Oversight officials concerned about Nazi symbolism in newly discovered deputy subgroup’s logo

Earlier this year, an L.A. County Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission memo detailed concerns about a previously unknown deputy subgroup whose logo features a skull and a lightning bolt, symbols used by white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups. When he sent the memo to other members of the commission in July, Kennedy laid out his findings but wrote that he hesitated to label the unidentified group as a deputy “gang.” Instead, he said he chose to use the “neutral term ‘subgroup’” because he had “insufficient information to conclude whether the group of deputies at the Norwalk Station associating under this symbol constitute a clique or deputy gang.” After interviewing more than a dozen current and former deputies, The Times tracked down two versions of the group’s image, one in color and one in black and white. “While lightning bolts have different connotations,” Kennedy wrote, “many so-called ‘white power’ groups have adopted single or double lightning bolts as a symbol because they were used by various Nazi groups — such as the Schutzstaffel and the Hitler Youth — as well as by contemporary neo-Nazi groups, such as National Action.” A few years ago, a similar symbol sparked concern in Arizona, after an investigation by the Arizona Republic found that the state’s prison system had spent more than $2,600 on patches for guards’ uniforms as well as other memorabilia featuring questionable imagery. This is not an image that Corrections should embrace.” The Arizona corrections department ultimately suspended use of the patch, which it said was not intended to evoke associations with “white supremacists, Nazis, or any other hateful group.” The emergence of the Norwalk image is not the first time an L.A. County Sheriff’s Department deputy subgroup or gang has been associated with white supremacist groups or their imagery. “Gang behavior,” Johnson said, “deteriorates standards and invites brash and violent mistreatment of civilians.” Though the Brock case and the deputy at the center of it may have no “narrow connection to deputy gangs,” Johnson said the incident “raises questions about the spillover behavior of deputy gangs on the rest of the station.” News of the Norwalk subgroup comes as the Sheriff’s Department renews its efforts to crack down on exclusionary groups within its ranks.