Call them what you will — secret groups, gangs, cliques — but there have been at least 18 of them operating over the past 50 years within the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, according to a new report from Loyola Law School.
Some have encouraged violence against local residents, jail inmates and even fellow deputies who challenge them, according to the report, which cites some of KPCC/LAist's own reporting on the matter.
Other groups, including one comprised of Black deputies, appear to have been more benign.
Sheriff Alex Villanueva and others within the department have acknowledged the existence of these cliques, but they have mostly downplayed them as social groups, referring to any bad behavior as "hazing run amok."
The Sheriff's Department said in a statement that it is "aware of the non-peer reviewed report containing non-academically acceptable citations and unproven allegations as a primary basis for content," adding that the report would "extrapolate anything that would be helpful."
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