#GangstersWithBadges Alex Villanueva LASD

New Report Says LA County’s Deputy Gangs Promote a “secretive, violent, us-against-them” police culture

East LA Community members speak out about deputy gangs at Thursday, July 11, 2019 forum, via WitnessLA
Celeste Fremon
Written by Celeste Fremon

The last week wasn’t an easy period for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, and some of the community members they were policing.

Over the weekend, an Instagram video went viral of an incident in the Santa Clarita Valley, which took place after three skateboarding kids, two of whom happened to be Black, were being physically harassed by a homeless guy brandishing a knife, causing onlookers, including the manager of the nearby Buffalo Wild Wings, to call the cops to help the kids. But when LA County Sheriff’s deputies arrived on scene, they held the two Black teenagers at gunpoint, with frightening intensity, and reportedly didn’t bother with the knife-wielding homeless man.

“This is something my son and his friends will never forget,” wrote Tammi Collins, the mother of one of the skaters held at gunpoint by the LASD deputies, who posted one of the Instagram videos of the incident. “I still wonder how will I ever help my son recover from this traumatic experience. Please pray for my family.”

Screen shot from Instagram video by Tammi Collins, mother of one of the skaters held at gunpoint by LASD deputies.

On Monday afternoon, Sheriff Alex Villanueva made an announcement about the incident, also on Instagram, in which he said he had “concerns regarding the tactics employed” and that the “matter is being investigated.”

On Friday, an Op-Ed in the Washington Post, written by León Krauze, the lead anchor at KMEX, Univision’s station in Los Angeles,  suggested that, the LA Sheriff’s department “should stop its posturing and answer for the killing of Andrés Guardado.”

And there is the ongoing issue of the Executioners, the most recent deputy gang that has come to the public’s attention, courtesy of the story WitnessLA broke late last month.

In the past few days, another deputy has prepared to file a civil rights lawsuit against the department due to his experiences with this tattooed deputy clique that operates out of the LASD’s Compton station.

(More on that later.)

And on Sunday, Compton’s mayor, Aja Brown, along with other community members, told ABC7’s Carlos Granda and Lisa Bartley a string of painful stories of mistreatment by Compton sheriff’s deputies,  some of it quite recent, as they called for an investigation into the station’s “rogue deputy gang.” In addition, according to Sunday’s ABC7 story, Compton officials are continuing to question their contract with the LASD for policing.

About those deputy gangs

Now, a new rigorously researched report takes an in-depth look at the corrosive effects that deputy gangs inside the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department have had — and are still having — on constitutional policing across LA County.

The report is scheduled to come out in September.  However, WitnessLA has obtained a draft copy of the 28-page report, titled Fifty Years of “Deputy Gangs” in the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department: Identifying Root Causes and Effects to Advocate for Meaningful Reforms, which allows us to give you a preview of the conclusions the researchers have drawn.

Grim Reapers challenge coin, representing the deputy clique that resided at what was once Lennox Station. Former LASD Deputy Caren “Carl” Mandoyan is a self-described Reaper.

The report is authored by the Center for Juvenile Law and Policy (CJLP), a well-respected legal clinic at Loyola Law School (founded in 2004 by public defender Cyn Yamashiro), which trains law students to “holistically represent at-risk youth in delinquency proceedings,” and to do so pro bono.

The clinic is overseen by Loyola Law Professor Sean Kennedy, who was formerly the Federal Public Defender for California’s Central District.

For the past few years — in addition to his teaching and mentoring at Loyola — Kennedy is a member of the LA County Sheriff’s Department’s Civilian Oversight Commission (COC). He has become the COC’s resident expert on the deputy clique issue.

Yet, according to Kennedy, altogether apart from his oversight duties, an entirely different set of circumstances put the matter of LASD’s deputy cliques on his radar.

He explained how the members of his clinic represent clients in East LA, South LA, and other Los Angeles neighborhoods in juvenile court, pro bono. Not surprisingly, many of the clinic’s young clients are gang-involved — or accused of it, sometimes when they’re not — thus have been charged with gang enhancements, Kennedy said.

But, when his young attorneys met with the kids, their clients repeatedly described disturbing behavior on the part of local deputies.  “Look the sheriff who arrested me and is acting as a gang expert,” they said, or words to that effect, “he’s in a gang himself.”

Sean Kennedy, L.A. County Civilian Oversight Commissioner, and Executive Director of Center for Juvenile Law & Policy at Loyola Law School. / Photo by LLS

At first this seemed to be an extraordinary claim, Kennedy said. But after he and his clinic members, kept hearing that same message, they began to perform a new kind of due diligence.

“And when we started to look into it, we began to find serious evidence that the kids may be right.”

That pattern drew him and his law students to become interested in looking into the history of deputy gangs or cliques, in general, as well as into the cliques that appeared to be the most active, which in turn produced a series of papers for the COC, that WLA has cited previously.

Along with giving an overview of the department’s deputy cliques and gangs, the new report then analyzes the larger picture of how LASD “deputy gangs” have negatively impacted policing in Los Angeles, at the same time they have grievously “infected the fairness of legal proceedings” in the Los Angeles Superior Court.

“We have at least a 50-year history of unchecked deputy gangs in the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department,” Kennedy told WitnessLA. “The East LA Station is something of an incubator of deputy gangs,” he said, referring to the historic deputy clique known as the “Little Devils” or “Red Devils,” which was based in the East Los Angeles Station as far back as 1970, according to the report, “making it one of the earliest known deputy gangs.”

