On Wednesday I took part in a tour of LA County's Twin Towers Jail facility in downtown Los Angeles.

The tour was arranged by Commander Ralph Martin, and the group consisted of Sup. Chris Norby's chief of Staff Eric Norby; Jeff Corless from Sup. Pat Bates office; Mike Johnson and Will Hewitt from Sup. Bill Campbell's office; OC Register Senior Editorialist Steve Greenhut, Martin adviser Dave Ellis and myself.

It is an impressive facility, we can learn a lot from how the LASD runs that 11-year old facility -- and how they've they've adapted new techniques too the Men's Central Jail across the street (connected to the Twin Towers by an enclosed, above-street tunnel).

I don't have time today to write a complete post or series of posts, but it's likely to be the topic of Steve Greenhut's column in Sunday's Commentary -- so I'll probably just add on to what Steve writes.

But a few things worth pointing out.

1) LASD gets their deputies out of the jail and out on patrol much more quickly. Jail service is valuable training for observing the criminal mind and behavior, but too long behind bars (so to speak) has a negative effect on deputies. Some LASD deputies get out of the jails and into patrol after just 8-9 months, but most serve in the jails for 3-5 years -- compared with 7-8 years for the OC Sheriff's Department.

I know Acting Sheriff Jack Anderson is trying to deal with that problem by requiring deputies to have patrol experience before they can be promoted to Deputy II. Anderson had been negotiating with the AOCDS on that matter, but the union was resistant. A frustrated Anderson finally enacted the change unilaterally in mid-April, and it's my understanding the AOCDS is fighting it in court.

2) The District Attorney's report on the grand jury investigation into the Theo Lacy Jail detailed how jail deputies were falsifying the logbooks. Rather than making the rounds of the cells, these deputies just wrote "barracks secure" in the logbook at 30 minute intervals.

The Men's Central Jail is a 1950s-era, linear/intermittent surveillance facility. The LASD avoids the kind of breakdown as happened at Theo Lacy by placing bar codes by the cells and equipping the deputies with electronic scanners. As the deputy makes the rounds at the required intervals, he/she scans the bar codes, and the information is entered into the database and e-mailed to the supervisor.

If the rounds aren't being made, the system alerts the supervisor via e-mail, enabling the supervisor to call down to the deputies and tell them to get on the ball.

There's more to tell, but I'll add on to what Steve has to say on Sunday (assuming this is his topic).