Los Angeles County creates unit to eliminate gangs made up of agents operating on streets and jails

The new Los Angeles County Sheriff, Robert Luna, announced Wednesday the creation of a new unit to detect and eliminate gangs made up of department officers operating on the streets and in jails in the area, in a new effort to put an end to nearly half a century of accusations of corruption.

"I want to make sure that everyone understands that this is a challenge that this department has faced for decades," Luna explained at a press conference on Wednesday.

"It's not going to be resolved overnight. It's going to take a lot of work," she said, warning: "I will have absolute zero tolerance for this type of conduct."

Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna during the unveiling of the unit that will go after corrupt officers on February 15, 2023 in Los Angeles.

To his left is attorney Eileen Decker, who will lead the new division.Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

This new division will be called the Office of Constitutional Police and will be led by Eileen Decker, an attorney who was part of the city's Police Commission and Luna's transition team when he took over the department last year.

The office will be primarily responsible for

, but will also work to improve its internal policies and officer training to ensure the department follows constitutional practices and reduces instances of excessive use of force against citizens, many of them inmates in county jails.

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The Los Angeles County sheriff's department once had similar divisions, such as the Public Integrity Unit or constitutional police advisers, but they have been dismantled.

Allegations of groups promoting violence operating in certain police stations and jails have long plagued the sheriff's department, prompting multiple investigations and costing the county more than $55 million in settlements, according to the newspaper. Los Angeles Times.

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In this sense, the new office could "help protect taxpayers" from these costly litigation in the future, in Luna's opinion, by making sure that the department does not break legal agreements or violate the rights of citizens.

"We are responsible to our community in the county," Luna stressed at the press conference.

The creation of this unit represents a turn to the policy of the previous sheriff, Alex Villanueva, who was in office between 2018 and 2022.

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Eight officers from the East LA police station filed a lawsuit in 2019 alleging they were being harassed by a group of officers calling themselves Banditos, refusing to send them backup on dangerous operations and pressured them to resign.

Villanueva denied in 2021, during a meeting of the Civil Oversight Commission, that the Banditos continued to exist.

However, days later the eight plaintiffs updated their complaint to specify that the gang had added 10 new members.

According to a report published by Loyola Marymount University in 2021 and cited by the Los Angeles Times, 18 such gangs have existed within the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office in the past 50 years.

In addition to the Bandits in East LA, the Executioners at the Compton police station and the Reapers at the South LA police station were also identified.

With information from