Now, of course, the Little Devils are long gone.  Instead, the station is home to the Banditos, and to a station motto that characterizes the station as Fort Apache, a reference, that the report points out, “harkens back to the 1948 John Ford western of the same name, in which a remote U.S. cavalry outpost is surrounded by enemies whom the white officers regard as dangerous ‘savages.'”

A deputy gang, as the report defines it, is a subculture within the station “that has decided to meet together secretly, get a numbered tattoos, usually on the ankle or calf (but sometimes in other locations).

Banditos logo courtesy of attorney Vincent Miller

The tattoo, the CJLP authors write, “is usually a menacing figure,” such as a skeleton with a gun. The tattooed images “celebrate violence” and are sometimes numbered, so you know who was admitted when in the gang.

In the cases of certain gangs, “when you commit a police shooting or an act of violence, you may have your tattoo enhanced or embellished,” write the report’s authors.  And the embellishments are a sign of status.

“The gangs have an us-against-them culture in the station, in which the deputy gang members view themselves as the best, most aggressive, gung-ho law enforcement officers. And they advance a heavy-handed, violent approach to policing.”

In general, the deputy gangs thrive in struggling communities, like East LA, South LA, and Compton, and also in the Antelope Valley stations where the Rattlesnakes are a deputy clique.

(Regarding the Rattlesnakes, the report notes that, the existence of that particular clique is corroborated by a 2013 U.S. Department of Justice report, which found “some Antelope Valley deputies wear tattoos or share paraphernalia with an intimidating skull and snake symbol as a mark of their affiliation with the Antelope Valley stations,” according to the DOJ writings. “Though there are varying interpretations of what these tattoos symbolize, they provide an undeniable visual representation of a gulf between deputies and the community and are an unfortunate reminder of LASD’s history of symbols associated with problematic deputy behavior.”

A blueprint for change

When asked what he and his team hope to accomplish with the CJLP report, Kennedy told WitnessLA that he and his student researchers mean the report to be “objective and fair-minded,” with a blueprint for change.

The problem of deputy gangs has “been going on for 50 years, with all the county institutions looking the other way,” he said.  “And I think most everyone understands that ignoring the problem has allowed deputy gangs to proliferate, and has made everything associated with them….worse.”

Executioners insignia reportedly at a member’s desk, courtesy of Attorney Alan Romero

So the goal, according to Kennedy, “is to prompt real conversation” about what to do.

“There’s no doubt that we have a problem with deputy gangs. The jury is not out,” he said. “The idea that this is an open question for the Rand Corporation to answer, misses the point. I think the real question is:  Now that we admit we’ve allowed this monster to grow, how do we fix it?”

It is that last question, having to do with solutions, that Kennedy says he and his volunteer law students have been working on for two years.

One critical first step, according to Kennedy, is to “demand that the sheriff release everything that is known about about all the different gangs and cliques.  And then we have to ask why are all these young deputies want to join? Why is this an attractive option?”

The other critical question, according to Kennedy, is “why, year after year, do we see these militaristic clique gangs with names and symbols that vilify the people they are supposed to be assisting?”

Kennedy mentions former President Barack Obama’s 2015 Task Force on 21st Century Policing, “which repeatedly talks about policing through the lens of one basic question:  “Do you have a warrior police culture, or a guardian police culture.”

A group of 3000 Boys, the deputy clique that formed in Men’s Central Jail and later reportedly morphed into the Compton Executioners/WLA

The intention of the report is not to be critical of the department members, according to Kennedy. Having been on the COC for a few years now, said Kennedy, he’s come to understand the challenges police face daily.

“And I’ve met so many people in the department that I respect and like.”

But, “overall,” he said, for all those good people, “there is a dangerous culture of us-against-them, a culture of the warrior and the occupying army, that pervades the institution.”

Whereas, he said, the “guardian police culture cares what the members of the community being policed think.”

Yet, the warrior culture sees command and control as the highest value.

Exceptionalism, but not in a good way

LASD management has often stated that law enforcement gangs exist in many other departments, according to the Kennedy/Loyola reports, past and present.

“But my students and I have canvassed national newspapers and have not found reporting about law enforcement gangs in other jurisdictions, except for shorter periods of time in New Orleans and Oakland,” Kennedy said.

This suggests, he said, “that the problem is more unique to LASD than their management would like to admit.”

Furthermore, he said, “the failure of elected LA Sheriffs to do anything affirmative to investigate the internal gangs is likely one of the major reasons that they have persisted for so long.”

Yes, the LAPD had its notorious Rampart division in the early 1990s, a massive scandal that produced a sharp-toothed federal consent decree. But, while the LAPD still has some considerable challenges, worrying about gangster cops on the street has rarely been one of them.  After the Rampart debacle,  certain department leaders, including in 2002, the then head of the LAPD’s Training Division, George Gasćon, (who is now running for LA District Attorney against incumbent, Jackie Lacey) and a year later, LAPD Chief Bill Bratton, both used the consent decree as a tool to push through much needed reforms aimed at shoving the department culture toward constitutional policing.

Yet, decade after decade, write the Loyola researchers, under administration after administration,  the LASD has declined to face its own urgent need for such reform when it comes to deputy cliques.

