Sheriff Villanueva says hiring freeze hurting LA County communities

Frustrated and seeing a rise in crime, hundreds in San Gabriel Valley's Chinese community met with Sheriff Alex Villanueva Tuesday.

"It's getting crazy right now," said one attendee. "Every day we heard of some break-ins. Right now, it's not even just break-ins. They hurt people, even kill people."

The meeting comes just a few days after two masked suspects shot a man and zip-tied two women during an early morning home invasion in Temple City. The two suspects left a baby sleeping in the next room and are still at large. 

Villanueva reiterated his claims that a hiring freeze and funding cuts are hurting communities by creating a staffing shortage of about 2,400. He even led a chant directed to the Board of Supervisors.

"You can't fight crime without crime fighters," the Sheriff said. "If there's a rep from Supervisor Hilda Solis' office, you need to lift the hiring freeze, in fact, everybody together let's say lift the hiring...repeat after me, lift the hiring freeze."  

The Sheriff also addressed a new whistleblower lawsuit filed Tuesday. A Los Angeles Sheriff's Department sergeant accuses Villanueva and his wife Vivian Villanueva of corrupting the department. It also claims that Vivian Villanueva is aligned with so-called "deputy gangs" within the department. 

"The deputy gang thing is political theater," the Sheriff said. "It's a calculated campaign by the Board of Supervisors and their appointees.