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New Inspector General Office Undercut by Mayor’s Budget; Sheriff Sees Staffing and Jail‑Population Strain
Summary
The newly created Office of Inspector General told the committee that the mayor’s proposed budget funds only two positions and omits investigators the charter envisioned; the sheriff reported a 36% year‑over‑year jail population increase and deep staffing shortages requiring overtime and temporary hires.
The Office of Inspector General (OIG), created by voter measure to provide independent oversight of the Sheriff’s Office, told the Budget & Appropriation Committee on June 14 that the mayor’s proposed budget provides funding for only two positions (the director and an administrative assistant), not the investigator staff needed to meet the charter ratio. OIG leadership requested a phased startup budget of roughly $2.5 million to hire a chief assistant and two investigators as an initial operational minimum.
The director warned the committee that limited staffing would force continued reliance on DPA investigators and borrowed resources, reducing community access to oversight and delaying investigations such as deaths‑in‑custody and serious misconduct. “We would technically, under the charter, be entitled to 7 investigators” based on current deputy counts, the OIG director said.
Separately, the Sheriff’s Office told the committee the jail population had risen roughly 36 percent year over year and that staff shortages—many deputies out on leave and attrition—had forced shutdowns of housing units and increased overtime. The sheriff said the department was hiring temporary Prop F retirees and planned to request 75 new positions to relieve operational pressure but that funding for recruitment and retention remained constrained.
Committee members asked the mayor’s budget office and the BLA to help map an incremental staffing plan so the OIG can scale to the charter ratio and the Sheriff can stabilize custody staffing without long‑term overreliance on overtime.