Clinging to deputy cliques has been costly, according to the report, which points to the estimate by the Office of Inspector General that, since 1990, LA County has spent at least $50 million on settlements and judgments related to use-of-force and misconduct by deputies known to have a clique tattoo.

But, write the authors, the actual settlement total is likely far higher, because, unless civil rights attorneys manage to turn up evidence of gangsters with badges who were prominently involved with their client’s case, “LASD management has refused to investigate whether any deputy involved in a shooting is affiliated with a deputy gang.”

(One of the most prominent cases in which a victim did know a deputy gangster was involved was in the case of the wrongful conviction of Franky Carrillo, which was followed by 20 years in prison for the kid who had no criminal record. Carrillo always knew that his conviction was materially helped along by at least one admitted member of the Lynwood Vikings, who turned out to have manipulated evidence. In Carrillo’s case, his attorney, Ron Kaye, who made sure the deputy gang issue was included, got a settlement of $10.1 million for his client.)

The “to do” list

In its final section that is dedicated to solutions, the CJLP report points to the Twenty-First Century Policing model, which “emphasizes public transparency, meaningful engagement with oversight bodies, collaboration with community- based organizations, and true accountability for deputy misconduct.”

Implementing this kind of model “of constitutional and community policing,” would be the best path forward for culture change “and the eradication of deputy gangs and cliques within the LASD,” according to the report’s authors.

But that prescriptive is also pretty general. With this in mind, the report offers nine specific recommendations, which are as follows:

  • The LASD should enforce its new policy (3-01/050.83) prohibiting deputies from participating in subgroups that violate the rights of others;
  • The LASD should acknowledge the existence of all known deputy gangs and cliques and disclose all internal documents about the gangs and cliques pursuant to the Public Records Act.
  • Los Angeles deputy district attorneys should affirmatively ask sheriff’s deputies expected to testify as prosecution witnesses whether they belong to a deputy gang or clique and, if they do, disclose this affiliation to the defense prior to trial pursuant to Brady v. Maryland;
  • Defense counsel should move pursuant to Pitchess v. Superior Court to discover if any sheriff’s deputies involved in the investigation of the charged offenses is affiliated with a deputy gang or clique;
  • The Los Angeles Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission (COC) should host town halls in East Los Angeles, South Los Angeles, Compton, and the Antelope Valley to solicit community input about deputy gangs or cliques operating in these areas;
  • The COC should direct the Office of Inspector General to investigate all current deputy gangs and, if necessary, use its subpoena power to obtain testimony and documents regarding the deputy gangs;
  • The Sheriff should regularly attend COC public hearings in order to engage with the commission and community members about how to address the longstanding problem of deputy gangs and cliques within the department;
  • An institutional defender or non-profit organization should create and maintain a database of all deputies known to be affiliated with a deputy gang or clique and catalogue specific acts of misconduct associated with the gang or clique;
  • ‘The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors should direct its counsel to stop seeking non-disclosure agreements as a condition of settlement in civil suits where the NDA facilitates hiding deputy gang misconduct from the public.

When the final CJLP report comes out next month, we look forward to learning how it is received.

More as we know it.

Photo at top of East LA community members speaking out about deputy gangs at Thursday, July 11, 2019 COC forum, via WitnessLA

 

84 Comments

  • When You Get Beat Up In The Hood By The Real Gangs, You Join A Legal Gang. Those dudes have always been funny to me, I’ve always laughed and I am still LMAO at all those followers.

    They really think and try to act like they bout that life. Reality is these dudes are More Like PC Drop Out WannaBe Gangstas, just cause you supervise, got a boot print on the wall, kick apples down the hall and make trustees clean up your mess on the 2 n 3 don’t make you gangsta.

    Stop Playing n Stay Blessed

  • Professor Kennedy is confused. From his office in the very upscale campus of Loyola law school he can’t understand why cops have developed an “us vs them” attitude. Especially the cops who work in “struggling areas”( basically the areas that are least similar to the Loyola law school campus.)

    Professor Kennedy knows the people these cops encounter just need a helping hand, what’s with all this aggressive gung ho stuff? Why can’t these cops be more like Professor Kennedy’s students?

  • Copy that for wannabe gangsters, who are scared to death if they had to fight without other bullies backing them up.
    No different from punks without a badge, I also LMAO!

  • AR15 aimed at unarmed juvenile victims, are you serious?

    RIDICULOUS, UNREASONABLE & UNACCEPTABLE!

  • Professor Kennedy looks like he’s never had to deal with a real gang member in his life, especially living in his million dollar home, probably making 200K a year. Please.

    I can’t wait for the wind to blow over with this, so we can move onto the next flavor of the month.

    There are 23 patrol stations and Mr. Kennedy listed 2 maybe 3 “problem,” station cliques. I’d hardly call that a problem. Plus what documentation and factual evidence does he have to support this theory. All he has is media coverage, which we know where they stand and frivolous lawsuits. He’s taking the words of his “innocent” clients, oh yeah I’m sure they are reliable sources. So what evidence.

    There are 450 active REAL gangs in LA County. Now that’s a problem!

  • Also, just for clarity. Deputies get a call for service, im assuming it’s comes out a 245 ( assault with a deadly weapon call) which is a felony. The deputies don’t know anything else before arriving other than what’s relayed by dispatch. Maybe they mention someone is armed with a knife or not.

