L.A. County Sheriff Alex Villanueva has officially backed away from his threat to close the department’s Altadena and Marina Del Rey stations.
Although my Department is suffering devastating budget cuts from the Board of Supervisors, I will not be closing Altadena and Marina Del Rey Stations. @ALDLASD @MDRLASD @LACountyBOS
— Alex Villanueva (@LACoSheriff) July 1, 2020
We reached out to the department for clarification on the sheriff’s decision, and on whether he'll be making other cuts to make up for the savings lost by not closing the two stations. We haven’t yet received a response.
On Tuesday the Board of Supervisors passed a budget that includes $145 million in cuts to the Sheriff's Department, which could require more than 300 layoffs.
Villanueva first announced in early May that he would close the stations to save $12 million, part of a series of cutbacks designed to save a total of $200 million in the face of budget reductions.
About a week later the county Board of Supervisors asked him to shelve the plan to shutter the stations. Villanueva responded the next day by saying he hadn’t made a final decision, and that if he did move forward, administrative functions would stop, but deputies would “remain at their stations” patrolling the Altadena and Marina Del Rey communities.
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