Reports on the number of deputy gangs within the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department were placed on hold for 45 days on Tuesday, Sept. 15, putting a proposed accounting of these cliques in jeopardy.
After several hours of discussion and hearing dozens of speakers in support of the main motion, a majority of the Board of Supervisors wanted to wait for a decision from the county’s chief executive officer on whether any such reports or tallies on deputy gangs would first need approval of deputy unions in a “meet and confer” process with the county.
Led by Fourth District Janice Hahn, four members of the board voted for the delay, so the board would learn if any of the actions proposed by the main motion would have to go through the regular labor process, which could take months of even years to settle.
“I’ve heard a lot of this gets stuck in “meet and confer,” and sometimes that can be stuck for three years,” said Hahn. She and three board members agreed, saying it is best to know if any reports on deputy gangs — even if they don’t name the deputies or lead to criminal investigations — need labor agreements, otherwise it would be a waste of time to move forward.
The lone “no” vote was cast by Second District Supervisor Holly Mitchell, the author of the main motion that was not voted upon but had gone through the committee process and was on the board agenda. Mitchell said her motion stated the issue of labor negotiations between the county CEO and Sheriff deputies was to be decided in 30 days, but her colleagues wanted to know ahead of time, before voting on her motion.
The motion by Mitchell — left hanging — would launch an inquiry into the Sheriff’s Department in order to create a list of deputy gangs, their names, accompanying insignias and tattoos and from what stations the members work.
Mitchell’s motion would inject transparency into the Sheriff’s Department in a sweeping inquiry into the issue of deputy gangs, cliques or racist groups of deputies, which have been a stubborn problem in the department for more than 50 years.
It would have required of the Sheriff Department to work with the County Counsel, the Office of Inspector General and the Sheriff’s Department’s independent Citizens Advisory Commission to conduct the wide-ranging probe.
The set-aside motion also would have included inspections of patrol stations, patrol vehicles, jails and other custody facilities and more for all logos, badges, seals, or other insignia indicating a deputy gang or clique.
The issue of alleged deputy gangs has long plagued the sheriff’s department with reports of witness tampering and covering up unscrupulous activities while on the job, either on patrol or within the Men’s Central Jail, the county has reported.
Previous Sheriff Alex Villanueva insisted during his time in office that he cracked down on such groups, and he denied they were actively operating within the agency.
Current Sheriff Robert Luna, however, who ran on a platform of transparency and vowed to fully cooperate in investigations into the alleged gangs, has worked with the OIG and the Civilian Oversight Committee, he said. In his testimony Tuesday, he listed his recently instituted programs that are changing the department culture.
“I recognize the serious issue deputy gangs pose to our department and the community that we serve,” Luna told the board in a lengthy testimony complete with Power Point slides.
“I share your objective of aggressively investigating deputy gangs. It is time we conclude this issue clearly and decisively,” he said.
Luna said unlike Villanueva, he has acknowledged the issue repeatedly. He holds regular meetings with captains on his anti-deputy gang policy and invites the Inspector General and Civilian Oversight Committee into those meetings. He makes new deputies sign a pledge they will not join a deputy gang or they will be fired.
He also created the Office of Constitutional Policing, headed by lawyers familiar with policing and excessive force issues. The Office does investigations into incidents, and turns that over to the Department of Internal Affairs.
Yet, he opposed the Mitchell measure, saying it would not solve anything and undermine public mistrust in law enforcement and was based on the past. He said he’s been working on the problem for more than three years and that Mitchell’s motion was a personal attack.
“I am sorry you appear to take this so personal. It is not intended that way,” Mitchell responded. “The point of this motion was to give one more tool in the toolkit to aid you in a reduction in deputy gang activity.”
Allegations of often-violent collections of deputy organizations within the department have led to various lawsuits over the years, some by department members claiming to have been discriminated against or even physically assaulted for failing to join or submit to internal gangs’ influence.
On April 7, the Board voted to pay $8 million to settle a long-pending lawsuit by multiple sheriff’s deputies who alleged they were pressured to quit or leave the East Los Angeles station by an internal deputy clique known as the Banditos.
In that settled lawsuit, the plaintiffs described a 2018 training session at Kennedy Hall — an East Los Angeles event venue where the plaintiffs claimed the Banditos deputies “sucker-punched” one of the plaintiffs, Art Hernandez and “knocked him out cold,” then kicked him while he was unconscious and unable to defend himself.
The suit alleged the assailants also grabbed deputy Oscar Escobedo from behind twice and choked him unconscious in a manner that could have killed him. The plaintiffs lawsuit said they were threatened and bullied in attempts to get them to conform to a “corrupt culture,” were denied needed backup on dangerous calls and were “shaken down” and ordered to pay “taxes” to the gang, according to the suit.
Department critics have alleged that such gangs have led to increased violence by deputies against Black and Latino residents.
Karen, who did not give her last name, works with the Reimagine LA Coalition. “Deputy gangs have been terrorizing Angelenos for decades. The problem has been well documented by the courts, oversight bodies and community advocates,” she told the board.
“For 50 years now, Los Angeles County is well aware that there exists deputy gangs within the Sheriff’s Department,” said Denisse Gastelum, a civil rights attorney with 21 active cases against the Sheriff’s Department, several involving use of force.
Fifth District Supervisor Kathryn Barger said the deputy gangs amount to a bunch of bad apples. “I believe Sheriff Luna you have made great strides. Not all law enforcement is bad. You find out those individuals and you weed them out,” she said, saying there are also bad lawyers, bad teachers and bad politicians.
“It sounds like in your (Mitchell’s) motion a lot of what you are asking for is being done,” Barger said.
Hahn also credited Luna, saying: “I like what you have laid out today.”
To report complaints about an encounter with a deputy, go to the online complaint system: https://lasd.org/file-a-complaint. Or call: 1-800-698-8255.