Residents Voice Relief, Dismay Over Verdicts

As news of the guilty verdicts in the Rampart police corruption case spread through gritty streets once patrolled by those officers, residents, business owners and police reacted with a mixture of optimism and fear about the judicial system and gang violence.

In interviews on the streets of the LAPD’s Rampart Division, which includes the most densely packed neighborhoods in Los Angeles, residents and community leaders said they supported the jury’s decision convicting three officers on charges involving the framing of gang members.

“The attitude is that people trust the jury. People wanted to see the process work,” said Irene DeAnza Lewis, a Salvation Army director working in the heart of Rampart.

But relief that the system is fair couldn’t hide trepidation that the verdicts could embolden gangs and cause crime to skyrocket on streets dotted with pushcart vendors and storefront churches.

Rampart Division, roughly eight square miles of intensely urban turf west and north of downtown Los Angeles, including MacArthur Park, has long been troubled by gang battles and drug sales. Crime declined in the late 1990s, but it began recently to pick up again.

Police remain relatively popular in some circles there as a bulwark against gangs. They are feared by others, particularly young minorities and undocumented immigrants from Central America, who complain about being frequently hassled.

Some business owners decried the verdict, saying it tarnished the image of the entire Los Angeles Police Department.

Mary Guela, who owns a newspaper and magazine stand near MacArthur Park, said she knows most of the Rampart officers involved in the case and supports them without reservation. She called the verdicts “a pity.”

“If it wasn’t for the police, this place would be nothing but lawlessness,” she said, sitting on a folding chair in her stand. “I can’t talk bad about the cops because imagine what it would be like around here without them.”

Carlos Cruz, owner of a Vermont Avenue restaurant near Los Angeles City College, said police need to find a way to continue being aggressive without violating civil rights.

“It’s a tough balance,” said Cruz, who added that he has had to move his business three times because of threats from gang members. “I just hope and pray the police don’t stop doing their jobs, that’s the big concern. They have to continue to be professional and not back off.”

Victor Clayton, an inventor who was in MacArthur Park after the verdicts were announced, predicted reform in the LAPD. “I believe there will be changes but it will take some time,” said Clayton. “I think police will be a little more careful [how they treat suspects].”

At the Rampart Division’s one-story brick headquarters on Temple Street, officials sought to keep their morale up despite the momentous news.

During an afternoon roll call, Capt. Michel Moore, who has overseen the Rampart Division since July, reminded his officers that they had to continue their jobs with professionalism.

“It’s our obligation,” Moore said in an interview afterward. “You never feel good about an officer being involved in a crime, but we have thousands of other good officers. It’s my task to keep them focused on doing their jobs well.”

Moore said crime is up in Rampart over the last year, with violent crime increasing about 14% and the number of homicides, when compared to the same period in 1999, rising from 29 to 40.

“We are very aware of the rise in crime,” said Moore, who added that he thought some gang members were taking advantage of a police division under severe scrutiny. “We’re going to do the job right and do everything we can to stop it from coming back.”

The area was under siege in the late 1980s and early ‘90s as drug-related violence surged. Rampart was statistically the most violent of the LAPD’s 18 divisions in 1992 and police clashed regularly with two hard-core gangs: Mara Salvatrucha and 18th Street.

In that fearful environment, many residents and business owners welcomed the bravado of Rampart’s CRASH unit as its officers confronted suspected gang members and raided drug corners. Many residents said they felt that police might have to violate the civil rights of a few suspects in order to restore peace.

Although shop owners voiced strong support for police and urged that the department simply weed out a few bad cops, activists in the area said the guilty verdicts point out that much more reform is needed within the Police Department.

“This is just the beginning. We have to move forward to make sure other cases are prosecuted and other reforms go through,” said Victor Narro, a director at the Rampart-based Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles. Narro said many people in the largely Central American community still tell him about mistreatment by police.

“Let’s see how far the rabbit hole goes,” said Roberto Lovato, a longtime Rampart activist who teaches Central American studies at Cal State Northridge. “You have these three guys get this verdict, but how many others are there? That’s the question.”

Narro and Lovato both said relations between police and residents seem to be slowly improving, with more openness on the part of Rampart’s beat officers and command staff.

On Wednesday, gang intervention specialists and community outreach workers--some of whom have had a history of deep animosity with the police--said they hope the verdict shows that protecting civil rights is as important as fighting crime, even in such a tough area.

“I don’t want to paint a picture that every cop is a bad cop,” said Henry Toscano, chair of the Assn. of Community Based Gang Intervention Workers, a countywide group. But he said corruption is “pretty widespread in LAPD.”

Citizens and police all over Los Angeles paid close attention to Wednesday’s verdict.

In a Reseda strip mall, most said the police got what they deserved. Cecil Montes, who owns Vern’s Fresh Grill and Delicatessen with his wife, Irene, said the guilty verdicts show that police had become their own “clique,” with “their own type of gang code.”

“If they can’t catch these gang members the right way, they should let somebody else do it,” he said.

At a nearby gasoline station, Jonathan Kwak, who said he dresses “kind of gangster,” said he wasn’t surprised by the guilty verdict given the harassment he’s encountered. He directed a vitriolic tirade against the LAPD.

“On the car it says, what? ‘To protect and help you?’ ” he said. “Are you kidding?”

Capt. John Egan, at the LAPD’s more suburban Foothill Division, said:

“I’m sorry they were found guilty because I don’t want to believe the allegations occurred, but a guilty verdict on these charges indicates the jury felt there was a conspiracy that occurred within that unit. There isn’t anybody in this [Police] Department that wants to believe that these allegations occurred.”

Times staff writers Karima A. Haynes and Jason Song, correspondent Richard Fausset and photographer Robert Gauthier contributed to this story.