Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna spoke during the Civilian Oversight Commissions on March 16 where one of the agenda items focused on deputy gangs.
It was made public that Luna’s Undersheriff April Tardy has a tattoo from the time she worked at the Temple Station. She alleges it is a “station tattoo” and not a “gang tattoo”.
Luna and Tardy are adamant they are here to “eradicate” deputy gangs with many being labeled as such due to tattoos that are alleged to be received for committing crimes against the public.
All five members of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors are silent on the matter as three are up for re-election next year: Kathryn Barger, Holly Mitchell, and Janice Hahn who was recently mentioned in the public corruption trial of former County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas.
A request for comment was sent to Asm. Chris Holden, who announced his candidacy to challenge Barger and he did not respond.
How big of an issue are deputy gangs if the elected officials aren’t as concerned about it as they were when former Sheriff Alex Villanueva was in office?
Emilie St. John is a freelance journalist for 2UrbanGirls.com and contributing writer for the Los Angeles Wave newspaper.