West Hollywood cut a few LA County sheriff’s deputies and fuels national debate
WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — If you were to listen to Fox News, Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva and felon O.J. Simpson, you would think West Hollywood is under assault.
They say crime is out of control, residents are cowering in their homes, and the blasé West Hollywood City Council just made the place more dangerous by voting to defund the Sheriff’s Department.
If you listen to activists on the left, the City Council is keeping far too many armed deputies on the streets, and those who think differently are being swayed by right-wing “copaganda.”
Reality, of course, is more nuanced.
The City Council voted in late June to reduce the number of deputies in the West Hollywood sheriff’s station gradually and to increase the number of unarmed security guards — dubbed “ambassadors” — patrolling the streets. Their action has placed the city on the front lines of the culture wars.
The decision in this famously liberal city — a renowned LGBTQ enclave and home of the Sunset Strip — has become symbolic precisely because it involves some of the most charged issues in America this election year: The role of law enforcement. Crime. And homelessness.
“We’re reimagining public safety, period. In a very pragmatic, incremental manner,” said West Hollywood Mayor Pro Tem Sepi Shyne, who supported the deputy reduction as part of a 3-2 vote. “This is a way to do something a little different that a lot of our residents, once they actually get through the hype and
