By Keri Blakinger | LA Times
Nearly two years after Sheriff Robert Luna took office and promised to eradicate deputy gangs, and three years after state lawmakers greenlighted a measure requiring police agencies to ban the groups, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department unveiled a much-awaited anti-gang policy Wednesday to comply with the law.
The controversial tattooed groups and their alleged misconduct have plagued the nation’s largest sheriff’s department for decades, spurring oversight investigations, an FBI probe and a stream of lawsuits. But leaders have been hamstrung in their efforts to eradicate the inked groups, in part because being in a gang was never explicitly grounds for firing.
The new policy could change that.
“It’s a huge step forward,” Luna told The Times on Wednesday. “People thought it was going to be impossible for me to start shifting this culture, but it’s happening. I like where we’re going.”
Read more at: LA Times
