The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s leadership continues to make progress on proposals meant to root out deputy gangs and cliques, but the agency hasn’t settled on policies that would ban tattoos and logos that signify deputy gang membership, Sheriff Robert Luna told the Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission on Thursday, March 20.
Officials have completed most of the 26 recommendations the commission laid out in 2023 for the department to eliminate deputy gangs and cliques, with five others under evaluation; two won’t be implemented.
Deputy gangs and cliques were formally banned in 2024.
Changes include interview questions meant to weed out information about deputy gang activity before a deputy is promoted to a leadership position, a clause in the conditional offer of employment laying out deputy gang membership as grounds for firing, and a formal mentorship program that includes discussion of deputy gangs.
The Sheriff’s Department is continuing to have conversations related to several policy recommendations, including the banning of tattoos and logos that symbolize someone’s membership in a deputy gang or clique.
“We are involved in many meet-and-confer processes with labor,” Luna said. “Having policies that they support and understand is critical to having long-term sustainable change to the department.”
Commission members unanimously passed a motion urging the Sheriff’s Department to remove offensive and inappropriate station logos, including the Fort Apache logo at the East Los Angeles station.
Some in law enforcement at the East L.A. station referred to themselves as “Fort Apache” as a nod to the 1948 film of the same name about a lone outpost in Apache territory. After altercations between East L.A. deputies and anti-Vietnam War protesters during the 1970 Chicano Moratorium — a massive protest against the high percentage of Mexican Americans drafted and killed — the logo was created and prominently featured at the station.
Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell, when he was sheriff, banned the logo in 2016, but it was reinstated by the next sheriff, Alex Villanueva.
Last month, officials hosted a listening session in East L.A. to hear residents’ concerns about the logo.
“It was clear just from listening to the public comment how deeply rooted and offensive the Fort Apache logo is to the East Los Angeles community,” said commission chair Robert Bonner. “It’s visceral.”