Pubdate: Thu, 17 Feb 2000
Source: Boston Herald (MA)
Copyright: 2000 The Boston Herald, Inc.
Contact:  One Herald Square, Boston, MA 02106-2096
Website: http://www.bostonherald.com/
Author: Associated Press
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rampart.htm.

LAPD CHIEF: SIGNS THAT COULD HAVE TIPPED OFF CORRUPTION MISSED

LOS ANGELES - Overworked supervisors missed signs that should have
tipped them to corruption in a local police station, Los Angeles
Police Chief Bernard C. Parks says.

Moreover, at least four officers linked to the scandal never should
have been hired because they had been arrested or had outstanding
debts, Parks said.

"There's generally a lack of oversight by command supervision going
all the way up through the department," Parks said Wednesday,
outlining the department's widening investigation of the scandal to
the City Council.

Parks said "telltale signs" of poor performance, such as suspicious
paperwork, were missed by supervisors - not only at the Rampart
Division at the center of the investigation, but throughout the
10,000-member police force.

As a result of the investigation, more than 30 convictions have been
overturned. Prosecutors planned to ask today that convictions of nine
more defendants be voided because the cases were compromised by false
or planted evidence, the district attorney's office said.

At least 20 officers have been relieved of duty, suspended or fired or
have quit since the scandal broke last fall. Parks declined to provide
a new count Wednesday.

The corruption came to light after former Officer Rafael Perez was
convicted of stealing cocaine from a police evidence locker.

Perez, hoping for a more lenient sentence, said officers in the
Rampart Division near downtown framed and brutalized people and even
shot unarmed suspects. Lawsuits involving such claims could cost the
city $125 million, according to one official estimate.

Parks said 99 defendants in 57 cases involving Perez may have been
framed through perjury or false arrest.

The Los Angeles Times reported today that District Attorney Gil
Garcetti is adding seven prosecutors to a task force of 10 lawyers in
anticipation of years of work.

The number of cases eventually could rise to several hundred as the
scandal moves beyond the Rampart station, the newspaper said, citing
confidential sources.

Parks said at least four officers linked to the scandal never should
have been hired because background checks showed they had previous
arrests or financial problems.

"They were misdemeanor arrests, alcohol ... domestic violence, things
like that," Parks said. "Those are the kinds of things that are red
flags for us as it relates to how an officer will perform in the future."

Initially, the four were disqualified but were later hired, in some
cases after civil service appeals, the chief said.

Parks said he did not know whether Perez was one of the four officers
whose background checks turned up problems that should have kept them
off the force. Parks did say that one of the four was fired in 1998
for allegedly beating a handcuffed suspect inside the Rampart station.
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MAP posted-by: Allan  Wilkinson