Rampart Scandal Expected to Take a Continuing Toll

The Los Angeles Police Department’s corruption scandal will continue through the new year as investigators probe lingering allegations of misconduct, the LAPD implements costly reforms and city officials seek to settle lawsuits filed by alleged victims of police abuse.

2001 will bring at least two criminal prosecutions. Prosecutors are preparing charges against other LAPD officers but need permission from newly elected Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley to move forward, according to sources. Cooley also has to decide whether he will appeal Judge Jacqueline A. Connor’s decision this month to overturn the convictions of three Rampart Division officers or seek a retrial.

Also, sources close to the probe said they expect the U.S. attorney’s office to file criminal charges against LAPD officers next year. Federal authorities are believed to be pursuing a case against Rafael Perez, the corrupt ex-officer at the center of the scandal who agreed to identify other allegedly corrupt officers in exchange for immunity and a lighter sentence for stealing eight pounds of cocaine from a police evidence locker.

There is some uncertainty, however, over whether the U.S. Department of Justice under President-elect George W. Bush will remain as committed to the LAPD corruption investigation as it was under U.S. Atty. Gen. Janet Reno. The new administration has the authority to appoint a new U.S. attorney to head the Los Angeles office, and it is likely that new department officials in Washington will want a hand in the decision.

“The change of leadership in Washington could slow the process down,” said Richard E. Drooyan, a former chief assistant U.S. attorney who served as general counsel to the Rampart Independent Review Panel. “Any time there is change in the administration, there is uncertainty in the office.”

Alejandro N. Mayorkas, who heads the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles, said he wants to remain in his position and “continue this office’s commitment to the investigation into allegations of police misconduct.”

Mayorkas declined to say whether Perez or other officers are targets of his investigation.

If no new charges are brought against Perez, he is expected to be released from County Jail by spring. He could be freed by the time his former colleague, Nino Durden, goes to trial on an attempted murder charge and other corruption-related offenses.

Another case expected to reach trial next year involves two former Central Division officers who are accused of beating up a homeless man by the Los Angeles River in 1997. A key witness against Christopher Coppock and David Cochrane is another onetime LAPD officer. In addition to the beating case, investigators are looking into allegations that the pair also planted illegal drugs on innocent people.

The prosecutions are but one aspect of the scandal that will continue to unfold in the months ahead. LAPD Chief Bernard C. Parks is expected to continue sending allegedly corrupt officers through internal disciplinary hearings.

In fact, many of the 70 officers who have been under investigation may never be charged with a crime because there is insufficient evidence, or because statutory deadlines have expired, officials said. About 30 of those officers, however, have pending or ongoing administrative disciplinary trials.

Nearly 40 officers already have received some form of discipline arising out of the Rampart corruption investigation, including five who have been fired. Nine others have resigned and at least one has retired amid investigations into their alleged misconduct. Eight have been found not guilty at disciplinary hearings.

The scandal also has taken a heavy toll on officers not implicated in wrongdoing. Morale at the department has plummeted and will probably remain low in the new year. LAPD officials say they are having a difficult time recruiting officers to fill the department’s depleted ranks, in part because of the scandal. The force is so short-staffed now that some specialized units and crime-fighting programs are being downsized or eliminated so more officers can be put on patrol.

“This was a year of great turmoil for the LAPD,” said Ramona Ripston, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California. “It’s been one crisis after another.”

Morale and deployment problems are going to have to be fixed next year, said Police Commission President Gerald Chaleff.

He said another key task next year will be implementing dozens of reforms, many of which are mandated by the federal government as part of a consent decree reached with the city last month.

“The department has been through a lot this year and still has many challenges ahead of it,” he said. “We must undertake the changes and reforms that will cause the public as a whole to regain its trust and confidence in the Los Angeles Police Department.”

Chaleff said there will be no time for foot-dragging. By March, the city is expected to have hired an independent outside monitor who will have broad powers to probe the LAPD’s inner workings and oversee reform measures. Another reform that will be addressed next year is the building of a computerized system for tracking problem officers.

Steps taken in 2001 to reform the LAPD could be the most important and lasting consequence of the corruption scandal, police reform activists say.

“Reforming the Los Angeles Police Department is not going to happen overnight. It is going to require a sustained commitment by the leaders of Los Angeles and the LAPD for an extended period of time,” said Drooyan. “Hopefully, though, we’ll start seeing some changes soon.”

Drooyan and other police reform activists say it is important that Chief Parks and the city’s next mayor fully support the reform process.

“The coming year is critical for the future of the department,” said Ripston. “We will see if the LAPD is really committed to reform. We will also see if Parks is committed.”

The reforms will require not only a strong commitment by civic leaders, but also money--a lot of it. City officials estimate that the reforms will cost $20 million to $40 million the first year and an additional $30 million to $50 million each year after.

Those costs do not include the estimated $125 million needed to settle nearly 200 lawsuits and claims against the city by alleged victims of LAPD abuse. Some of those settlements are expected to be reached next year.

In other cases, however, city officials expect to fight some lawsuits in court either because the claims lack merit, or the plaintiffs and the city cannot agree on the financial damages.

Attorney Gregory A. Yates, who settled 29 Rampart-related cases this year, said some of the more controversial cases, which alleged malfeasance within the LAPD’s chain of command and other government agencies, remain to be litigated.

“We have yet to see the tip of the iceberg,” Yates said. “There is still a lot more to come.”