Civilian Oversight Commissioner Faces Retribution From LASD Gangs, Suggests Police Need “Talk Therapy”

The Civilian Oversight Commission has been investigating claims about the existence of organized cliques (aka gangs) of officers within the Los Angeles Sheriffs Department. The members of these gangs valorize use of violence, memorializing each incident with tattoos. Despite numerous cases of excessive use of force, the members of the gang successfully protect each other from consequence with more violence. Commissioner Higgans found this out all too well on September 14’th when the Sheriff’s deputies raided her home and offices.

With the aid of judge Craig Richman, who signed off on the warrants, Sheriff’s deputies were able to carry out search warrants at a variety of locations, where they stole boxes of evidence, thumb drives, computers, etc. As stated in the public statement by the Sheriff’s office:

Those locations included the homes of Los Angeles County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl and Los Angeles County Civilian Oversight Commissioner Patricia “Patti” Giggans. Also searched were offices located at: Los Angeles County Hall of Administration, Peace Over Violence Headquarters, and LA Metro Headquarters.

MULTIPLE SEARCH WARRANTS SERVED TODAY IN CONNECTION WITH ONGOING PUBLIC CORRUPTION INVESTIGATION, September 14, 2022

And as reported by Kate Cagle of Spectrum News,

According to Ms Cagle, “District Attorney George Gascon’s office says they rejected this case in September 2021 because there wasn’t enough evidence to prove a crime has been committed. The DA was not aware of the search warrants today and says they will not defend them in court.”

Civilian Oversight Hearing

On September 23rd, the civilian oversight commission held a public hearing. At the beginning of the hearing, the commission passed a resolution to officially confirm and recognize the existence of LASD Gangs (after 10 minutes of deliberation about whether or not to remove the “third whereas” clause). Certainly a noble beginning to what would then degenerate into a 3 hour clown-show, a complete mockery to any sense of justice.

In the name of reform, numerous solutions were proposed: separating gang-affiliated officers through rotations, promoting cultural change, more oversight, more managers, more bureaucrats. At its worst, the commission began equating the trauma faced by the victims of police violence and the trauma that the poor officers surely must have perpetrating it. Bewilderingly, Mrs Higgans herself, having faced harassment by police, suggested that talk therapy might help the police cope better.

Not once did anyone suggest firing the gang-members or having them face any sort of consequences. Not once did anyone suggest liquidating police unions, demilitarizing the police, or defunding bureaus. Sandy Jo MacArthur, a supposed expert in police reformation and first witness of the hearing, acknowledged the “paramilitary organization” of the police, but never once suggested that this might be an issue. For these noble reformers, these police gangs are nothing more than an aberrant tumor in otherwise healthy body, a collection of corrupt individuals in a functioning institution. Only, they don’t even want to remove the tumor, they believe they can treat it—how? Same as always: increased police budgets. That’s what all this talk of oversight and talk therapy amounts to: throwing more money at the problem and praying it goes away.

But when these gangs operate with the complicity of non-gang affiliated cops, when non-gang affiliated cops perpetrate brutality themselves, when the DA and judges cooperate with them, it should be quite evident that the entire system is rotten to its core. Without the abolition of the capitalist police and the formation of intra-community self defense organizing, no reform will ever fix the problems and injustices of the police—certainly not these petty, embarrassing half-measures.

Civilian Reaction

At the end of the hearing, members of the public were allowed to provide 2-minute comments. Nearly all of the speakers expressed essentially the same view: this commission is hardly even pretending to do enough to fight police injustice because they themselves are protected from repercussion by their status and position as public officials.