Gangs of Sheriff's Deputies Cost LA County $55 Million
City News Service
August 6, 2020
LOS ANGELES -- Los Angeles County has paid out roughly $55 million
in settlements in cases in which sheriff's deputies were alleged to
belong to a secret society, records obtained by the Los Angeles Times show, illuminating the entrenched nature of a subculture that has plagued the Sheriff's Department for years.
The figure comes from a list that includes payouts in dozens of
lawsuits and claims involving deputies associated with tattooed groups
accused of glorifying an aggressive style of policing. The report,
prepared by L.A. County attorneys, lists nearly 60 cases, some of them
still pending, and names eight specific cliques.
The county has paid out nearly $21 million in cases that began in the
last 10 years alone, according to the document cited by The Times.
The high cost underscores how these deputy groups -- with monikers
such as the Vikings, Regulators, 3000 Boys and the Banditos -- have
operated out of several Sheriff's Department stations and jails for
decades, exhibiting what critics have long alleged are the violent,
intimidating tactics similar in some ways to criminal street gangs, The
Times reported. The cases involve incidents that date to 1990.
Over the years, a succession of elected sheriffs has failed to bring
the subgroups under control despite multiple internal investigations
and, more recently, a probe by the FBI. Many civil liberties advocates
and county watchdogs have accused the Sheriff's Department of turning a
blind eye.
"I think it's a willful failure," said John Sweeney, an attorney who
has represented families of people killed by deputies. "For some reason,
they pride themselves, the Sheriff's Department, on having these
violent cliques I guess to show the public who's the boss. But, you
know, what it does is just fosters a horrible relationship between the
community that these sheriffs serve."
The Board of Supervisors requested the list of payouts last year
after The Times reported that members of the Banditos, which operate out
of the East L.A. station, were accused of assaulting other deputies
during an off-duty party in 2018. One deputy was knocked unconscious.
Sheriff Alex Villanueva has said that he put measures in place in February that prohibit deputies from participating in cliques.
"The fact that I've had to address these issues which have been
festering since 1990 is an illustration of the failure of past sheriffs
from addressing the issue head on," he said in a statement, adding that
he transferred leadership personnel from at least one station to combat
the clique problem and is holding employees accountable if they fail to
uphold the new policy.
Inspector General Max Huntsman said last week that he is "aware of no
implementation whatsoever" of Villanueva's new measures and that his
office can't effectively investigate the secret societies "because of
the obstruction of the Sheriff"s Department," The Times reported.
Huntsman said the criminal investigation in the off-duty Banditos
beating amounted to a "cover-up," noting that more than 20 deputies
present during the incident were not required to give statements.
Lt. John Satterfield said investigators conducted more than 70
interviews as part of an administrative investigation of the Banditos
claims and are sharing information from reviews under the new clique
policy with the FBI, The Times reported.
"The IG continues to further this distorted narrative that his office
is not provided documents or information in order to 'investigate' or
provide oversight," he said, adding that in the last 13 months the
oversight office has had access to more than 500 documents. "Despite his
misleading statements, the sheriff continues to provide him with access
and continues to welcome oversight."
Defenders of the deputy cliques say they represent hard work and boost morale by fostering camaraderie.
2 comments:
I think it might have been U. S. Grant who said something along the lines of, "I am not worried about my enemies. I can deal with my enemies. It's my friends who keep me awake at night."
The worst I ever saw during my LE career were case races and overzealous shift pride which turned to pranks.
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