Commission Hears Calls for Rampart Probe

Numerous activists, attorneys and residents called for an outside review of the LAPD at a raucous Los Angeles Police Commission hearing Tuesday night, the first of six public meetings seeking input on the LAPD’s own report on the Rampart scandal.

The report by the department’s Board of Inquiry “is no more than a small first step toward airing serious problems that affect everyone who lives in Los Angeles. . . .” said Shawn McDougal, a member of The Coalition for Police Accountability. “We insist on a full report based on a comprehensive and independent investigation. The worst police scandal in Los Angeles history--exposing our community to enormous human rights and financial costs--calls for no less.”

About 100 people attended the heated hearing. Speakers who lambasted the LAPD were frequently interrupted by applause and exhortations by supporters. Several speakers who delivered long monologues, exceeding their allotted time, were escorted from the microphone by police officers.

Some speakers addressed a variety of law-enforcement issues.

Rudy Tenorio De Cordova, who lives in the Pico Union area, said crime and drug activity in his neighborhood have increased sharply since the scandal was revealed. In September, as a result of the Rampart revelations, prosecutors suspended enforcement of two sweeping anti-gang injunctions affecting more than 100 members of the notorious 18th Street gang.

“This has not been a nice place to live since the 18th Street gang injunction was quashed,” said De Cordova, a member of the Pico Union Heights Neighborhood Assn. “Please come into this community and see what’s happening.”

The public hearing was devoted solely to the six-month-old scandal, which has severely tarnished the reputation of the LAPD.

Commissioners scheduled the meeting to hear from residents about the department’s 362-page report analyzing the administrative and managerial failures that allowed corruption to flourish in the Rampart Division, an eight-square-mile area known for gang and drug activity.

A number of community activists said the LAPD can’t be trusted to police its own and called for an independent, blue-ribbon panel to investigate the corruption, similar to the Christopher Commission, which examined the department after the 1991 beating of Rodney G. King.

Chief Bernard C. Parks and his Police Commission bosses so far have successfully resisted such an outside review of the scandal. In an effort to increase residents’ confidence in their scrutiny of the debacle, police commissioners have scheduled the series of public hearings.

Abdullah Muhammad of South-Central Los Angeles said he often hears pundits wondering why there has not been more uproar about Rampart.

“That’s because it’s nothing new in our community,” he said. “Police have been doing this for as long as I’ve been on this Earth--for 53 years. Decent people in this community deserve respect. This is not a war zone. . . . And we will not have it treated like a war zone.”

State Sen. Tom Hayden (D-Los Angeles) said he has repeatedly advocated an independent investigation of the scandal.

“It’s hard for a large organization to air its dirty linen,” he said. “The Board of Inquiry report says that the LAPD’s upper levels believe the middle levels mismanaged the lower levels. So no one is investigating the upper levels.”

Bert Saavedra, a Pico Union community activist, said that in the past, she often assured residents that the LAPD had a policy of not working with the Immigration and Naturalization Service and aiding the INS in deporting criminal suspects.

“Boy, do I feel betrayed. . . .” Saavedra said. “Now I feel as if I have betrayed the community unknowingly. LAPD Rampart owes an apology to the community. If the cardinal and the pope can apologize . . . so can the chief of police of Los Angeles.”

The Board of Inquiry report pointed to systemic problems in the LAPD and made more than 100 recommendations aimed at improving supervision, hiring practices and risk management programs.

For example, Parks wants the LAPD to conduct “integrity stings” to snare potential corrupt officers. He also wants the department to have the power to delve into an officer’s financial history.

Even as the commission embarks on its own examination of the LAPD report and other Rampart corruption matters, Parks already has set into motion some of his reforms. Perhaps most significantly, he disbanded all the anti-gang CRASH units, like the one at the center of the scandal, and has ordered an overhaul of such specialized squads to bolster supervision and attract more experienced officers.

Times staff writers Matt Lait and Scott Glover contributed to this story.