Karen Fletcher, Los Angeles County’s interim chief probation officer, is stepping down after less than two months leading the county’s troubled Probation Department.
The Board of Supervisors promoted Fletcher to the department’s top spot in March after firing her predecessor, Chief Adolfo Gonzales. Her resignation letter to the board on Monday, May 1, states her last day will be May 19, and then she will use her “leave accruals until they are exhausted.”
“During the next three weeks, I will do everything possible to wrap up my duties and assist with this transition,” Fletcher wrote. “I wish the Department much success in the future.”
A Probation Department spokesperson said Fletcher would not provide an interview and that her resignation was a simple retirement following 34 years of employment.
Hans Liang, president of the L.A. County Deputy Probation Officers Union, wished Fletcher well in a statement.
“Probation officers appreciate the dedication and experience that Karen Fletcher brought to the department,” Liang stated. “Unfortunately, the tools necessary to move the Department forward were not provided.”
Fletcher’s exit comes at a precarious time for the department. The Board of State and Community Corrections is set to meet May 23 to decide whether to declare L.A. County’s two juvenile halls “unsuitable,” a designation that would force the department to immediately cure a series of deficiencies or shutter both facilities within 60 days.
The juvenile halls have faced nonstop controversies over the past year.
In December, nearly 300 former detainees alleged in lawsuits that they were sexually assaulted, harassed and abused while being held by the county.
Then, last month, the Office of the Inspector General found that lax security at the facilities had allowed illicit substances to be easily smuggled to the youths. Simultaneously, state inspectors have reported that an ongoing staffing crisis had left the juvenile…
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