Assure Police Credibility

The Los Angeles police corruption scandal has brought to light plenty of allegations of officer misconduct--planted evidence, perjury and suspects shot and beaten without just cause. But there is another costly defect in the criminal justice system that is finally getting the attention it deserves: cases in which defense attorneys are unable to obtain pertinent information about the arresting officers that calls their truthfulness into question.

By law, police are supposed to give prosecutors and defense attorneys any information that might raise reasonable doubt about an officer’s role in the charges. This exculpatory information includes material that may affect the credibility of the arresting officers.

But in too many cases it hasn’t worked that way. Examples include a 1997 cocaine distribution conviction in which jurors were never told that the officer testifying had been relieved of duty and was facing illicit-drug allegations. That conviction was finally overturned in August.

Other examples include cases of police drug use, mishandling of evidence, previous false statements and one officer who filed a false police report stating that his car had been stolen when in fact he had sold it.

As the supervising judge on criminal matters for the Superior Court, Judge Larry P. Fidler has personally overturned nearly 100 cases tainted by alleged police misconduct uncovered in the Rampart Division scandal. Fidler, focusing on the inability of defense attorneys to obtain information on arresting officers, sought to conduct an evidentiary hearing addressing the problem and exploring ways to better inform defense attorneys.

Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti blocked the hearing with questions about Fidler’s legal powers to take such action. The issue is still being decided by an appeals court, but Fidler deserves credit for bringing attention to a major problem.

This week, the city attorney’s office told the city’s civilian Police Commission that the Police Department does a poor job of passing on to prosecutors relevant information about officer integrity, creating “a crisis” that could undermine successful prosecution of criminal defendants.

Taxpayers are feeling the brunt of these and other police conduct-related failures. The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday approved a $900,000 settlement for a man who spent 7 1/2 years in prison because of what he claims was a false drug charge concocted by then-Police Officer Rafael Perez. That raises the total spending in such negotiated settlements to $2.18 million since April. The City Council will also be asked to ratify payment of $10.9 million to settle 29 federal civil rights lawsuits arising from the scandal. That package is expected to go to the council next week.

The Police Commission should start addressing the problem by instructing the LAPD to create a clearinghouse for officer information and to adopt uniform policies on notifying prosecutors and defense lawyers of situations in which an officer’s credibility is in question. This would go far toward preventing costly tainted prosecutions.