'He's not doing anything'; LA County lieutenant running to unseat Sheriff Robert Luna

Lt. Oscar Martinez running for sheriff

Lt. Oscar Martinez is running to unseat his boss, Sheriff Robert Luna. Martinez spoke to FOX 11 about why he's running.

LOS ANGELES - Oscar Martinez, a Marine veteran and LA County Lieutenant, is running to unseat his boss, Sheriff Robert Luna. 

Martinez said he’s running because he wants to see real change in the department—and, simply put, believes Sheriff Luna isn’t doing enough.

What they're saying:

"He's not doing anything, so anyone can do a better job than him. He's been there for three years. There's no solid policy changes in the department. We have not had any innovation in the last three years. The last technology advancement that we had was five years ago, the body-worn cameras. Our deputies in the age of artificial intelligence are still handwriting reports. Our deputies are working multiple shifts, back-to-back doubles, as we call them. That's 16 hours, eight hours off, 16 hours. Something needs to be changed and I don't see Robert Luna making any changes. He hasn't done so in three years," Martinez told FOX 11. 

He said his priorities as sheriff are defending and supporting law enforcement officers, modernizing the sheriff’s department, and balancing the department's budget. He said on day one on the job he would establish a commander's intent, give a new mission to the sheriff's department, and communicate and work with the County Board of Supervisors. 

"You ask any deputy out there, 'Hey, what is the mission of the sheriff's department? What is the vision of the sheriff? What do they want you to do? We don't know. I don't know.' And that's the problem. That's why you see so many issues with our deputies nowadays. The ones who get in trouble. There is no mission. There's no commander's intent. We need to establish a clear vision so that they can go out there and help the community with the proper technology, which they don't have. The mission is we need to fight crimes. Everything else is secondary to that. We don't need to go out there doing political missions. We don't need to be out there talking about social issues. We're not going to be able to solve mental health issues. We need to fight crime. That is the purpose of law enforcement," Martinez exclaimed. 

On the topic of immigration, while he said he doesn't believe local law enforcement should be enforcing immigration law, he does believe that SB 54 should be amended. 

"Not completely gone, but it needs to be amended. We need to allow ICE in the jails, we need to work with them so that we can share intelligence, we can have communication, and by then working in the jail with us, it's going to be safer not only for them, for us, also the suspect. But then they won't have the need to go out there into the community and arrest the wrong people like we're seeing now."

Who is Oscar Martinez? 

Martinez joined the United States Marine Corps at the age of 20. He served multiple combat tours and was an infantryman in both Iraq and Afghanistan. After the Marine Corps, he joined the LA County Sheriff's Department. 

With the department, he said he's had multiple assignments, such as serving in the jails, patrol, administration, professional standards, and was also a division chief's executive aide. 

He is currently assigned to Palmdale Station, where he serves as Watch Commander.

Who is running for LA sheriff?

What's next:

Others in the race for sheriff are retired LASD Captain Mike Bornman, former Sheriff Alex Villanueva, and Detective Andre White. 

RELATED: 

• Alex Villanueva running for LA County Sheriff again
• Retired LASD captain Mike Bornman enters race for sheriff

California's Primary Election will be held June 2, 2026. The top two candidates will then move on to the November election. The race is nonpartisan, meaning party affiliation will not be listed on the ballot.