CNN.com - US - LAPD corruption could have been prevented, police report says

March 1, 2000
Web posted at: 10:52 p.m. EST (0352 GMT)

LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- The Los Angeles Police Department is rife with "mediocrity," which provided the opportunity for some officers to run amok and cause the largest corruption scandal in the department's history, according to the first in a series of internal LAPD reports.

"The image of this department is tarnished, the whole criminal justice system is tarnished," said LAPD Chief Bernard Parks while releasing the report on Wednesday.

A special board of inquiry convened in September after the scandal became public to evaluate the management and command structure of the nearly 10,000-officer department.

The panel was charged with determining whether the way the department was managed contributed to the corruption scandal, in which some 70 officers are being investigated, some for allegedly shooting unarmed people and planting evidence.

More officers, fewer supervisors

Deputy Chief Michael Bostic, who chaired the board, told a packed news conference at police headquarters Wednesday that the problems that led to the scandal being investigated in the anti-gang unit of the LAPD's Rampart Division were predictable and preventable. But supervisors failed to take action, he said.

"It was clear that many very serious allegations of misconduct were not taken care of properly by the command staff in Rampart area," Bostic said.

Some of the blame for such negligence is due to changes within the LAPD, Bostic said. While there has been a 35 percent increase in department personnel during the past few years, the number of supervisors has actually shrunk, he said.

While saying that there is no evidence to suggest widespread corruption, the report does say, "... there are strong indicators that mediocrity is flourishing" in areas of the LAPD other than the Rampart Division.

The scandal began when former officer Rafael Perez was caught stealing cocaine from police evidence lockers. Perez entered a plea bargain and began telling investigators of LAPD officers shooting and paralyzing an innocent man, Javier Ovando, and sending an undetermined number of other people to prison on trumped-up charges.

So far, 39 people have had their convictions overturned and 70 police officers are under investigation.

Police Chief Parks said no outside agency could have investigated the LAPD as well as it has investigated itself.

The report says that while individual corrupt officers are primarily to blame for the scandal, "we, as an organization, provided the opportunity."

Police chief refuses blame

The report recommended:

Better screening of police recruits.

Control of hiring.

More supervisory personnel.

Stronger command structure.

Better control over administrative procedures.

Parks said that some of the report's recommendations have already been put into place, but insisted the hiring practices must change radically to head off a repeat of the scandal. And he suggested legislative action is needed in some cases.

But Parks refused to step down or blame himself for the scandal.

"People go bad," the police chief said. "The issue is we are graded on how we deal with this circumstance versus that it occurred. And I think that's the big issue for the general public."

A second report dealing with issues of criminality will not be ready for another year, the chief said.

Report is a whitewash, critics say

Five Los Angeles City Council members called the report a whitewash and stormed into the mayor's office demanding an independent review.

"If all the investigation is down on the inside and all of the suggestions for corrections are done from the inside, that is the perfect example of exactly what the problem is," Councilwoman Laura Chick said.

But Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan said he supports his police chief.

"I begged him not to resign. I think he has done the most incredible job any chief of police in this country -- or in the history of the country -- could ever do in this tough situation," the mayor said.

LAPD commanders say they are stunned by the revelations of police corruption. Some commanders said a "paradigm shift" has occurred, because the integrity of every officer is now suspect.

Correspondent Charles Feldman and Reporter Susan Reed contributed to this report.