[HPN] LAPD scandal grows

[William Tinker]

Unclescam,
I consider corrupt dirty,if a police officer kills some one with a three
foot stick in his hand or a screw driver and the police chief stands behind
their abuses of the ten commandments,and claims they [his] officers acted
with in police guidlines than we need to find out why these guys carry guns
and tear gas [pepper spray] and are supposedly protecting our civil and
legal rights,please bear with this rant unclescam and hear me out...
I truely believe that most of our police walking around today don,t even
think they react to the potential for harm,not to the actualfear of getting
hurt,they have shot more homeless and supposed mentally incapacitated
persons lately than police have been lost by a homeless persons flipping out
now haven,t they?
How many police have actually been victims of a homicidal homeless
person,has anybody got the statistics?
I really believe that nation wide the police do not protect a poor persons
rights very well or very little at all they actually encroach upon them you
know you read as well as I that if it came down to calling 911 or defending
yourself against attack you stand a better chance to club some one and tie
them up and then call the police after,because they do not show up till the
gun fire is over any how!
OK unclescam how are we going to end this homeless dilemma we have in this
country? Do we rub the Pols face in the corruption or let them attempt to
redeem themselves by force feeding them the action plans to end
homelessness?
We got to do something as our numbers are dwindling by each killing,hell the
police keep it up we won,t have a homeless dilemma there won,t be anybody
left to advocate for!
"A Brother In Peace And In Strife"
                Bill Tinker





----- Original Message -----
From: unclescam <unclescam@buskers.org>
Sent: Saturday, February 12, 2000 4:42 PM
Subject: Re: [HPN] LAPD scandal grows


> is dirty just another word for scam.everyone knows a human being, not a
cop or
> lawyer per se. a human being, being the best they can be, given power over
> another being. you got an uncle.
>     that part is animal.
> we are far from innocent in our daily walk, lording over our domain of
> inanimate objects (with feelings?) and fellow beings, some, with great
> humility. control of environment personally important to each being,
> individually administered with singular result.
>      that part is animal
> how we go about it is education.
> if we control the thought we control the animal
> obviously "we" don't today.
>
>
>
> William Tinker wrote:
>
> > 2-12-2000
> >  I just have to say SOS we have the same problems every where just more
or
> > less involved...
> > Every one knows a cop or attorney that is "dirty"we only do something
when
> > it directly involves us! Why?
> > "A Brother In Strife And In Peace"
> >                      Bill
> >
> >  LOS ANGELES -- So many lies, false arrests, dirty cops and wrongful
> >  convictions are being exposed in the latest scandal engulfing this
city's
> >  police force that it is getting hard to keep up with all of the
corruption.
> >
> >  The tally of abuse and deceit increases almost every week.
> >
> >  The police chief now says that rogue officers in a neighborhood overrun
> > with
> >  gangs framed at least 99 people during the past three years by planting
> >  drugs or guns on them, and also may have reveled in shooting a few
unarmed
> >  suspects.
> >
> >  The district attorney is investigating whether hundreds of criminal
cases,
> >  all linked to the growing list of police officers under suspicion, may
be
> >  tainted or fake.
> >
> >  At last count, 32 criminal convictions have been overturned.
> >
> >  And so far 20 officers have been fired, suspended, or have quit.
> >
> >  It is one of the most corrosive police corruption cases ever in Los
> > Angeles,
> >  it rivals similarly sordid tales that have plagued other big-city
police
> >  forces lately, and by all accounts the probe of it has only just
scratched
> >  the surface.
> >
> >  "An evil cancer has been found inside the LAPD," said Steven Yagman, an
> >  attorney representing several dozen people allegedly assaulted or
framed by
> >  officers. "I've never seen anything like this all at once. We've got
boxes
> >  filled with these stories. This is a bad, bad thing, and the city knows
> > it."
> >
> >  The scandal, which came to light last fall, has grown so large that
last
> >  week Police Chief Bernard C. Parks told city council members that
settling
> >  lawsuits could cost $125 million. That sum is twice what Los Angeles
> > budgets
> >  each year for liability.
