News

WitnessLA1d
WitnessLA is a finalist for SoCal Journalism Award!
This year, WitnessLA’s continuing investigative series, “Rosa Gonzalez, The Whistleblower,” Part 1 and Part 2, is a finalist ...
WitnessLA4d
The Case of the Vanishing Editor
Editor Fremon has also vanished temporarily from these pages because, for about a week, she was busy with the process of ...
Witness LA4d
Criminal Justice Journalism in the Public Interest
While Assistant Editor Taylor Walker has been once more looking into the painful and ongoing issue of moving LA County’s young people between various youth lock-ups, each of these environments clearly ...
Witness LA4y
The Executioners: Does a Violent Deputy Gang Rule LA County’s Compton Station?
In a new legal claim, a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputy describes how the Compton Sheriff’s Station has, in the last few years, been permeated by “a violent deputy gang” called the Executioners.
Witness LA4y
New Report Says LA County’s Deputy Gangs Promote a “secretive, violent, us-against-them” police culture
The last week wasn’t an easy period for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, and some of the community members they were policing. Over the weekend, an Instagram video went viral of an ...
Witness LA1y
A good California Supreme Court decision curbs the family police
A decision by the California Supreme Court sheds rare light on how family police agencies (a more accurate term than “child welfare” agencies) like the Los Angeles County Department of Children and ...
Witness LA7y
Why Do LA’s Foster Care Facilities Keep Calling the Cops on Traumatized Kids?
On March 21, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors passed an important motion that instructed the Director of the Office of Child Protection, Michael Nash, former presiding judge of Los Angeles ...
Witness LA2y
“Unconscionable” Jail Conditions Spur LA County Supervisors to Explore Building Locked Mental Health Facilities
On Tuesday, September 13, after hearing about persistent, inhumane conditions at Los Angeles County’s jail intake center, the LA County Board of Supervisors used a spur-of-the-moment motion to ...
Witness LA4y
Disturbing new lawsuit alleging 16-year-old boy forced to take estrogen in LA juvenile hall as behavior control “medication” points again to urgent need for oversight of ...
On June 7, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted on a new motion co-authored by Supervisors Mark Ridley-Thomas and Janice Hahn, that when it passed early on Tuesday afternoon, will ...
Witness LA12mon
Deconstructing the Conviction of Mark Ridley-Thomas: Part 10 – The U.S. Government changes its story
On May 30, of this year, the conviction of former President Donald Trump by the Manhattan District Attorney prompted a renewed discussion on the importance of the rule of law in the U.S. A reminder of ...
Witness LA2mon
A controversial prosecution, a series of threats, & the struggle to provide genuine oversight for the nation’s largest sheriff’s department – Part 1
On Thursday, March 20, 2025, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna attended the monthly meeting of the county’s Sheriff’s Civilian Oversight Commission—or COC. The sheriff was scheduled to give a ...