    Deputies get there and there’s a bunch of people there, I hear a bunch a different people yelling in the video. They are trying to safely detain all parties, to figure out what they have and what happen. Let me say this again, they try to safely detain all parties, detain not arrest, to figure out what they have or happen.

    When dealing with a felony crime you have to treat it like a felony crime/suspect(s) until you can ascertain what actually happen. They have to detain at gun point. Just like a felony traffic stop. Optics look bad but it’s done like this for safety for all parties.

    I will also add. If your being assaulted or someone attacks with a knife. You can defend yourself, but you maybe detained to figure what level self defense you used. You can be arrested if they deem your level of self defense excessive. You can also be released if they justify your level of self defense.

    Just saying.

  • Well, the AV Clown Show continues as our Idiot Sheriff has stepped on it again. The funny part is BiBi, or Sweetpea and little Allie likes to call her during his ridiculous live social media influencer sessions, Was a co-conspirator in this planned and staged libelous act against the much much smarter lady CEO, Sachi Hamai. Allie and Viv are about to be owned!

    ABC7 News: County office calling for investigation into alleged false report by Sheriff Villanueva

    Sheriff Villanueva is accused of filing a conflict-of-interest report about the county CEO that he allegedly knew had false information.
    By ABC7.com staff

    https://abc7.com/sheriff-villanueva-false-report/6365048/

  • Not quite.

    The responding Deputies were acting on information they got via their car radios, and at least one of the 911 callers reported “black kids attacking a homeless man” instead of vice-versa, which, it turned out, was what really happened.

    Sure there was much pointing of guns but the responding Deputies got a complicated situation figured out pretty quickly so should be commended for that except that the homeless man brandishing a knife was not taken into custody–evidently he got away.

  • Agreed, something I said. There was a lot of info being put out out over the radio and MDC while enroute to that call. Was the AR a bit aggressive, hell yes. But he’s that dude that’s been dying to pull the AR out during any situation. I’ve seen it numerous times, he could have went to the trunk n got Less lethal as well seeing that is partners had lethal already.

    I get the picture and all LE individuals handle things differently.

    But the fake ass wannabe wanksters are spread out around the. They aren’t just at the 2-3 stations on file. There are Other stations that have these cliques n sub group wankster DEPUTIES.

  • Typical 911 narrative from the “Karen or Ken” telling dispatch “Black kids attacking a homeless man” …

    Hopefully the follow-up will capture the “white” homeless man who had the knife, which shouldn’t be hard to find in Santa Clarita.

  • It’s all good!! Sheriff Vivian and Undersheriff Alex have advised it is “under investigation”. Put it on top of the other issues being looked at by Carl Mondoyan. He’s the Chief Investigator on all controversial matters. But things take time. He only works when not prying into slider doors like some creep trying to intimidate an innocent woman!!! Let’s not forget as a fired deputy he was Alex’s driver during the campaign and expected nothing in return!!!!! Consider this AR-15 toting matter closed!!!!

  • I just don’t understand why deputies don’t have the ability to process a crime in progress before they get to the scene. We need to hire smarter people. Everybody on social media can make an assessment in a safe place while winding and rewinding tape. Why can’t a dumb patrol deputy do it before they get to the scene and investigate?
    Must be AVs fault. Or the BOS. Maybe Personnel for hiring idiots.

  • I read the report…. that’s it! Really. To use the authors own words, “there is insufficient information members are engaging in gang like behavior”…. 50 years and that is it!

    Read the report for yourself and keep in mind this is data for 50 yrs… that is all there is. The previous Sheriffs were right. This is not a problem..

    To clarify. I have never been a fan of sub groups. Seemed to much like high school and I always felt it reflected poorly on the organization.

  • “Read the Report for yourself….”

    Easy to do as the link to the Report is in this article (in the vicinity of paragraph #12).

    Some of the notable items in the Table of Contents:

    V. (B): Deputy Gangs Undermine Constitutional Policing.

    Remember: The purpose of the U.S. Constitution is to protect the individual from the
    Government, so it is no small matter when this is undermined by the Police.

    V. (C): LASD Members Make False and Misleading Statements to Hide the Existence and True Nature of Deputy Gangs.

    That is what YOU are doing here.

    That’s just the Table of Contents. As you say

    “Read the Report yourself….”

  • This is getting old. Move on. Actually, keep talking about it. That helps recruitment into these groups. Nothun to see here folks.

  • I forgot these cops that work Santa Clarita should have used their X-Ray vision to see that no one at an assault with a deadly weapon actually had a deadly weapon…. What is wrong with you morons. I guess you cannot see the big picture. You guys are the same morons that denounce cops when you don’t need them but are angry when you need them and then complain they are never there fast enough for you.

  • @Rakkasan. Seeking is hoping that comment will make it all go away. Hmmm. How convenient. We all know cliques can be either good or become criminal, in any organization. Lately it’s been toward the criminal with the Banditos, 3000 boys, Jump Out Boys. Why would certain previous executives (Tanaka, Vera, Del Mese) be willing to let this continue you may ask. Because if they can control a group of deputies that “put in work” as hardchargers, then they have alot of influence at the station level in certain divisions and can build an army of followers to fulfill their insecure needs. The mob used the same mentality, when they took control of the unions. Power in numbers my friend.

