The Rampart Scandal

1. The Rampart Scandal Team A Tina Ford Margot Reyes Lidia Dominguez Jorge L. Rivera

2. The Rampart Scandal Rampart scandal refers to a corruption case in the Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums (or CRASH) anti-gang unit of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Rampart Division in the late 1990s. The anti-gang unit was accused not only for some of the illegal methods of operation but for also having affiliation to gangs themselves.

3. Who is Rafael Perez? • Rafael Perez was born in 1967 as Rafael Antonio Pérez but was known as “ Ray”, He is originally from Puerto Rico and always dreamed of being a police officer. • He is a former Los Angeles Police Department C.R.A.S.H officer and the central figure in the LAPD Rampart Scandal.

4. Why did he come forward? Is he credible? The reason why Rafael Perez came forward is because he was caught and arrested for stealing narcotics from evidence lockup, and in exchange for immunity he cut a deal with prosecutors. Where he involved more than 70 L.A.P.D officers. Rafael Perez statements and accusations are not credible, because this is a smart guy who wanted everybody to go down with him. A man as corrupt as him has no problem lying and incriminating people around him. He is a man who is unreliable.

5. What criminal activities were undertaking by The Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums (CRASH) officers Perez implicated? • The trial documents indicate that several police officers were in the direct pay of drug dealers and other neighborhood moguls, and that they were involved in multiple shootings, beatings, framing jobs on innocent people, a bank robbery, drug dealings, and the planting of evidence at crime scenes. They were basically paid to protect those who were in power of the dirty things going on in the streets. • Once the Rampart Scandal started to break, guilty officers compounded their crimes by committing perjury on the stand and attempting to destroy evidence.

6. Did the ends justify the means? No the ends did not justify the means. It resulted in a corrupt unit with a lack of public trust.

7. What ends were actually achieved? What ends did Rampart officers originally intend? The Rampart officers originally intended to make the area safer from gangs. The gang-related crimes fell from 1,171 in 1992 to 446 in 1999.(Independent Review Panel,2000) 100 criminal cases were overturned . Los Angeles paid upwards of $100 million for the indiscretions of the Rampart Division of LAPD.

8. What changes were recommended to avoid a reoccurrence of such a systemic display of unethical conduct? • The Rampart scandal raises grave questions about the work, the quality of supervision, and discipline, and also about how those officers and supervisors are selected and trained. • Currently, of the 1,064 hours of recruit training, no more than eight hours are expressly devoted to ethics.

9. Reinforced ethical performance • Evaluated effectiveness of the Department’s ethics training. • Ethics presented in officers’ daily job experiences.

10. Los Angeles Police Department Today • One of the most trained police force in the nation. • Task Forces • SWAT • Bomb Squad • Has successfully improve its hiring process. • Interview Process • Background investigations • Polygraphs, etc.

11. Areas of Improvement for the LAPD • Community Relations • More Post Academy Training • Background Investigations • Career Fairs outside of the Los Angeles area

12. References • The New York Times • Public Broadcast Services (PBS) • Rampart Independent Review Panel