> >
> >  Reeling from that disclosure, some city officials have begun discussing
> >  whether to put a bond measure on the ballot and ask voters whose faith
in
> >  the police department has been shaken badly--again--to help pay the
huge
> >  cost of cleaning up the force. Nine more criminal cases linked to a new
set
> >  of officers being investigated were thrown out last week, and a fifth
> >  innocent person who had been sent to prison on phony drug dealing
charges
> >  was set free.
> >
> >  Los Angeles County District Attorney Gil Garcetti is promising another
wave
> >  of overturned convictions soon. "The investigation has clearly
expanded,"
> >  said Victoria Pipkin, a spokeswoman for his office. "We're still in the
> >  early stages, but we believe that when the smoke from this settles, it
will
> >  entail many more than 99" people framed.
> >
> >  In many ways the scandal is the same old damning story for the LAPD,
which
> >  has often been its own worst enemy in the last decade, from the beating
of
> >  Rodney King caught on videotape to its disastrous handling of the
city's
> >  riots and detective Mark
> >  Fuhrman's perjury in the O.J. Simpson murder trial.
> >
> >  One former officer, Rafael A. Perez, is the focus of the latest probe.
He
> >  has told investigators that he and a partner shot an unarmed
19-year-old
> >  man, planted a gun on him, then testified that he threatened them with
an
> >  assault weapon during a stakeout on gang turf.
> >
> >  The man, Javier Francisco Ovando, was sentenced to 23 years in prison.
He
> >  was freed one week after the scandal broke. He may be confined to a
> >  wheelchair for life because of the shooting.
> >
> >  In another incident just disclosed, Perez said that he and other
officers
> >  shot an unarmed 21-year-old gang member they had been chasing through
an
> >  apartment building, then delayed calling an ambulance while they
planted a
> >  gun on the scene to make the shooting look justified. The man, Juan
> > Saldana,
> >  later died.
> >
> >  And this is just the beginning of the sensational stories Perez has had
to
> >  tell. He is helping investigators in exchange for leniency on charges
of
> >  stealing cocaine from a police evidence locker.
> >
> >  According to Perez's account, much of which police say they are
> >  corroborating, planting drugs, lying under oath in court, using brute
force
> >  and conducting illegal searches have been common in one of the
department's
> > elite anti-gang units known as CRASH. It stands for Community Resources
> > against Street Hoodlums, one of the city's primary weapons in the long
> >  battle against gang violence.
> >
> >  Police say Perez has told them that in their zeal to bust suspected
gang
> >  members, he and other officers sometimes carried stashes of drugs when
they
> >  patrolled, to make a frame-up quick and easy.
> >
> >  In investigative transcripts obtained by the Los Angeles Times this
week,
> > he
> >  also says CRASH members sometimes gave each other a plaque after
shooting a
> >  suspected gang member, such as Ovando. In one instance, he said
officers
> >  betrayed a confidential informant in front of fellow gang members,
knowing
> >  he could get beaten, or worse.
> >
> >  Until last week, all of the overturned convictions had direct links to
> >  Perez. But in a sign of how the probe is widening, Perez was not the
> >  arresting officer in any of the nine latest criminal cases just thrown
out
> >  by a judge because they involved phony drug charges.
> >
> >  Dozens of officers and their supervisors in the department's Rampart
> >  Division near downtown, where Perez was assigned, are under suspicion
for
> >  the same misconduct, or for looking the other way.
> >
> >  And police have not said that they are certain the corruption is
confined
> > to
> >  Rampart.
> >
> >  In the ranks, the scandal has been devastating. Sgt. Armando Perez, who
has
> >  been assigned to the Rampart Division for six years, said officers feel
> >  betrayed by their colleagues, frustrated by the pace of the
investigation
> >  and worried that they could be made scapegoats by a department under
> >  pressure to clean house.
