Kamala Harris was California's AG from January 3, 2011 – January 3, 2017. She never prosecuted cop brutality or murder by cop. A websearch and a few links about "inked" police gangs suggested the problem may not be new, i.e., not arising after Harris left the AG office. A do-nothing question exists: What did she know and when did she know it?
Harris AG service dates are Wikipedia fact. Unlike her "race," where bullshit predominates the issue, The Atlantic publishing, "The
Wikipedia War That Shows How Ugly This Election Will Be - An editing
battle over Kamala Harris’s race is a sign of what’s to come." by Joshua Benton - August 13, 2020.
That is a story in itself, but different from the story posted here today.
Websearch = los angeles sheriff department ink tattoo gang
Over the last several decades, there have been a number of cases that
have led many to believe that there is racial bias within the United
States' police force. From the murder of civilians like Michael Brown
and Trayvon Martin to the racial profiling instituted in stop and
frisk—there have been many instances of police brutality that some
suggest are rooted in systemic racism. In some instances, these acts are
allegedly being committed by neo-nazi and white supremacy gangs that
exist in secret within the LA police force—as seen through the Vikings
gang of the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department. Take a look at how a
superior court judge is attempting to find existing gang members at Los
Angeles county's Compton station below and let us know what you think
about this controversial debate in the comments section on Facebook.
The judge is not seeking out officers, like the one above, who are adorned with non-controversial ink.
A
superior court judge has recently ordered the Los Angeles County
Sheriff's department to reveal the names of police deputies who have a
specific skull tattoo design. These tattoos, which feature a skull with a
military helmet, riffle and flames, have been linked to a notorious
neo-nazi gang within the Los Angeles Police Department's Compton
station.
In an effort to crack down on secret societies within the
Los Angeles Police Department, Superior Court Judge Michael P. Vinencia
is pushing have the department interrogate officers about their tattoos
in order to determine which deputies are involved with the gang.
There
have been many people who have fought against Vincencia, including
county attorney Chandler Parker who believes the questioning to be an
inappropriate invasion of an officer's privacy.
The
Vikings gang first surfaced approximately 30 years ago and has been
affiliated with various police stations throughout Los Angeles,
including Lynwood. They've been linked to a number of crimes against the
African-American community, including the 2016 murder of Donta
Taylor.
As concerns over police misconduct and use of force have
drawn increased national attention in recent years, activists have
argued that a key part of the problem is the ability for officers to shield one another from accountability.
But in California, critics of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s
Department have been faced with a unique version of the issue: the
existence of what have been called “deputy gangs”
— cliques of officers who allegedly engage in violent and potentially
criminal behavior while protecting their members and clashing with other
law enforcement officers.
These groups, which have reportedly been around in some form or another in Los Angeles County since the 1970s, have been a frequent topic of local media reporting. Outlets like the Los Angeles Times have highlighted
how other officers have filed formal complaints about the “secretive
groups,” describing them as powerful forces within the sheriff’s
department who beat and harass local residents and, at times, actively
work to intimidate other nonaffiliated officers.
Many of the deputy cliques share common features:
hierarchical structures, intensive recruitment, hazing of younger
officers, and a resistance to outsiders. But one of the features that
has been most commonly cited is tattoos. Members of a specific group
often have a shared “ink” that symbolizes their membership. In some
instances, according to reports, this ink is only granted after a deputy
commits an illegal act or violates department protocol to show their
loyalty to the group. In other cases, deputies allegedly received
additional markings after fulfilling certain conditions, like committing
police brutality or being involved in a shooting.
Such groups are not exclusive to Los Angeles County, but
the area has reportedly had a particularly difficult time dealing with
the groups. “Defenders say the cliques are harmless fraternities,
likening them to close-knit groups in the military,” the LA Times noted in a July article.
“But time and again, the deputy clubs have come under fire for
promoting aggressive tactics and an us-versus-everyone mentality.”
According to the Times, there have been several clubs
that have existed in the various stations under the sheriff’s
department, with some groups becoming defunct, leaving new cliques to
take their place. In late September, eight LASD deputies filed a lawsuit
against one such group, called the “Banditos,” a deputy clique of
several dozen members who operate out of the department’s East Los
Angeles station.
Criminal justice news outlet the Appeal reports
that according to the lawsuit, the group uses violence and intimidation
to maintain a “stranglehold on the unincorporated communities east of
downtown,” with members sporting “tattoos featuring a pistol-wielding,
sombrero- and bandolier-wearing skeleton with a thick mustache and a
unique number for each member.” In 2018, the outlet noted that the
existence of nearly three dozen federal civil rights lawsuits
against the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department pointed to a deputy “gang
culture that encourages excessive force, particularly against
minorities.”
Stomping on parents of truants was low hanging fruit, and an ambitious AG could gain press coverage by such a focus; fiddling while Rome burned.
What was Harris thinking? Didn't she have a clue of what her actual job was? It was more than promoting PR stuff toward Kamala's career advancement goals.
But she had her priorities. And it is not as if police-gang trouble was some big secret. It was there for serious law enforcement professionals to pursue, to investigate and prosecute, as seems to be the case, now.
Yes, all the media coverage listed and quoted is recent. But from the quoting, the problem itself is not. During the Harris AG tenure, it existed - and could have been rooted out by a citizen-friendly top law authority. But not Harris?
And while inaction where action would have helped minority communities facing policing bias is troubling and cause to criticize law-and-order Harris; what about her or her people scurrying to rewrite the record?
Dumb Biden could have had either of two stellar progressive black women, Stacey Abrams or Karen Bass on the ticket second spot where each had better records in support of the black community, fighting voter suppression, etc. (Bass being a Californian like Harris); but each was an older heavier and less physically attractive woman than Harris, who is less well educated and more compromised than either. Biden could have enhanced his credibility among informed progressives and knowledgeable black community members with either as his pick.
Biden likely was told who to pick, and picked who he was told. Glitz over substance. A Senator! End of post.
__________UPDATE_________
A caveat. The Crabgrass understanding is that Harris during her "top cop" tenure prosecuted as many evil police officers as Minnesota's senior Senator, Ms. Klobuchar, which is zero. Both ran law-and-order election campaigns, both stayed away from going after bad cops. Neither is really presidential, but than that puts them in the same box as Trump, Pence and Biden.
TRUMP MUST GO. That said; Biden and Harris will need to be strictly policed. No brutality, no truncheon or chemical weapons, but as Harry Truman said, "They say give 'em hell, but I only tell the truth. When it is about them, they think it's hell."
So - Give 'em hell. The Biden - Harris ticket, put together as it was with key mischief on the eve of Super Tuesday, deserves no mercy. Nor do the band of perps, "The Team" each-and-every who pulled off that Super Tuesday gambit. Biden owned brazenly by the donor class, Harris with career ambition uber alles. Both graceless and neither deservind grace. A pair of losers. About to run the nation for four years. Not eight, not that pair. They'll yield to a second Romney run, or Ted Cruz, or whatever worse slime the Republicans skim off the top of the swamp water, say Pence, and it will be - Trump onward, the fire, the frying pan, the fire again. Our nation, our people, deserve far better. Big money runs the circus freak show, and we have to buy popcorn or cotton candy and watch classless acts.