  • I too know that when a deputy arrives on scene, and no matter what the radio or MDC states, deputies will use their eyes and keen sense of observation to determine the appropriate amount of aggression needed to handle a call. Anyone who has been in court understands the radio call is secondary to your independent observations…. Boys sitting on a bus bench with skateboards should not amount to an immediate felony stop, handguns, and AR-15 rifles as a first resort.!!!! Did the deputies see a knife or a victim bleeding from a wound, or……….skateboards!!!!

    Are we scared!!! Or are we working on assumptions!!! That was a scary and dangerous approach to use when dealing with the public and the type of approach that more than likely will always lead to egregious mistakes…

    I hope all LASD supervisors appreciate that the video captured this performance so they will have a foundation to starting honest training and discussions on how deputies work and how they are perceived in public.

    And everyone on this blog knows that this would not have happened if….. (you fill in the blanks)… The one kid is asked about his hat, as if the gang relations was soon to be an issue…..man -0- man… Another removed the skateboards as if he was collecting degradable evidence!!!

    Our problem in law enforcement is we keep defending poor police work under the guise of officer safety…. Stop it, please stop it… Those deputies need more training, or a new job. We all understand that everything is not a rapidly evolving dynamic situation that can not be controlled. Deputies are trained better than that. Its harder to re-holster that gun when you don’t need it than it is to pull it when you do….

    If the deputies start with the lowest and most effective denominator, COMMUNICATION, that incident would have been totally different. Using communication from the onset as their strongest weapon probably would have resulted in two kids walking away with a good feeling about law enforcement,, Instead, the kids are probably pissing in their pants when they see cops and don’t ever want to see a deputy, especially a deputy pointing a rifle. I hope they don’t over react the next time they encounter a deputy.

    Just a thought. What if that was your kid? (the radio call said) malarky ……

    poor parents… Now the parents have to have another one of those conversations about police with their kids… You know, because you also have the “monitor your behavior around the police” talk with your kids…”So remember kids, as you walk about and enjoy your community, a knife yielding man might go after you, and the community might call for help, but you may want to look out for the AR-15 being pointed at you,,,”

    The deputies are not victims!! They need training and a confidence to rely on the fact that their basic training and acts of humanity actually work. This one asks for no excuses or rationalization about where society is today. Please don’t research the kid’s background in an attempt to show they deserved this or demonize them. The deputies are the professionals and we must demand that of them…. man-0-man..

    Wont comment on the tattoos and how that has impacted our beloved LASD!!!

    Again, I hope their supervisor (all supervisors) appreciates that the video captured their performance and use it as a platform to starting honest training and have discussions on how they work and how they are perceived in public.

  • @Stay Quiet
    Well said. It was not handled well, and a sergeant needs to have a serious heart-to-heart with the Ar-15 cowboy. Next level over-reaction there.
    I think most of us have been in that situation, or rolled up on it, where we just couldn’t figure out why the guns were out based on what our observations and common sense were telling us. Officer safety is all well and good, but if you can’t make changes to the game plan as new information develops, you’re not doing your job. Reevaluating a situation and holstering up, or saying to the handling unit “Joe, I think we got the victims here” is perfectly fine and doesn’t mean you’re anti-officer safety. When mulitple bystanders are shouting “That’s not the guy” it’s time to re-think the hold ’em all at gunpoint and hook ’em all up opening approach.
    Yes, we all want to go home at the end of the shift, but we can’t let that keep us from drawing the line when overreactions are occurring, particularly now. “Defending poor police work.” It’s too rare that someone calls it out like that, and more of us are going to need to step up and do the much harder job of doing it in person.

  • The deputy with the AR-15 looks so desperate for ink. His wheels were spinning and his inner voice was say, “give me a reason, anything shiny will do, maybe even a cell phone. I just wanna be recognized at the next ink party.” I want to be the inductee damnit. No sir, I didn’t say indicted, I said inducted. You know. Into the club!!! Sheriff Alex has our backs. He always wanted to be one of the boys. But was assigned to ride a bike like Pee Wee Herman instead!!! He would take a burrito to Vivian every Saturday!! Her favorite was from El Cholo Loco, carne asada grande with frijoles.

  • Well Said, Agreed and on point. I ur myself in arriving at this scene. Kids would have never seen me draw a gun. No I’m not Monday night quarterbacking. I’ve done it numerous times, communication is the best weapon in LE. Most don’t have communication and most don’t have a culturally diversified background in dealing with different groups of people.

    Training is a major issue in LE, but some of these scary wanksters can’t be trained. I’m talking from experience…..jails, courts n patrol.

  • @ Stay quiet, 2nd that & Rifleman > All of your points were valid with reason. Training, training and more training will not lead to perfection but it will lead to better outcomes.

    Waiting for someone to make a meme of the over-the-top & overzealous deputy with the AR15, what a friggin character!

    How would most feel that if the victims were your sons with no excuses from any LEO who has a weak ass reason of how it was the boys fault.

    LASD, Be advised that the few clowns and
    and wannabe gangsters within that organization overshadow the majority of good deputies that strive to make a difference in America’s largest Sheriff Department.

  • So do the Santa Clarita sheriffs pull guns and rifles on everybody on the street because they don’t have x-ray vision. These moron sheriffs have everybody on the sidewalk telling them that the call was concerning a different suspect

    The morons are the over zealous sheriff pulling guns on any black kid they see on the street.

