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Victory for the people: Yes on A for sheriff accountability

By Carlos Montes

LA sheriff defeated

Cristobal Guardado (center) father of Andres Guardado who was killed by LA Sheri

Los Angeles, CA – At a press conference on November 16, the Check the Sheriff coalition announced a victory in the overwhelming passage of Measure A in the November 8 Los Angeles County elections. Measure A allows the removal of a sheriff by the LA Board of Supervisors for violation of a law. This is a major victory in the ongoing fight for community control of police.

The coalition press conference included families who have lost their loved ones at the hands of the LA Sheriff’s Department, including those of Anthony Vargas, Paul Rea, John Horton, Marco Vazquez and Ryan Twyman.

Also, election results keep showing that El Bandito rouge LA Sheriff Villanueva losing his re-election campaign [at publication, Alex Villanueva has conceded to former Long Beach Police Chief Robert Luna]. Alex Villanueva has a long history of justifying deputy violence and gangs. He also attacked the Civilian Oversight Commission and the LA County Board of Supervisors for their attempt to oversee the police.

The Check the Sheriff Coalition is composed of many organizations and Centro CSO is one of them. Together they successfully pressured the Board of Supervisors to vote for an LA charter amendment to be placed on the November 8 ballot calling for stronger oversight of the LA Sheriff's position. This was called Measure A.

Two-years of struggle and a family-led campaign exposed LA sheriffs’ violence, killings and deputy gangs (like the ELA Station Banditos), and resulted in a win for Measure A.

With limited resources the Yes on Measure A campaign was launched via social media and local community events. Over 100 groups endorsed Measure A like: ACLU-SoCal, NLG-LA, BLM-LA, Centro CSO, UNITE HERE Local 11, and Dignity & Power Now. Centro CSO started door-to-door canvassing of registered voters in East LA, El Sereno and Boyle Heights.

Centro CSO continues advocating for community control of the police and sees the success of Measure A as a step forward.

Let's continue the struggle for community control of the police, Contact CSO at (323) 943-2030, [email protected], or @CentroCSO on Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube for more information.

#LosAngelesCA #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #CentroCSO #MeasureA