The herald., 1893-05-18
DEMANDS FOR DEPUTY SHERIFFS
Illegal Expenditures Allowed
by the Supervisors.
Excessive Charges for Conducting the
Sheriff's Outside Business.
An Opinion from the District Attorney y
which Brings the Supervisors Up
with q Round Turn The
Points in the Case.

The board oil supervisors of Los An
geles county has been brought up with
a round turn by the district attorney.
The outside deputy sheriffs must go,
and the district attorney has told the
supervisors that fact in plain and un-
mistskable language.
An opinion was filed with the board
by the district attorney last Friday,
which has been kept very much away
from the observation OF the newspaper
reporters, and which it is believed the
board does not know what to do with.
The opinion was called forth by the
presentation of q number of claims for
services by outside deputy sheriffs from
various points in the county, and it
recommends the rejection OF the claims.
The district attorney is not mealy-
mouthed abont his treatment of the sys-
tenn which the supervisors have allowed
to grow up in the county, and clearly
shows that they have been allowing ille-
gal demands in the past, when they paid
the demands OF the deputy sheriffs pre-
sented to them.
The full text OF this very important
ORlhAbh, WAfch 10 oolh8 h0i0 IL 6bOJ 0htc
by the supervisors, ia as follows:
A VIGOROUS OPINION.
IT think it due to you that should
file, in writing, my reasons for rejecting
the claims OF the local deputy sheriffs.
"The law creating the Office OF sheriff
provides that the sheriff shall receive
salary of $4,000 per annum, and shall be
allowed certain deputies at salaries to
be fixed by the board of supervisors
under certain restrictions.
1.-THE law also provides that all salaried
officers shall charge and collect for the
use OF their respective counties and pay
into the county treasury, on the first
Monday in each month, certain fees,
and that such fees shall be set apart as
a separate fund, to be known as the sal
ary fund, and shall be applied to the
payment OF salaries, and shall be used
for no other purpose.
f'Under the system of local deputy
sheriffs as now practiced, considerable
portion of the fees collected by the
eheriff's Office 1s diverted from the SAL
AIRY fund and ls paid out to local depu-
ties, not only without warrant Of law
but In direct violation OF ex press stat
utory provisions.
"Under the law, as it was in 1889, the
sheriff of Los Angeles county received a
salary of $12,500 per annum, out of
which he was obliged to pay his depu-
ties. For the $500 the sheriff was re-
quired to execute all process, civil and
criminal, and all fees were paid into the
county treasury.
In 1889 this law was amended, and un-
der the law then passed, which is still in
force, the sherif's salary was reduced to
$4,000 per aDnum, but in Consideration
OF the reduction he was allowed an un-
der sheriff and six deputies, with sala-
ries not to exceed a certain limit, and
whose salaries were made a county
charge.
"lt is evident that it was not the in
tention of the legislature to increase, at
least not materially, the compensation
of the sheriff by this amendment, as the
seven deputies provided for would draw
a salary of $4,000 per annum, W .ich
added to the $4,000 allowed the sheriff,
would make a total allowance to that
Office OF $13, 900, or only $500 more than
he received under the old law.
''But the board of supervisors have
from time to time allowed the names of
other and additional deputy sheriffs
and assistants to be placed on the salary
roll until this office now has 81 sslaried
deputies and assistants, whose aggregate
salaries amount to $23, 280 per annum,
which, added to the Bheriff's salary,
makes total of s27 ,260 paid in salaries
to this Office.
'Such an increase in the expense of
this Office certainly was not contemplate
ed by the legislature. But the salary
OF the sheriff is not only increased by
placing upon the salary roll a large
number of deputies in excess of those
provided for bv the statute, but 81 local
deputies are recognized by the board
and authorized to draw from the treasu-
ry fees for the service of process that is
by law sacredly set apart for other pur-
poses. II the sheriff requires the SER
vice OF local deputies he must pay them
for such service as he may require OF