Antelope Valley

What is the Antelope Valley Settlement Agreement? In August 2011, the US Department of Justice (DOJ), Civil Rights Division, launched an investigation of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD) in response to complaints and allegations of violations of the Fair Housing Act in the Antelope Valley of southern California. Upon completion of... their investigation in June 2013, the DOJ issued their findings that the LASD's Lancaster and Palmdale Stations had engaged in a pattern and practice of conducting stops, searches, and seizures that were unreasonable and in violation of the Constitution and federal law. The LASD and DOJ subsequently entered into negotiations regarding appropriate remedies, and the parties developed the Settlement Agreement , which was ultimately signed and filed with the US District Court for the Central District of California in April 2015. The purpose of the Settlement Agreement is to ensure that the residents of the Antelope Valley are provided with police services that are lawful and fully consistent with the Constitution of the United States and contemporary policing practices. The sections of the Settlement Agreement are as follows: (click on each for a summary of that section) Dr. Angie Wolf and Joseph Brann serve as lead monitors for the Settlement Agreement. Evident Change serves as the administrative organization for the project, which Dr. Wolf manages. The lead monitors and the team they have brought together offer an extensive and diverse pool of skills and experience that will assist in this endeavor. The monitoring team is responsible for assessing and evaluating the LASD's progress in implementing and achieving the reforms outlined in the Settlement Agreement. Working with LASD and DOJ in a collaborative manner, the monitoring team will help to ensure that the agreed-upon reforms are instituted and that the constitutional policing practices and expectations laid out in the Settlement Agreement are met. In addition to the ongoing community engagement efforts described ...Read More