On Wednesday, May 17, 2017, Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell testified in Washington D.C. before the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee on the “Challenges Law Enforcement Faces in the 21st Century”.  

Sheriff McDonnell is representing the Major County Sheriff’s Association (MCSA) and the National Sheriff’s Association (NSA) in a joint effort to share the complex challenges that sheriff’s departments around the nation are facing today.  These challenges include the fight against emerging crimes such as homegrown violent extremism, cyber terrorism and the Opioid and Heroin epidemic.  Sheriff McDonnell is expected to emphasize the growing prevalence of mental illness, not only in Los Angeles County but across the nation and the need for federal, state and local partnerships to focus on diversion, treatment options and investment in jail systems that can provide constitutional care of an exploding population of individuals suffering from mental illness.  One-Third of the inmate population in the Los Angeles County Jails suffers from mental illness. Seventy percent (70%) of the inmates processed into our jails report a medical or mental illness.  

The MCSA and the NSA collectively represent more than 100 million Americans who are served by Sheriff’s Departments. Sheriff McDonnell is joined by Police Chief Alonzo Thompson of Spartanburg, South Carolina; Chief Art Acevedo of Houston, Texas; and Mr. Chuck Canterbury who is the National President of the Fraternal Order of Police.