Los Angeles County’s Democratic Sheriff Alex Villanueva chimed in on the national debate over vaccine mandates in a letter to the LA County Board of Supervisors and press release issued Thursday.
Titled “IMMINENT THREAT TO PUBLIC SAFETY,” Villanueva explains in detail what requiring vaccines — as mandated by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors — would mean for the Sheriff’s Department and those who live and work within his jurisdiction.
Noting that his department “has already been ‘defunded’ by over one thousand positions,” Villanueva called out the Board of Supervisors for being “the only board in the entire nation that has continued with last year’s defund law enforcement movement.”
“As of this week, homicide rates are up to 44 percent and aggravated assaults are up nearly 23 percent,” Villanueva pointed out, adding that “despite the substantial loss of personnel, increase in workload, and rise in crime, I have been provided no additional resources by the Board, and you continue to defund my department and freeze my service budget.”
