An LAPD gang enforcement unit in South Los Angeles has been pulled from street duty as investigators probe allegations that officers may have intentionally skirted body-camera rules and concealed their stops from supervisors.
The department confirmed Tuesday that it had “stood down” the gang unit within the 77th Street Division while Internal Affairs detectives investigated the claims reported by NBC 4.
Ten officers from the unit have been ordered to remain inside the station during their shifts while several others were reassigned pending the investigation.
Some officers intentionally failed to activate body cameras during stops and neglected to document certain encounters altogether, sparking fears they may have been hiding activity from supervisors and random video audits, according to the report.
“We take this very, very seriously,” Assistant Chief Scott Harrelson told the Los Angeles Police Commission on Tuesday.
“There is a zero tolerance policy for violations of our body worn and in-car video policy.”
The explosive allegations come after a similar 2023 scandal involving the LAPD’s Mission Division gang unit in the San Fernando Valley.
“I think having another instance of a gang unit potentially doing undocumented stops is unacceptable,” said Police Commission President Rasha Gerges Shields, according to NBC 4.
“Given the fact that this is not the first time this has happened, and on the heels of what happened in the Mission Division, I worry that this isn’t just a ‘We don’t know what the policy is,’” she added.
The LAPD’s body camera policy, implemented in 2015, requires officers to activate recording devices before any investigative or enforcement activity involving the public, including traffic and pedestrian stops.
Gang enforcement officers usually do not respond to regular radio calls. Instead, LAPD records show they patrol designated neighborhoods, monitor suspected gang members, conduct observational stops and make arrests in an effort to prevent retaliatory violence and other crimes before they happen.
The outcome of the earlier Mission Division probe was never publicly disclosed.
But LAPD disciplinary records released in January showed that two officers assigned to “specialized enforcement,” a category that includes gang details, resigned amid accusations of racial profiling, intentionally failing to activate body and in-car cameras, and concealing detentions.
According to the disciplinary disclosures, one of those officers was also accused of participating in a law enforcement gang, pointing a firearm at a person without cause and conducting a vehicle search without justification.
