County probation in turmoil

After years of federal investigations, state oversight and consent decrees, the Los Angeles County Probation Department remains beset by turmoil. Christina Villacorte in the Dailyu News.

This month, the pressure is ratcheting up again as the department is looking at triggering a fight with unions by laying off 200 employees - even though the agency might be forced to hire some 400 to 600 people in only a few months.

At the same time, it is closing three juvenile camps in Lancaster and is caught in the middle of a power struggle between the Board of Supervisors and county Chief Executive Officer William Bill Fujioka.