> >
> >  On the streets and in court, Perez said, officers also sense their
> >  credibility is in shambles, or gone.
> >  "All the hard work we do is in question now," said Perez, who is one of
> >  about 400 officers at Rampart.
> >
> >  "At trials, the first thing that defense attorneys are asking officers
when
> >  they take the stand is, 'Are you assigned to Rampart?' "
> >
> >  The scandal is also dividing the community around the Rampart Division.
> > Home
> >  to many newly arrived Mexican and Central American immigrants, some
> >  illegally, it is a bustling part of Los Angeles that is all grit, no
glitz.
> >  At least 20 gangs roam its narrow alleys and tightly packed, low-rise
> >  apartment buildings, warring over turf and drug sales. Rampart is one
of
> > the
> >  police department's biggest and busiest precincts.
> >
> >  Residents are not defending officers admitting to misconduct, but some
> > still
> >  say they support the harsh attitude that the force flaunts on the
streets.
> >  Its crackdown on gangs, they say, is saving the neighborhood.
> >
> >  "Three years ago, it was really bad here, but it's gotten a little
better,"
> >  said Santiago Ramirez, 31, a maintenance supervisor. "The police have
> > helped
> >  me out a few times. I have nothing to say against them."
> >
> >  But a few protests have been staged at Rampart, and some community
leaders
> >  say the investigation into the renegade style of officers is long
overdue.
> >  Fearing reprisals, many others are angry but reluctant to criticize
police.
> >  They say they now fear some officers as much or more than gangs.
> >
> >  "If you have dark hair, a moustache and a car, the police will harass
you,"
> >  said a Hispanic man in his twenties as he worked in a local shop.
> >
> >  "People are afraid," said a middle-aged man who has lived in the area
for
> >  five years. "They've seen and heard what can happen if you don't stay
on
> > the
> >  good side of the police."
> >
> >  Carol Watson, a leader of a local nonprofit group called Police Watch,
> > which
> >  monitors the department and has been working with the community around
> >  Rampart, said that since so many residents are newcomers from other
> > > countries, they have almost accepted police abuse as a fact of life.
> > >
> >  "There's disillusionment, but mostly people are just numb to it," she
said.
> >  "From what we're hearing, these things with police happened all the
time."
> >
> >  Parks has assigned nearly 50 officers to the Rampart probe. Some have
gone
> >  as far as Mexico and Guatemala to interview possible victims of police
> > misconduct. The chief is urging Garcetti to prosecute three officers,
and
> >  recently he announced that cases involving 52 defendants are so
"severely
> >  tainted" they should be dismissed at once.
> >
> >  To date, a core question has gone unanswered: What went wrong? Some
> >  officials who have studied the LAPD say that it has instilled a
> >  by-any-means-necessary mentality in officers fighting gangs. Other city
> >  leaders wonder whether a rush to beef up the force--the department
added
> >  about 2,000 officers in the past six years--has hurt training.
> >
> >  Similar moves in other cities, including the District, have led to
serious
> >  policing problems. But the scandal here is not focused on patrol
officers.
> >
> >  "We're talking about highly specialized units this time," said Merrick
> > Bobb,
> >  an analyst of policing practices who has investigated the LAPD. "You
would
> >  think that the department would be able to carefully select officers
for
> >  that kind of assignment."
> >
> >  What the department needs most, some say, is stronger civilian
oversight.
> >  But other community leaders contend that little will change until more
> >  officers break codes of silence, report misconduct and face no
> >  recriminations.
> >
> >  In the meantime, the corruption probe wears on. Garcetti said recently
that
> >  it could take months, even years, to resolve. The department is being
> >  besieged by lawsuits.
> >
> >  At Yagman's firm, business is so brisk that lawyers are being hired
just to
> >  work on potential cases against the LAPD. On the firm's Web site, he
also
> >  recently posted a new list from Garcetti of people whose convictions
> >  involved officers now under investigation. It has several thousand
names.
> >
> > _______________________________________________
>
>
> _______________________________________________
>
>