Crime & Safety

LAPD Gang Unit Back at Full Force

According to Capt. Bill Murphy, 14 officers, two sergeants and one lieutenant have been hired.

As first reported by The Eastsider L.A., the Los Angeles Police Department Northeast Division's gang impact team is now fully staffed and back on the beat after three months of drastically reduced staffing levels.

As previously reported on , all of Northeast Division's gang impact team's uniformed officers defected from the unit by declining to sign a financial disclosure from required by federal law of all LAPD gang and narcotic unit members.

LAPD Northeast Division Capt. William Murphy said that, as of late last month, he had filled out the uniformed officers complement of the gang impact team with 14 new officers, two sergeants and one lieutenant.

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"It's all new blood, but they have worked gangs before and some of them even worked northeast gangs," Murphy said. "None that left in March came back and rejoined."

Murphy said the unwillingness to sign the form for many officers was a matter of principle. 

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"A lot of them weren't that happy. To our knowledge, nobody else in country is held to that standard," Murphy said. "The decisions were based on principle, not that they were corrupt or planned to be corrupt."

The gang impact team also comprises a gang detectives unit and narcotics unit, which have remained unchanged since March, as each of those officers signed the required forms, Murphy said.

Though LAPD Northeast continued to lead the city in violent crime reduction through the last three months—down 30.1 year to date according to Murphy—Murhpy said it was a relief to have a full gang impact team in place for the busy summer months.

"Summer does create problems for us. There's more sunlight at night, more drinking and schools are closed down. Kids can fall into activities that lead them to trouble, so  I'm glad we got this unit up and going."


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