Agoura Hills Weighs Response To Deputy Gang Plan

AGOURA HILLS, CA — The City Council on Wednesday will consider opposing a plan by sheriff's oversight officials that's meant to address deputy gangs and cliques in the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department.

The Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission in February issued a report that claims to have found evidence of the existence of deputy gangs — defined in the report as groups of deputies "engaged in egregious conduct such as violations of law, the excessive use of force, [and] threats to the public or department members" — and deputy cliques, which include both gangs and other "exclusionary subgroups."

The report includes several recommendations for the Sheriff's Department to address the issue. Among them is a plan that would rotate deputies between stations at a cadence of no less than every five years.

Agoura Hills city staff have recommended that the city take an official position of opposition to the plan; the City Council is set to vote Wednesday on whether to send a letter of opposition to county Supervisor Lindsey Horvath.

"We believe that involuntarily rotating the deputies currently assigned to the sheriff's Malibu/Lost Hills Station will disrupt the strong bonds and relationships that deputies have built with the local community, which have been critical to our station's success," the draft letter reads.

You can read the draft letter, oversight commission report and other city documents on the matter here.