The Sheriff’s Department controls a jail system with more than 18,700 inmates. Beginning of 1970, many accusations incriminated civil rights abuses. Even the Austrian general consul was detained and handcuffed as an abusive reported action, in the past, in one of these abnormal situations. In many
cases, people were thrown to the floor and their eyes were pepper-sprayed without motivation. Some actually arrested deputies charged with obstruction of the justice attempted to intimidate an FBI agent in the past. Among the arrested there is also a man who has been assigned to survey the Department’s safe jails program and another who investigated allegations of crimes committed by Sheriff’s personnel.
