By Karen Ocamb

Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca will address the 10th annual GLBT Law Enforcement Conference, June 7-11, at the Hyatt Sunset in West Hollywood. He will join Los Angeles Police Chief Bill Bratton, two deputy chiefs from the California Highway Patrol, and approximately 250 LGBT law enforcement professionals marching in the Christopher Street West Pride Parade.

The conference is drawing LGBT law enforcement from two countries, 12 states, the Sheriff's Department, the LAPD and the California Highway Patrol for five days of ceremonies and workshops. Bratton will address the closing ceremony and deliver a workshop presentation on the history of LAPD's involvement with the LGBT community over the past several years and how to strengthen those ties. He will also conduct a tour of the Police Academy, according to Sgt. A.J. Rotella, the new openly gay community relations liaison at the West Hollywood Sheriff's station.

“This year we are seeing the strongest show of support we've ever seen,” Rotella told IN. “Law enforcement over the last 15 years has made some incredible strides to bring the GLBT issue to the forefront. We want to make sure we are inviting toward gays and lesbians to come out in the department and be leaders within law enforcement. We hope the community sees law enforcement today as a viable, rewarding career.”

Meanwhile, West Hollywood City Councilmember Jeff Prang, who serves as Baca's special assistant, told IN that the Sheriff will announce the progress of a proposal to expand the lewd conduct policy currently employed in West Hollywood to the rest of the county. The draft, Prang told IN Los Angeles magazine, is being vetted by “upper management” with a “sign-off” expected in a month.

“The point is to create polices and protocols for dealing with lewd conduct that emphasize prevention, education, and intervention as opposed to suppression where we go out and arrest people as the LAPD have been doing on the West Hollywood border,” Prang said. “What we do is put signage on the streets, educate people, and work with environmental issues -- things short of putting people in jail. It's possible that arrests as a last resort will remain in the policy -- but that will be extremely de-emphasized in favor of other tactics.”

Prang said the policy was being developed “long before the LAPD action on the West Hollywood border,” which became the focus of community outrage after some (including West Hollywood Hate Crimes Coordinator Rich Ryan) alleged that the LAPD was using entrapment techniques to lure gay men from West Hollywood into Los Angeles and arrest them for alleged lewd conduct.

“The LAPD helped get things rolling faster,” Prang said. “We see the light at the end of the tunnel and we will announce that this is in the pipeline and on its way. There is no excuse for lewd conduct and we want to stop that behavior. But how we tackle that problem is the question.”