Karen Fletcher, the interim chief of the troubled Los Angeles County Probation Department who was elevated to the position less than two months ago after the Board of Supervisors fired her predecessor, has resigned.
Fletcher resigned Monday, according to two well-informed sources in county government. The county did not immediately provide a reason for her departure. The civilian Probation Oversight Commission had called on Fletcher to resign — along with former Chief Adolfo Gonzalez — at its March 2 meeting.
Fletcher — who was Gonzalez’ number two before getting the top job — did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The supervisors’ firing of Gonzalez in March, followed by Fletcher’s resignation, add to the turmoil at an agency in crisis. Probation has come under intense criticism for its failure to sufficiently improve conditions at the county’s juvenile detention facilities.
The county’s juvenile detention facilities have been troubled for years, with incidents ranging from violence and unrest to the pepper-spraying of youths; earlier this month, the Los Angeles Times reported that a probation officer was stabbed in the neck at the Sylmar facility.
The state board that oversees those facilities is deciding whether L.A. County’s juvenile halls can stay open.
The state Attorney General’s office is asking a judge to force the county to speed up its efforts to correct the “illegal and unsafe conditions of confinement” at the county’s two juvenile halls.
Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a motion earlier this month to enforce provisions of a 2021 stipulated judgment against the county. He said L.A. is not living up to its legal obligation to provide enough staffing so youths can be enrolled in and taken to school; taken…
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