CA appeals court: suspected deputy gang members can’t be ordered to answer questions, show tattoos

The court agreed with the deputy union argument that the investigation violates labor protections

This story was originally published by Los Angeles Public Press.

The Second Division of the California Court of Appeals has unanimously affirmed an injunctive order barring oversight officials from asking whether employees of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department are members of deputy gangs. The order also blocks any inquiry to have the deputies show their tattoos, or reveal the names of others with similar ink. 

In the opinion, Judge Angela J. Davis wrote that although the LA County Inspector General’s office has a significant need to investigate, the county must meet with the Association of Los Angeles Deputy Sheriff’s (ALADS) to bargain about the scope of the investigation before proceeding. Davis wrote there would be “irreparable harm posed by the County’s failure to meet and confer before implementing its investigation.” Judges Dorothy C. Kim and Carl H. Moor concurred. 

The ruling stems from a May 2023 request by Los Angeles County Inspector General Max Huntsman to 35 members of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department suspected of being deputy gang members. 

The LA County Sheriff’s Department said in an emailed statement that the appellate ruling does not affect its efforts to investigate allegations of law enforcement gang activity. “The Department has policies that require personnel to cooperate with its internal investigations. We remain committed to working with our various oversight bodies and encourage our personnel to engage with them.” 

Advocates for the county’s appeal of the injunction highlighted that the opinion agreed with the argument that the investigation was in the public’s interest, but said the court failed to understand and consider the urgency of the matter.

“The court did not consider the continued harm to community members, or even the real possibility the injunction has provided deputies with the opportunity to cover their tattoos,” said Andrés Kwon, attorney for the ACLU of Southern California, which filed an amicus brief on behalf of Los Angeles County. “The court has given these 35 deputies ample opportunity to do that.”

“The public has been living with sheriff gang activity for 50 years and waiting for compliance with Penal Code section 13670 for almost three. As the court found, OIG must consult with unions on the effects of an investigation but may reject their proposals,” Inspector General Max Huntsman told LA Public Press in a text message. My office’s investigation will continue after the “expeditious” bargaining described by the court.”

In this week’s opinion, CA Appeals Court Judge Davis wrote that the Los Angeles County Employee Relation Commission (ERCOM) “expressed its expectation that negotiations on a similar issue should take no longer than 60 days to complete.”   

However, similar negotiations resulting from ALADS’s complaints to ERCOM have dragged on for years. In January of 2020, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors affirmed the Civilian Oversight Commission, which monitors LASD, the power to issue subpoenas. ALADS filed a complaint with ERCOM, which ruled in the union’s favor in 2022. Attorneys for Los Angeles County met with the union in May of 2023, and talks have remained stalled since. 

“ALADS has abused the meet and confer process to delay reform and shield deputy gangs from real accountability,” Kwon said. 

Sheriff Robert Luna sent a department-wide email the day after the Inspector General made his request in 2023 that directed LASD staff to comply with Huntsman’s request. He wrote that any employees who obstruct or delay the investigation could be disciplined or fired under current county policies.

But unions representing sworn personnel were able to successfully block the request a few days later by filing a formal labor complaint with ERCOM, and a lawsuit in state court by two sworn personnel unions. 

In May of 2023, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge James Chalfant issued a temporary restraining order blocking the county from forcing deputies to come answer questions or show their tattoos. Then, in July, Chalfant granted the union’s preliminary injunction which stopped the OIG’s investigation until the labor issues were resolved. 

“While the OIG surely is impatient at the delay, there is no compelling need for immediate investigation,” Chalfant wrote.

Since Huntsman’s request, Luna has promoted Jose “Joe” Mendoza, an alleged Bandito, to the rank of Chief. 

In their labor complaint filed last May, ALADS and the Professional Peace Officers Association accused Los Angeles County of circumventing the collective bargaining process when Sheriff Luna threatened to discipline or fire those who did not cooperate with the OIG’s request. 

The Los Angeles County Employee Relations Commission, who received the complaint, has the power to make a decision enforceable by courts. 

ALADS filed its lawsuit a few days later. The union argued that ordering employees to show their tattoos was unconstitutional, and would violate the 4th Amendment ban on unreasonable searches, along with the 5th Amendment’s protection against self incrimination. The lawsuit also cited a right to privacy provided by the California constitution. 

Chalfant issued the temporary restraining order blocking Luna’s instruction to sit for questions in May of 2023. In court in June of 2023, lawyers for the unions and the county argued over whether the terms of the temporary restraining order should stay in place as an injunction, or if the OIG investigation should continue. 

After two weeks of deliberation, Chalfant ruled that the county is obligated to bargain with the deputies’ union before requiring the tattoos to be shown. 

“The county will face little to no harm from a preliminary injunctive relief because the tattoos are permanent and will be available for inspection after a trial on the merits,” Chalfant wrote.

However, at least 2 tattooed members of deputy gangs – Larry Del Mese, former chief of staff to former sheriff Alex Villanueva, as well as former undersheriff Timothy Murakami, have testified to the department’s Civilian Oversight Commission that they had their ink removed.