By Julia Urquizo
LOS ANGELES, CA – The Stonewall Democratic Club endorsed 29-year law enforcement veteran Eric Strong for Los Angeles County Sheriff in the June 2022 election.
Democrats in Los Angeles who identify as part of the LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, etc.) community or who are allies, fill the ranks of the Stonewall Democratic Club, which has established a presence since 1975 as a non-profit political organization that advocates for inclusion and equity.
Strong lists 29 years in law enforcement, noting he has worked in nearly all of the LA County Sheriff Department’s branches, including 
patrolling, investigations, auditing and risk management.
According to Stonewall Democrats, Strong was endorsed because “he has supervised multiple of the Sheriff Department’s high-profile internal affairs investigations and is the only candidate that has investigated deputy gangs.”
The club cited the “Quiet Cannon Case, where Strong investigated a deputy gang within the LASD known as the 3000 boys. The 3000 boys were a group of sheriff deputies employed at Men’s Central Jail who committed some of the most heinous acts of violence documented by LASD internal investigations against incarcerated individuals.”
Strong, the club adds, is a founding member of Police Against Racism, an association that aims their efforts toward eradicating racism in police forces.
Supporters said much of Strong’s efforts stem from his personal experience with law enforcement growing up. Strong, they say, has been profiled by police, a victim of crime, and has family members that have been previously incarcerated and even killed by police.
Strong touts himself as a lifelong resident of Los Angeles, who attended UCLA, and served in the U.S. Marine Corps.
Strong’s resume notes he began as a patrol officer for the Compton Police Department in 1993, was awarded for multiple internal affairs investigations and graduated from the FBI National Academy at Quantico.
“The Sheriff’s Department is broken, and across the country we are seeing calls for a reimagining of our policing models. (Strong) went on record offering Stonewall and other community stakeholders a seat at the table- and we intend to hold him to it,” said Alex Mohajer, the President of Stonewall Democratic Club in a press statement.
“Our organization has a unique responsibility to policing reforms, and Eric Strong is the only candidate to talk about compassion and empathy in policing and to propose concrete ideas for disbanding deputy gangs and evaluating police performance,” he added.
