This is a word, a podcast from Slate. I'm your host, Jason Johnson. When gangs of violent

armed men are terrorizing your neighborhood, you might want to call the police. But what

if the gangs are the police? According to a new podcast, that's what's happened for

generations in the LA Sheriff's Office.

Picking up young men in the park and beating them to a pulp in their trailer parked in

the back of the Linwood station parking lot, very much what a criminal enterprise engages

in except these people have guns and badges.

A tradition of violence coming up on a word with me, Jason Johnson. Stay with us.

Welcome to a word, a podcast about race and politics and everything else. I'm your host,

Jason Johnson. The gang problem in Southern California has been well-documented across the

decades. Organized violent groups that create their own names, hand signs, tattoos and initiation

rituals that often involve targeting random people and even killing them. And instead

of fighting the problem, the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department is actually a part of it,

according to a new podcast, a tradition of violence. It's basically a series of in-depth

reports about the department and the nonprofit journalism outlet, Knock LA.

Ceres Castle is the reporter behind the series and the host and executive producer of the

podcast, Ceres Castle. Welcome to a word. Thank you so much for having me.

Before we even get to the subject of the podcast, what is the difference between the Los Angeles

Sheriff's Department and the LAPD? It's a great question. The difference between the two

is the Los Angeles Police Department is responsible for policing inside the borders of the city

of Los Angeles. There's also a county of Los Angeles, which is about 500 square miles

and encapsulates the city of Los Angeles, as well as other smaller cities, unincorporated

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