Global Courant 2023-05-19 06:10:17
Less than a week after the county watchdog ordered dozens of deputies to display their gang tattoos and answer questions about violent cliques within the department, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna sent a department-wide email on Thursday urging his staff to comply to the Inspector General’s requirements. request.
“Please note that all department personnel who have received such a request are hereby ordered to appear and cooperate in such interviews,” Luna wrote in the strongly worded email. “All statements made by department personnel must be full, complete and truthful statements.”
Any employees who impede or delay an investigation, the email continued, could be disciplined or fired under current county policy.
Luna’s response represents a major shift from the previous administration, which was often at odds with oversight officials and consistently opposed outside investigations. Before being voted out last year, former sheriff Alex Villanueva subpoenas defied of the Civilian Oversight Commission, banned independent oversight investigators from department facilities and databases, and made Inspector General Max Huntsman the target of a criminal investigation.
Huntsman — who signed the 35 letters sent Friday to deputies suspected of wearing Banditos or Executioners tattoos — praised the change of direction Luna’s email represents.
“We appreciate the sheriff’s support and look forward to continuing our investigation,” Huntsman told The Times.
The purpose of that investigation, Huntsman said, is to compile a list of everyone in the Sheriff’s Department who belongs to a deputy gang. He planned to begin interviewing 35 suspected members of the Banditos, who operate out of East LA station, and the Executioners, who operate out of Compton station.
In the letters his office sent last week, Huntsman ordered delegates to show him their tattoos and name other delegates with similar ink. He also said he would ask deputies to tell him if they had ever been invited to join a group related to their tattoos, if they knew any of the Executioners or the Banditos, and if they had seen anyone with the characteristic tattoos of both gangs.
The letter contained only one acceptable reason for refusing to answer questions: the 5th Amendment. Unless deputies argued that answering questions could incriminate them, Huntsman’s letter warned that refusing to answer questions “could adversely affect your employment with Los Angeles County or your status as a peace officer.”
Before Luna fired off his Thursday morning email instructing his deputies to comply, the unions representing rank and file deputies posted mass texts and Facebook posts urging their members to call the union before acting on the inspector’s letter. general responded.
One union – the Assn. for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs – also sent a message to its members, advising anyone who received a letter from Huntsman’s office to respond only by sending an ALADS form letter to their supervisor, describing the OIG letter as a “threat” and asking for guidance on whether delegates should actually respond to it.
Following Luna’s email on Thursday morning, union officials said they “remained concerned” about Huntsman’s investigative approach.
“We would like to think that the basic rights granted to individuals by the Constitution do not differ from profession to profession,” said Richard Pippin, president of ALADS.
In addition to ordering cooperation, Luna’s letter also acknowledged that some deputies may have further questions about the nature of the OIG investigation.
“However, this investigation is being conducted by (OIG) and it would be inappropriate for the ministry to speculate on matters that fall within the purview of a separate entity. Labor or legal representatives are better equipped to handle such details,” he wrote in the email.
“We cannot take the privilege of serving in the law enforcement community for granted,” the Luna email continued. “We are all part of an honorable profession and it is our individual and collective duty to seek the truth in all matters. This is especially true for an investigation that attempts to uncover issues within our own department.”
Whether Luna’s order to cooperate will actually put a dent in the department’s gang problem remains to be seen. Some — including defense attorney Vincent Miller — were dubious on Thursday.
“The Board of Oversight, the Civilian Oversight Commission, the Inspector General all say they want reform and an end to deputy gangs, but this has been the talk for four years,” he told The Times. “So we should all be skeptical that this effort by the OIG will go anywhere.”
Miller has repeatedly sued the Sheriff’s Department and is currently representing eight deputies who filed an $80 million lawsuit alleging assault and harassment by Banditos gang deputies in connection with a 2018 off-duty incident at the Kennedy Hall event space.
“There is a huge backlash within LASD against Sheriff Luna,” Miller continued. “And he won’t be able to overcome that to make lasting, meaningful change as long as the county continues to talk both ways.”
Stephanie Luna — whose cousin, Anthony Vargas, was killed by deputies in 2018 — was equally skeptical. She’s not related to the sheriff.
“I’m super thankful that the OIG is doing this research and I’m trying to be optimistic,” she said. “It’s just, what is this going to do? What’s going to happen when these deputies show up with a lawyer and plead for the 5th?
Unlike his predecessor, Luna has acknowledged the existence of vicarious gangs and said publicly that he wants to end them. And he has now ordered his deputies to cooperate with the OIG investigation.
But several oversight officials pointed out at a meeting on Thursday that he has not yet formally accepted any of the 27 recommendations to eradicate vicarious gangs proposed by the Civilian Oversight Commission more than two months ago.