  • ” I too know that when a deputy arrives on scene, and no matter what the radio or MDC states, deputies will use their eyes and keen sense of observation to determine the appropriate amount of aggression ”

    These cops are morons with no observation or common sense. They have a bunch of people on the side who are telling them what the call was about. I sure the dispatch call also had information about the victims and suspect

    These cops are probably part of a cop gang trying to earn their stripes.

  • How many cops are in gangs ? There are corrupt cops putting innocent people on a gang data base. We need a gang data base for cops like those seen pulling guns on innocent kids.

    https://www.nbclosangeles.com/investigations/lapd-officers-charged-false-data-police-patrol-gang-members/2394068/

    ” The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office filed dozens of felony charges against three LAPD Metropolitan Division officers suspected of falsely labeling innocent motorists and pedestrians they stopped as gang members.

    Braxton Shaw, Michael Coblentz, and Nicholas Martinez were each charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice.

    The 59-count criminal complaint also charged Shaw with falsifying 43 field interview cards that allegedly labeled people as gang members, according to a statement from the DA’s office. Coblentz was charged with falsifying seven cards and Martinez two cards. “

  • A vote cast for @ Stay Quiet. Embarrassing actions by a bunch of cowboys. It is hard to use officer safety as justification when common sense tells you otherwise.

  • 2 minutes of video and we have a group here that seems to think they understand every nuance of what must have happened. Complete with great insight on what great things they would have done, If of course all the other assumptions they made about everything else just happened to be true. Judging by how this story appears to have gone away pretty quick, I’m going to take a leap and say theres probably more to this story than initially came out, there almost always is.

    Now I’m going to make another assumption, some of the commenters seem to have personal issues with the Sheriffs Dept. Like maybe they were bullied, didn’t get the career they thought they deserved , or something along those lines. I’d like to hear those stories.

  • https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/only-on-2-video-shows-deputies-taking-aggressive-action-against-inmate-at-los-angeles-county-jail/ar-BB17QIqC?ocid=msedgntp#image=1

    And the show continues at LASD under the reign of the worst Sheriff in the history of Los Angeles County. I will reserve my judgement on this reply by Corbett:
    “According to Corbett, the charges against the man for allegedly resisting arrest were dropped because the deputy involved did not appear in court” Hmmmmm I wonder why ?

  • I can keep going posting countless/endless murders and shootings. I think there’s bigger problems in LA county. The hot topic is subcultures and cliques. It will die off soon. I’m more concerned how Celeste, WitnessLA, and all news media outlets are not concerned with the murders and gun violence we see in neighborhoods of Latinos and Blacks. Crimes that are being being done by Latinos and Blacks. It’s sad that no one cares about these issues. Instead we want more released and worried about LASD. How about the real gangs?

    How about driving through a city like Compton. All you see Is gang graffiti. Citizens sharing harrowing stories of shootings, some even unreported. Street takeovers by street racers, abandoned homes, vacant lots/businesses, visible (i mean visible) prostitution, and craters throughout the streets.

    Talk about broken window theory. The mayors focus should be her damn city.

  • I doubt I’m one of the guys who hurt your feelings. Why don’t you tell us what happened, it may help.

  • @TaxCollector
    You can’t address those issue because there’s not money associated with them. Hate the cops? Lots of money there. This isn’t about right and wrong, it’s about money and getting elected. From local to national elections, we’ve become a nation of money seeking whores.
    Ship will never right itself. Citizens need to take the power back and let elected people know they work for us, not the other way around.

  • Yeah too bad elected people work for themselves. When has there ever been dramatic change. Even under Obama shit was the same. It always will be. Rich stay rich or get richer n poor stay poor. It’s for a reason.

  • The city of Los Angeles is already spending over 50% of its city budget for police to waste most of the day driving around in their patrol cars. If the police would get out of their cars and interact and get to know the people in the neighborhoods they patrol they might actually prevent and solve crimes.

    Is the city supposed to spend 100% of the city budget for ineffective cops to sit in their cars and collect their DROP retirement while getting full pay ?

    The police unions main function is to be a leech which sucks all the blood (money) from the city while protecting lazy, corrupt , abusive and useless police officers.

  • @FX-Shoot…I wish I could get out of my car to take a leak. So many times I’m going from one call to the other.

  • Yup not a red/blue difference. Politicians should not be a lifelong career bouncing from office to office.

    Politicians should not leave Washington, or any capital city, with more accumulated wealth than when they got there.

    We should see the tax returns of every single elected official from school board to president, every year.

    They know as long as we are at each other’s throats we won’t be coming for them. Get your pitchforks ready, anger needs to be directed towards both sides of the aisle.

  • Focus on the issue at hand. Sheriff Villanueva is inept. From his first day to now he has been completely in over his head. And now he’s drowning. Not even his wife can save him. Perhaps with his $350.000 salary, $180,000 retirement and Vivians $65,000 dollar retirement each year they can save a few pesos and head south!!!

  • Tax Collector you keep talking about the politicians. So let me edumicate you. Sheriff Alejandro aka Bandido # 1 is a politician, who is leashed by Mrs Bandido. I know you cannot defend the Bandido’s, Reapers, 2000 Boys, or the 3000 Boys, or your latest hero’s from Compton the infamous Executioners. Now that’s a wonderful name for Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputies… mind you funded by US the taxpayers. All you do is distract, deflect and talk nonsense. By the way, did you watch Bandido # 1 via twittie bird singing to his 5 or so dirty birds… the man could not even pronounce Santa Clarita..it was Sana CARI-ita. What an embarrassment this clown is!
    See I’m more concerned that we the tax payers paid over $58 Million in settlements over lawsuits resulting from bad training, or tactics, or just plain cowboy personalities. Looks like there are bunch of good Deputies who want the Sheriff’s Department to represent Valor, pride, commitment to serving communities… but doubt it will happen under the current Bandido in charge. Please Communicate to your Bandido .. it’s Santa Clarita.

