Nearly two years after Sheriff Robert Luna took office and promised to eradicate deputy gangs, and three years after state lawmakers greenlighted a measure requiring police agencies to ban the groups, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department unveiled a much-awaited anti-gang policy Wednesday to comply with the law.

It comes three years after California legislators passed a law requiring law enforcement agencies to ban gang membership. A report by a special counsel appointed by the Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission last year called deputy gangs a “cancer” on the department and identified at least six deputy gangs or cliques within its ranks.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department on Wednesday unveiled its new policy against law enforcement gangs. The policy officially prohibits joining or encouraging others to join a deputy gang or hate group.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department announced a new policy Wednesday that bans gangs among deputies in the department, an issue county officials say has spanned decades.Several past investigations by the county's Office of the Inspector General (OIG) have identified 19 gangs within the sheriff's department over the years — which have been tied to at least 59 legal claims going back to the early 1990s that have resulted in more than $54 million in settlement payouts for incidents tied to these alleged crime groups.

County Sheriff Robert Luna details a crackdown on deputy gangs and plans to step up fare enforcement on the Metro system.