Corruption
Investigation
Widens
at
LAPD
10/29/99
Los Angeles police officers maintained an apartment near the Rampart station in which they partied and had sexual relations with prostitutes who were also recruited to sell drugs that the officers had stolen from dealers, according to a report released Friday (10/22) by the LAPD. The allegations come as part of a widening investigation of corruption on the force. Rafael Perez, an ex-officer who is cooperating with the investigation in exchange for leniency on a cocaine theft conviction, is the source of this new information, according to the LA Times. The probe, while ongoing, has already led to the release of one man from prison after the District Attorney determined that he had been framed by corrupt officers. Dr. Joseph McNamara, retired Chief of Police in San Jose, CA and Kansas City, and currently a Fellow at the Hoover Institute at Stanford University, spoke to The Week Online about the problem of corruption and its connection to drug prohibition. "No one knows how deep the corruption in the LAPD goes," said McNamara. "What I can tell you is that the case in LA follows a pattern that I have seen both in my professional experience and in more than six years of research since. The pattern is that you get a small group of predatory criminals with badges, and that they commit armed robbery, they steal drugs, plant evidence, commit homicides and so on. "This is not an LAPD problem, this is a national crisis, and it is directly reflective of the immense profits available under drug prohibition. Typically, these cops can go on committing criminal acts for years as a result of the culture of silence among police officers. In the LA case, there was an LA Times report which indicated that the agency had even received complaints from drug dealers detailing thefts and corruption." McNamara then pointed out that while the number of corrupt cops in any one agency might be small, the problem is nevertheless pervasive. "We cannot blind ourselves to this problem. It will not be solved with the typical band aid solutions that are almost always recommended when one of these cases comes to light -- better recruiting practices, better training, stricter procedures. Obviously, the vast, vast majority of police officers don't engage in these types of practices, but the few who do, do enormous damage." "Another aspect of the pattern is that the complaint that reveals this type of corruption comes from outside the agency. Again, this is because of the culture of police forces. And when it does come to light, generally we hear the mayor or the police chief talking about 'a few rotten apples.' There's a tendency, and enormous pressure, to minimize the damage to the force's reputation. The result of that is that there are generally more officers involved than are ever brought to light."
On Monday (10/25) Pasadena Mayor Johnny Isbell called for a complete review of that city's warrant division in the wake of the recent arrests of two deputy city marshals, one reserve deputy, one police officer and two former police officers. Charges range from theft and burglary to manufacture/delivery of a controlled substance. "We know of no reason to believe that the alleged criminal activity in this case extends to anyone in the city of Pasadena warrant division beyond those charged," said Isbell.
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