The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is not facing a staffing shortage. It’s enduring a historic collapse—and under Sheriff Robert Luna’s so-called leadership, the numbers are more damning than ever. This week, Assistant Sheriff Jason Skeen dropped the hammer at the Civilian Oversight Commission meeting: 4,166 vacancies. That’s 24% of the department’s authorized staffing simply gone.
“For every three people, they have to do the duties of one additional person,” Skeen said. No spin. No PR varnish. Just the cold, brutal reality of a workforce being run into the ground.
Since Luna took office, LASD’s operational capacity has spiraled. Authorized to staff over 17,000 positions, the department is limping along at barely 75% strength. Patrols are stretched thin, jails are understaffed, specialized units are gutted, and those still showing up to work are shouldering impossible workloads.
Mandatory overtime is now a way of life. Deputies are being crushed under endless shifts — six days a week, 16 to 18 hours a day, sometimes going weeks without a single day off. The mental and physical toll is crushing.
That toll turned deadly in November 2023, when LASD suffered a devastating string of suicides. Four department employees — including Commander Darren Harris, retired Sgt. Greg Hovland, and Custody Assistant Corina Thompson — died by suicide in a single 24-hour period. Since Luna’s tenure began, that number has risen to 12 suicides. These are not isolated tragedies. They are glaring red flags of a workforce in crisis, ignored and overworked to the breaking point.
Families of the fallen are now holding the county accountable. The family of Deputy Arturo Atilano-Valadez has filed a wrongful death claim, directly tying his suicide to the department’s relentless overtime demands and refusal to grant requested transfers.
In 2023, the family of Deputy Ryan Clinkunbroomer, who was ambushed and murdered in September, filed a lawsuit against Los Angeles County. Their claim is clear: LASD’s relentless mandatory overtime policies left Ryan vulnerable, overworked, and exposed. His murder, they argue, was not just a random act of violence, but a tragic consequence of a department that prioritizes appearances over personnel.
Deputies, feeling abandoned and voiceless, have begun circulating anonymous “Just a Deputy” letters — raw, unfiltered pleas for help that paint a damning picture of life under Luna’s administration. These letters are not subtle. They speak of suffocating workloads, mental health neglect, and a top-down leadership more concerned with optics than with saving lives.
Former Sheriff Alex Villanueva, never shy about calling out the obvious, took to X to deliver a scathing reality check:“Luna inherited the same problem the Board, the COC, and the OIG inflicted upon myself, the difference is, under him, it became disastrous.”
And those numbers are damning.
4,166 vacancies.
24% of the department gutted.
12 suicides under Luna’s watch.
A deputy ambushed and killed, his family pointing to overtime as a key factor.
This is not a recruitment problem. This is not a “budget issue.” This is a catastrophic leadership failure. And the ones paying the ultimate price are the very people tasked with keeping Los Angeles safe.
The excuses have run out. The damage is real. The numbers don’t lie.
And neither do the families burying their loved ones.
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