One of the biggest police scandals ever to take place in American history was the Rampart Scandal. The Community-Resources-Against-Street-Hoodlums (CRASH) units that were formed to battle gang and drug activity became an additional terror to the already terrorized streets of Los Angeles. The city suffered at the hands of deviant law enforcement officers. They suffered the police brutality, officer involved shootings, excessive use of force; and they suffered the police perjury, covering up crimes, covering for other officers committing crimes, dropsy evidence, and false testimony. According to Officer Rafael Perez, who offered testimony against other officers for shorter jail time, CRASH officers “shot and killed or wounded unarmed suspects and innocent bystanders, planted guns on suspects after shooting them, fabricated evidence, framed defendants, and delayed calling an ambulance to give them time to fabricate a story to justify a shooting” (Rampart Review, 2000, p. 46).
It is unfortunate that a program that was designed to curb gang activity, drug trafficking, and violent crime led to the corruption of so many police officers. LAPD’s best drug and gang officers were assigned to Rampart; and from there the CRASH units took on a life of their own, and blatantly “ignored LAPD’s procedures and policies” (Rampart Review, 2000, p. 2). CRASH officers formed their own subculture of street-style police force, where the officers tried to fight fire with fire. Utilitarianism turned radical, and renegade officers wreaked havoc in the Rampart area. There was an obvious lack of control and discipline from management; the department often chose to look the other way, perhaps trying to honor the police code of ethics on loyalty. “The misconduct of CRASH officers went undetected because the Department’s managers ignored warning signs and failed to provide the leadership, oversight, management and supervision necessary to control this specialized unit” (Rampart Review, 2000, p. 43).
A couple of extremely publicized officer-involved crimes were added to the snowball that became the Rampart Scandal right before it crashed into LA (yes, a snowball in LA, use your imagination). Rampart CRASH Officer Kevin Gaines was shot and killed by Officer Frank Lyga, who was defending himself against Gaines’ road rage. As the story unfolded, Gaines was found to be on the payroll of Death Row Records, owned by Suge Knight, who is known to be associated with The Bloods (Carney, 2001). Also working for Death Row Records was Officer David Mack, who was later arrested and convicted for robbing a bank; and Officer Rafael Perez, who was arrested for stealing cocaine from the evidence room, and later worked with investigators bringing down the Rampart CRASH scandal. Perez and Mack were also on duty the night of the murder of Crip rapper, and known enemy of The Bloods, Notorious B.I.G. The murder is officially unsolved, because of botched investigations and police cover-ups; but Officers Perez and Mack are thought to be responsible for helping to carry out the murder and cover it up (Golab, 2000).
Since 1998, there have been claims and cases against officers involved in the Rampart scandal; Boards of Rights hearings, and a Board of Inquiry; an Internal Affairs and LAPD task force; and Special Enforcement Units to investigate the investigations. Some officers were acquitted, some were fired, and some resigned over the scandal. “Criminal investigations by the District Attorney’s Office, the United States Attorney’s Office, the LAPD and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are on-going” (Rampart Review, 2000, p. 46). The number of cases related to the Rampart scandal is still growing as more facts and details come to light.
While the wounds of the CRASH scandal to Los Angeles are still fresh, gangs continue to thrive in the Rampart area, and art continues to imitate life. A television show, The Shield, is based on Rampart; the movies Training Day, and Crash are based on the scandal; and the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is based on it as well (Wikipedia, 2008). The corruption of the Officers of the Los Angeles Police Department has left a bitter taste in the mouth of Americans across the nation. The people of the country want to believe that every branch of law enforcement is performing its duties of protecting and serving the public in their communities. When a scandal in law enforcement of the magnitude of the Rampart scandal busts open, the faith of the people is shaken; and they are less willing to trust the police.
Unfortunately, there will always be corruption on some scale in law enforcement; regardless of the fact that community members and law makers are working together to make sure that this does not happen again.
Carney, T. (2001). Live from death row. Frontline: L.A.P.D. Blues. PBS Web site
Retrieved on October 28, 2008
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/lapd/race/deathrow.html
Golab, J. (2000). Who killed biggie smalls? Salon.com. Web site retrieved on October,
28, 2008 http://arhive.salon.com/news/feature/2000/10/16/biggie/index/html
Rampart Interview Review http://www.lacity.org/oig/rirprpt.pdf
Wikipedia (2008). Rampart scandal http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rampart_Scandal
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