LAPD Begins Probe of 2 Detectives Who Had S. Africa Emblem on Car

The Los Angeles Police Department has begun a formal investigation of two homicide detectives after a South Africa “auto badge” was found attached to the grill of their unmarked, city-owned police car.

Also under investigation is the detectives’ supervisor, who allegedly did not remove the “unauthorized insignia” after he was ordered to do so, Assistant Chief William M. Rathburn said.

Rathburn, who is in charge of the LAPD South Bureau where the two detectives and supervisor are assigned, would not identify any of the three.

No action has been taken on a related allegation from black police officers that white colleagues in the South Bureau had been seen wearing swastika rings while on duty, Rathburn said. He said that was because no one had come forward to make a formal complaint.

The black officers made the allegation to The Times earlier this month on the condition that they not be named, for fear, they said, of being “isolated and ostracized.” They told a reporter that some white officers are part of a clique of racists working in the South Bureau who are not kept in line by their supervisors.

The black officers said they viewed the car emblem as an endorsement of South Africa’s system of racial separation known as apartheid and the South African government’s “repression” of non-white people. The car is used by detectives to travel to and from crime scenes and to interviews with witnesses.

At the time they made their allegations, the black officers called on high-ranking black city officials, including Mayor Tom Bradley, to “do something” about the charges.

Mayor’s Response

Bill Chandler, Bradley’s press officer, said Tuesday that the mayor had talked about the matter with Assistant Police Chief Robert L. Vernon immediately after the appearance Aug. 12 of a Times story about the emblem and the black officers’ contentions.

The mayor at that time “was assured the Police Department would do a thorough, quick and expeditious investigation of the issue,” Chandler said.

Councilmen Robert Farrell and Gilbert Lindsay could not be reached for comment. Nate Holden, the only other black member of the City Council, said, “Nobody will be more aggressive on this” than he.

Rathburn said Tuesday that nothing can be done about the allegation involving swastika rings until someone provides investigators with substantive information.

“It’s kind of hard to look into something when you don’t have someone who will come forward and make a complaint,” he said. “If someone does make a complaint, we will certainly investigate.”

Denied Putting It on Car

In the case of the South Africa emblem, he said, the two detectives acknowledged that they knew the three-inch, circular metal emblem with the South African flag and the words “South Africa” was on the car assigned to them but denied putting it there.

According to Cmdr. William Booth, LAPD’s spokesman, the emblem was first spotted on the car by “supervisory personnel” just before an Aug. 3 dedication ceremony for a new South Bureau homicide office at the Baldwin Hills/Crenshaw Plaza mall. High-ranking police and city officials attended the dedication.

At the time, the detectives’ supervisor was ordered to remove the emblem because the detectives were on vacation, Rathburn said.

More than a week after the dedication ceremony, however, a Times reporter and photographer saw the emblem on the car while it was in a “police only” spot in a public lot at the mall. Ninety minutes later when a television crew showed up to film the car, the emblem was gone.

Rathburn said the investigation is being conducted by South Bureau investigators who will turn their findings over to the LAPD Internal Affairs Division.

If the officers are found to have broken department regulations, Rathburn said, they will likely be given days off without pay.