be authorized by the Command Post.

Meanwhile, the conversation continued amongst officials as the city was being destroyed. The City manager allegedly ultimately told Chief Luna “just make it stop”.

Protests started earlier and crowds were much larger than LBPD officers anticipated prompting them to ask for mutual aid.

Once the looting began, conditions became increasingly dangerous and unmanageable for the units on the ground. LBPD officers were given marching orders with zero strategy, or if there was a strategy, it was not clearly communicated to the troops beforehand.

By sundown, the city was under siege. Gang members chased looters and others out of the downtown area in order to gain control for themselves.

Despite embattled L.A. County Sheriff Alex Villanueva’s political controversies with the Board of Supervisors over control of Emergency Operations for the County, he was in fact very much tactically prepared for the riots and joined deputies in the field. Villanueva was watching events unfold throughout the county, saw the chaos in Long Beach and deployed with 50 deputies to assist LBPD.

Villanueva stopped at a major intersection in downtown Long Beach and made contact with a Lieutenant who then radioed the command post “I have the Sheriff here.”

Chief Luna refused Villanueva’s assistance, did not send anyone over to greet the Sheriff, nor did he invite him to the command post.

That night, Villanueva instructed his deputies to assist LBPD officers and according to units on the ground, is credited for restoring law and order to Long Beach.

Many believe that night was a true testimony to Luna’s inability to be the head of a law enforcement agency.

While Villanueva suited up in riot gear to assist not only his troops, but any law enforcement agency in need of the Sheriff’s Department’s assistance. Chief Luna was nowhere to be found. Hence, earning the nickname “Bunker Bob”.

To date, no publicized report has been released on the riot and who was responsible for decisions, or the lack of decision making, made that night.

According to sources, when the dust settled from the riots, Luna, only concerned himself with optics and his political agenda, was “looking for cops to burn”.

As a result of his lack of leadership during the riots, sources say that was “the day Luna lost the department”.

This sentiment was amplified when Luna was quoted after the riots as blaming the lack of decisions on his own supervisors on the ground.

Luna was quoted as telling officers that “if they did their job according to the law, according to how they had been trained, they SHOULD be alright.” This left officers with no confidence the administration would support them when they did their jobs lawfully and within policy.

Given the opportunity to clarify his position, Luna doubled down on his original stance. Officers watched as their coworkers were vilified based on optics and public outcry, without consideration of the facts of each individual situation.

When Luna became Sheriff, Razo came as a package deal and put on the county payroll. Currently he is Luna’s “Field Deputy” “goes with him everywhere”.

Sheriff Luna with his former LBPD SWAT Sgt. Robert Razo, far right, now Luna’s LASD Field Deputy.

Given Razo’s intimate involvement in riots fiasco and the confusion it caused officers, now that he is in a powerful position in Luna’s administration, it is unnerving to think of the potential disaster that could occur under their collective mismanagement.

MARCH MADNESS?

With the imminent threats expressed by FBI director Wray that our local elections are in fact a target, Angelenos are left in the dark as we are just days away from the California Primary.

According to a domestic intelligence source, the single greatest threat to LA County is its depleted and compromised law enforcement resources.

Retired LASD Captain Bornman made this observation about Luna’s silence regarding the critical information Luna and other Sheriffs across the country were briefed on, that has significant impact on public safety all over the country, particularly in a large metropolitan area such as Los Angeles County.

“One of the primary tenets of good law enforcement is to be proactive when it comes to combating crime. In this instance, however, the people of LA County are inexplicably being held in the dark relative to the extreme threats identified by the Director of the FBI and others. It is my firm belief that the only way to avoid mass panic is mass preparedness. We must be made aware of the credible threats presented against our wellbeing.

With this in mind, my questions to Sheriff Luna are these:

When is our briefing? When are we to be made aware of not only the threats, but your plan to protect us? When are our classes to be held? Should we prepare a “go” bag as recommended by Sheriff Jones?

We are all anxious to hear your words of wisdom and comfort.”