Suit Says Chief Blocked Early Rampart Probe

A former Los Angeles police detective charged in a federal lawsuit Tuesday that Chief Bernard C. Parks and other department officials thwarted his efforts to investigate widespread corruption in the Rampart Division.

Russell Poole, who resigned after 19 years with the LAPD, said he was subjected to harassment and ostracism after he drafted and sent a 40-page report to Parks describing the dimensions of the problems at Rampart.

Poole, a member of the elite Robbery-Homicide Division, said his report grew out of an assignment in the summer of 1998 to investigate the beating of a civilian by a Rampart CRASH anti-gang officer.

During a briefing on the case in the fall of that year, Poole said, he told Parks and other department officials: “It was more than just this case. It goes a lot deeper than that. You’ve got a group of vigilante cops at Rampart Division.”

When Poole asked for more time to investigate, according to the suit, the chief abruptly cut him off, saying: “No!”

He said Parks ordered him to limit his inquiry to the case he was assigned and to submit a report on his findings in two weeks.

Nonetheless, Poole said, he detailed all of his findings and suspicions in the report sent to his supervisors and Parks.

According to his lawsuit, Poole had found photographs of Rampart CRASH Officer Rafael Perez wearing the colors of the Bloods street gang and flashing their hand signs during a search of a girlfriend’s apartment. This was before Perez had emerged as the central figure in the Rampart police abuse scandal.

During a search of Perez’s home, Poole said, he found a cardboard box marked “CRASH, Secret, Confidential” that contained more than a dozen toy and pellet guns that looked like real weapons. Perez and other Rampart officers have since been accused of framing suspected gang members by planting drugs and weapons on them.

The former detective said he complained in his report “about the pattern and practice of LAPD Rampart in targeting gang members without probable cause, assaulting them, and retaliating against any others that complain.”

Reaction to his report was swift, Poole said. Lt. Emmanuel Hernandez, his supervisor, reprimanded him, saying: “We can’t hand this in. The chief doesn’t want this,” according to the lawsuit.

He said Hernandez ordered him to surrender all copies and the computer disk on which it was written, which he took to mean “they were going to destroy” his report.

Poole’s 40-page version was pared down to two pages and submitted as the official report under the names of two other officers. Poole said he refused an order to sign it because he did not want to take part in an “obstruction of justice.”

Because of his refusal, Poole said, he was ostracized, lost confidence in himself and couldn’t sleep at night. He said he was sent back to the Robbery-Homicide Division and given a boring desk job, aggravating his distress. He resigned from the department in October 1999.

A representative for the LAPD said the department does not comment on pending lawsuits.

Poole said the Rampart episode was not the only instance in which Parks tried to short-circuit an investigation. While investigating the murder of rap star Notorious B.I.G. in 1997, Poole found evidence linking fellow LAPD officers to the Bloods street gang, according to the suit.

Poole is seeking unspecified damages for economic losses, deprivation of his civil rights, humiliation, mental anguish, and emotional distress.