Gang Unit in Northeast Gets Fresh Blood

Six months after officers began defecting from the LAPD’s Northeast Division gang unit, the team is nearly back to being fully staffed.

“They’re up to full strength or close to it,” said Lt. Rick Stabile, the watch commander at the Northeast Division Tuesday, adding that the gang enforcement unit has about 10 officers, many of them from divisions outside Northeast Los Angeles.

The new team, headed by Lt. Prokop, got a dose of fresh blood about a week or 10 days ago, Stabile said.

In January, officers from the gang unit began joining patrol duty after refusing to comply with a federal anti-corruption regulation that required them to reveal details about their—as well as their spouse’s—personal finances.

This past March, Capt. Bill Murphy, who heads the Northeast Division, told a gathering of community members in Glassell Park that gang-related crime, along with a 60-percent dip in violent crime, has been decreasing over the years.