Tape of Rape May Boost the Case for Police Video : Crime: An LAPD officer who put camera in patrol car caught five men allegedly attacking an unconscious woman.

With a recommendation to put video cameras in Los Angeles police cars on hold, a Foothill Division officer installed his own camera and this week used it to help make a case against five suspected rapists, authorities said Friday.

The incident may serve to make a better case for more cameras in squad cars, police said.

On Sunday, Officers John Smith and David Peteque were on routine patrol in Pacoima--except for the non-routine Sony Handycam recorder Smith bought and mounted on the car’s dashboard. The camera was running when the officers cruised along Glenoaks Boulevard near the Simi Valley Freeway and spotted a group of men in a vacant field.

The officers pulled into the field and saw the five men were involved in a gang rape of a woman who was unconscious, according to Deputy Dist. Atty. Susan Chasworth. The officers jumped out of the car and detained the men as the events were captured by the video camera, which was focused through the front windshield.

All five men were charged in the case and the video will play a key part in their prosecution, Chasworth said.

“Without the tape we would have been able to file the case based on the officers’ reports,” the prosecutor said. “But this way it is on videotape and that is good corroboration of what they saw. This strengthens the case. It is nice to be able to show the jury an actual picture of the scene. It is better than verbal description.”

Because of his involvement as a witness in the criminal case, Smith was not allowed by supervisors to discuss why he placed the camera in his patrol car. Capt. Tim McBride, commander of Foothill Division, said he did not know Smith had installed the camera in the car but supported the officer’s action.

“On his own initiative Smith did this and I applaud what he did,” McBride said. “I would like to see them in every black and white.”

Though the LAPD tightly monitors what equipment can be used by officers in the field, Smith faces no disciplinary action at all, officials said.

“It was a good piece of police work,” said Lt. John Dunkin, a department spokesman. “There are so many pluses with it, it is hard to find a negative.”

The Christopher Commission, which made a sweeping review of the department following the Rodney G. King beating two years ago, recommended that video cameras be installed in patrol cars. In addition to law enforcement applications, the cameras could be used to monitor officers’ interaction with members of the public.

Dunkin said the department is fully in favor of adding cameras but lacks the funds and department standards for their use.

“It’s clearly a money issue,” Dunkin said. “It is something we want to do, but it has been shelved because of insufficient funds.”

Sunday’s incident could, however, help boost efforts to place cameras in patrol cars.

“This just further reinforces that this is a good thing, that it’s something we should look at,” Dunkin said. “But resources being what they are we have make to tough decisions. If the cars don’t even run it doesn’t matter if there is a camera in the window.”

In Sunday’s incident, Francisco Franco, 48, of San Fernando; Miguel Ortiz, 39, of Arleta, and Jose Torres, 42, Mariano Martinez, 52, and Simeon Mendez, 23, all of Pacoima, were charged with rape of an unconscious woman. Franco and Martinez were also charged with sexual battery.

Chasworth said the 30-year-old victim was unconscious due to intoxication. It was unclear how she came to be in the field with the men. However, she said, it is clear in the video taken with Smith’s camera that she was not engaged in consensual sex.

“A video can’t tell you what’s going on inside someone’s mind,” Chasworth said. “But it establishes what they were doing. She is not moving. She appears very still.”

The video also shows one of the suspects making a quick attempt to dart away as the patrol car arrives. But he is detained by Smith and Peteque.