LOS ANGELES, CA – Today, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 to bifurcate Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell’s motion addressing deputy gangs within the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD). The Board then voted 4-1 to approve one directive for a report back in 30 days that clarified which anti-deputy-gang reforms are subject to meet-and-confer requirements with Sheriff’s Department unions and how they could legally be prevented from moving forward. The Board also voted 4-1 to continue the vote on the remaining 12 directives in Supervisor Mitchell’s motion for 45 days until the November 10 Board meeting.

Supervisor Mitchell was the sole no vote on the Board’s actions and expressed concern that continuing the remaining directives further delays meaningful action toward establishing a comprehensive County framework to identify, investigate, publicly report and ultimately eradicate deputy gangs within LASD.

Supervisor Mitchell issued the following statement:

“For decades, Los Angeles County has talked about deputy gangs. We have had reports, investigations, hearings and lawsuits, and we have heard directly from community members and deputies about the harm they have experienced. Yet we continue to delay meaningful action.

This motion went through the County’s Cluster process a month before coming before the Board, giving the Sheriff’s Department, Board offices and the other departments identified in the motion ample time to review it and provide feedback. This has always been a collaborative process, and the Sheriff’s Department was invited to provide input. Despite that opportunity, we came to the Board without substantive comments from the Department.

The directives in this motion are fundamentally about gathering information so that we can understand what we know about deputy gangs, cliques and secret subgroups; how we identify them; how allegations are investigated; and what options are available to this Board to hold these groups accountable.

These are information-gathering and accountability measures that are intended to help us determine the best way to move forward. Continuing them again delays the very information we need to make informed decisions and take meaningful action.

I also believe we have a responsibility to respect the public’s time. Community members have been raising concerns about deputy gangs for decades. They should not have to continue waiting for the County to establish a clear process for identifying these groups, investigating allegations and determining how to address them.

We have documented this problem for years. This motion is about creating the infrastructure to meaningfully address it. I look forward to continuing this discussion and taking action by voting yes on the remaining items in the motion, which unfortunately won’t happen until the Tuesday, November 10 Board of Supervisors meeting, as a result of Supervisor Hahn’s motion.”

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