  • All related rifleguy.
    It’s bigger than an incompetent sheriff but the way he leads with the same lack of regard for voters.
    BOS is the same, Gar-douche-I is the same, Newscum, same.
    AV is just a small scale model of these tards.

  • Deputies probably pay more in taxes then most LA County residents, so there’s also that. I don’t support dumb behavior, but I’m also intelligent enough to know that there isn’t deputy gangs. Other then what’s fed to you here on WitnessLA or media, no one has proven other wise. Small units or subgroups have existed in all factions of life. Small units with if the Marine Corps, Fraternities, sororities, motorcycle clubs, Each la county fire station has a logo for their station, Navy Seal Chris Kyle and his partners had punishers in their vest. He was was a war hero and decorated veteran who I respect and served our country proudly. We don’t have problems with that!

    95% of deputies are solid doing outstanding jobs, wether or not they are part of a “alledged” clique or not. Of course today’s people and media are opportunist. Any chance to blow shit out of proportion or sue well they take it. I’m sure you would too. Ive seen deputies Do more great things than any kind of bad. But why is there no coverage on that. Countless lives saved, thousands of children protected, murders solved, and countless other thankless acts of kindness!

    It is thankless profession and I feel for them.

  • Anonymous, next time you make a stop can you pick me a carne asada grande with frijoles ? lol

  • @Rifleman,

    Thank you for that recap. That probably explains how Incompetent Alejandro is now able to employ Creepy Carl, off the books, to provide personal security for Bibi at La Casa Grande. Although, they do save personal funds by utilizing their personal “mow them down” sheriff’s office mija deputy with an assigned county “tax payer” funded car.

    All tax payer funding justified of course since they all conspired to create and publicize a fake doxxing threat.

    But don’t worry all, I know of at least two “Investigative Reporters” who are working on exposing this one. Should be juicy entertainment once it is produced, finalized and aired during sweeps week.

  • @ Kong, How’s that space in AV’s garage doing for you there. Does your desk fit between those BMW’s.

  • I hate to see our dirty laundry aired in public. Long ago (“Back in the Day” for those who worked The Hot Years), we still had scandals but they were handled efficiently and promptly. No slam on Alex or others; however I do recall Sheriff Block as a stand up guy who did the job w/o focusing on politics. Block called me by name during a cmmd inspec and I hadn’t met him but maybe once or twice since academy. So he either recalled or an aide had cue cards. He took care of business and handled capers as they came up.

  • @Clown Show. Let me clarify a few things. Creepy Carl has rich uncles and family. He was also hooked up with private security work by the boys. As for security at Casa Viviana, up to 6 deputies at a time are deployed from Major Crimes. And trust me, he’s not footing the bill. If you get a minute look up the Armenian Board member from the Sheriff’s Youth Foundation that just resigned because he can no longer stomach Sheriff Villanueva. And the best goes on!!!!

  • Hahahahaha wtf?
    Rifleman I looked up the Armenian guy.
    What a joke.
    Can we please leave the Armenian/Azerbaijan blood feud where it belongs? I’m not sure where exactly that is..some stretch of land between Armenia and Azerbaijan I think.
    Let’s leave it there so we can try to make LA County a better place. All these tribal conflicts being hashed out in the US. What a baby that clown is, good riddance whatever his name is.

  • Never met the man, like to hear why he’s worthy of so much hate though. Seems like to a lot of commenters he’s a surrogate to blame for a lot of hurt feelings, and personal disappointments.

  • @Rifleman, thank you for the tip.

    Didn’t (Mr. Transparency and Reform & Restore) Incompetent Alex publicly state that he removed his favorite social media attack cat, John “Bigglesworth” Burcher out of the Sheriff’s Office and his Chief of Staff role after his last profanity laced Twitter & Facebook tirade? Well, well, well, what do we have here? Looks like Alex’s “Shadow Chief of Staff” is still at it with his destructive communications skills at winning friends and demonstrating sage diplomacy.

    From the “Wow, You Can’t Make This S#!T Up” files:

    Councilmember Hadjinian Resigns Board Post in Protest of Sheriff’s Action | Asbarez.com

    VILLAN-ueva was overheard yesterday inquiring, or his new favorite term: Investigating (insert raised finger quotes), Burcher on this breaking story when confronted and asked if it was accurate. Burcher responded with a, “F’ing A Right, I told Jack Hadjin-Mandoyan or whatever his name is, that he could attend but he had to STFU during the meeting.”

    Alex’s response to that exclamation: “Oh Behave Bigglesworth, Behave!” Bahhhhhhahahahaha.

    #WorstSheriffEver
    #RecallSheriffV
    #ShamefulSheriffV
    #AdiosVillanueva

  • You must know the region pretty well ….must suck when your Armenian Uncle stands on principles. LOL

  • I wonder how Mr Hadjinian feels about BLM and Antifa vandalizing buildings and spreading their hatred attacking anyone that doesnt agree with them? He probably doesnt mind. Oh that’s right…because it doesnt affect him personally. Poor baby. Good riddance.

