Topline:
After interviewing more than 80 people — many of them sheriff’s deputies — and holding a series of public hearings, the Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission’s Special Counsel has issued a report calling deputy gangs a “cancer in the department” that “must be excised.”
The scope of the problem: The Special Counsel team’s report estimates there are six active gangs in the Sheriff’s Department. It says they “have engaged in acts of violence, threatened acts of violence, placed fellow Deputies at risk of physical harm, [and] engaged in acts celebrating officer-involved shootings.” Deputies associated with the groups, who wear matching tattoos, have “created a climate of physical fear and professional retribution to those who would speak publicly about the misconduct of such groups,” it said.
The backstory: For decades, members of the community have complained about — and various reports have documented — rogue groups of deputies engaging in gang-like behavior, often in low-income communities of color. One of the most infamous gangs was the Lynwood Vikings, which operated out of the Lynwood Station in South L.A. in the ‘80s and ‘90s. A federal judge described it as a “neo-Nazi, white supremacist gang … which exists with the knowledge of departmental policy-makers.” But successive sheriffs have done little to eradicate deputy gangs.
What’s next: The report recommends that Sheriff Robert Luna adopt a policy that clearly prohibits deputies from participating in deputy gangs and “make clear that this is a top priority, and he should state his intention to make this happen immediately.” Luna has said he wants to get rid of the groups. Other recommendations include reporting known deputy gang…
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