Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva challenged the county’s leaders Nov. 2 to open public debate over vaccine mandates, citing a possible loss of up to one-third of sworn personnel by the end of the year. Typically, the department loses 500 to retirement and another 300 to injuries each year. So far, 655 employees have filed paperwork to leave the department. This year, the department could lose 1,000 to voluntary retirement and injury claims, Villanueva said. An additional 3,137 sworn personnel, which includes patrol deputies and detectives, and 1,048 staff could be fired for not getting vaccinated. Villanueva, who oversees the largest sheriff’s department in the country, with about 18,000 employees, announced earlier this month that he wouldn’t enforce the county’s vaccine mandate in his agency. A COVID-19 vaccine mandate for employees has caused many at the department to leave, Villanueva said. Under the mandate, employees had to be fully …