  • ” I don’t support dumb behavior, but I’m also intelligent enough to know that there isn’t deputy gangs. ”

    That is a hilarious comment. LOL
    You are a friggin genius.

    2000 boys of the county jail
    3000 boys of the county jail
    Banditos of east Los Angeles sheriff station
    Lynwood Vikings Los Angeles sheriff station
    Executioner’ Compton sheriff station
    and the list goes on
    The Regulators, the Grim Reapers, the Jump Out Boys

  • When we kick Alejandro to the curb in the next elections, over 75% of voters in Los Angeles County are going to say ” Good Riddance”.

  • Goes to show how hard the Sheriff’s job has become: keeping track of squabbles in the boondocks of distant parts of the world.

    The fifteen Soviet Republics of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics dissolved into fifteen different countries in 1992, and many of them ended up squabbling among themselves, notably Russia v. Ukraine.

    Also Azerbaijan v. Armenia, both of whom were former Soviet Republics.

    Both countries are adjacent to one another, with total populations less than that of Los Angeles county.

    Azerbaijan has a mostly Moslem population with a secular government, following the former Soviet Communist model; Armenia is a Christian country.

    Therein lie the roots of the squabble.

    I blame A.V. not at all for not wanting to get involved.

  • Fx is right. Tax collector is either one of those shameless deps, or a groupie tied to the station.

    It’s also obvious this person lives in Compton by their frustration with certain elected officials. I can agree with that frustration, which long predates this bunch.

    But be warned. This deputy group is in no way benign. Look at the TMZ video linked here

    https://www.tmz.com/2020/06/03/los-angeles-sheriffs-deputies-beat-up-detained-man-no-one-watching/

    These are just a couple of that group and it’s obvious they’ve been caught by how they freeze (force miraculously is not necessary and now the handcuffs are) when someone calls them out on their actions. Like a kid that puts his head down when being scolded. Utterly disgusting behavior.

  • …and remember AV was (is) pushing hard to rehire Carl Cop Mandumbain who is a member of two gangs.

  • LOL, Obviously you have no idea how police work is accomplished. Responding deputies work on the information provided to them by an informant (civilian), who most likely doesn’t know the whole story.

    After reading this again, I think it’s sarcasm. Touche for you! Because until we get PreCrime we will never know what happened until were 10-97 and sorting things out.

  • FX, So you have confirmed evidence of all those alleged gangs? Or just what’s in The media and on here. I’ve seen evidence of 18th street. There’s graffiti, Tattoos, gang violence that’s actually been proven, roll calls from jail, and so on.

    I’m tired of hearing 2000 / 3000 boys. That’s fake news. The Vikings was from the 60’s I believe. Don’t quote me on timeline.

  • @Anonymous. Read the tea leaves. This is more about not wanting to represent a jackass Sheriff then anything else. Burcher just happened to stick his big foot in his mouth again. Sounds like a silent Chief of Staff to me.

  • AV shouldn’t have to consider two third world drama countries. This is lame.
    Good riddance to the Armenian $hitbag who was upset. This is America bro, if you wanna live out vendettas then go to Armenia.

  • Chris Kyle snagged the mortal coils off of people across sea. Lawful enemy combatants. Is it really adequate for deputies to think of themselves as people engaging against enemies of the country, people recognised as enemy combatants by international law? No. They’re cops. Peace officers. They aren’t military men fighting an asymmetrical war. They’re there to serve their community.

  • When you empty out prisons, young innocent African American kids get threatened at knife-point by drug addled zombies who should be in prison in the first place. The buffoon with the AR is secondary to the bigger picture here. Look out your window at all the smoke in the air. That’s from brush fires (yes, PLURAL) caused by people “experiencing homelessness.” I thought libs were environmentalists. Between the brush fires, untreated homeless sewage going down storm drains, the huge hazmat danger brought on by thousands of rusted out RVs (and more untreated sewage), we have a bum-generated environmental crisis that would make Al Gore stroke out.

    More “reimagined justice” on display.

    You think it’s bad now? Wait until Newsome unleashes 17,000 felons on us in the name of preventing COVID. Lock your Priuses libs.

  • Ask Captain McBride, the captain of Personnel. He lowered the standards to hire new deputies just so he could get promoted. He is a weak commander and should be held accountable.

  • Could not have said it better myself,comin from a south OC surfer…water quality???whats that.

  • Same lil Black kids looting and pulling guns on folks every night? I’ll side with the Sheriff on this one.

  • People drop the dime on other people way to quick. What ever happened to people doing the right thing. Try intervening or diffusing situation first before calling cops , who in almost every case escalate the situation. All because when you call 911 , you think there going to help. The problems start when stupid people call the cops for stupid things. Plain and simple. If you came up upon someone beating the crap out of another, and of course if you could physically do something, would you just watch and call 911 and wait for the cops to come while person is getting beaten? I for one would do all I could to stop the attack. Grab a stick kick him in the head, whatever. Cops are just people like you and me. Don’t hold em on a pedestal. God bless. They knew what they were getting into when they joined. PS The head of LASD should be fired, he has lost control and respect from his peers and the public. If you ain’t NORDIC don’t claim to be a VIKING, don’t tarnish my heritage. VALHALLA!! THANKS

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