The LAPD Rampart Scandal - Research Paper Example

The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) is an organization that is characterized by numerous paradoxes. The LAPD's perception has shifted from being the best police department in the Country to being a staunchly racist department. One of the factors that have contributed to this shift is the Rampart Scandal. The Rampart scandal has caused the overturn of 100 criminal cases and the payment of $100 million for the misconduct of the Rampart Division of the LAPD CITATION Che00 \l 1033 (Chemerinsky, 2000). The Rampart scandal became evident after the shooting incident of Officer Frank Lyga and Officer Kevin Gaines which resulted in the death of Kevin Gaines. This paper will focus on the circumstances that led to the Rampart Scandal, after which the paper will outline the steps that law enforcement administrators should take to prevent future office misconduct.

The Rampart Scandal constituted the vast police corruption in the Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums (CRASH) anti-gang unit of the LAPD's Rampart Division in the late 1990s. The Rampart officers of the CRASH unit were involved with corruption; this led to some offenses such as unprovoked shootings, bank robbery, perjury, dealing and stealing of narcotics, unprovoked beatings, planting of false evidence and covering up of evidence. The investigation that led to the determination of the Rampart scandal was based on the statements of corrupt CRASH officer Rafael Perez. The circumstances that led to the Rampart Scandal have been outlined in the timeline below.

Rampart Scandal Timeline

The first major event is the Road Rage Shootout that occurred on March 18, 1997. This event was concerning the death of Kevin Gaines. An undercover LAPD officer Frank Lyga shot Officer Kevin Gaines and claimed that it was self-defense. Lyga informed the media that Gaines threatened him with a gun, therefore in an attempt to protect himself he shot Gaines. Frank also stated that Gaines behavior indicated that he was part of a gang. After the shootings, the investigators assigned the case found out that Gaines was involved with Death Row Records, this was a rap recording label belonging to Marion Knight. Marion Knight was later accused of hiring LAPD officers who were off duty. The relationship between Gaines and Marion Knight raised red flags depicting that some officers had gone rogue CITATION Fro14 \l 1033 (Frontline, 2014).

The next event is a bank robbery that occurred on November 6, 1997, in Los Angeles. The Robbers raided a branch of Bank of America and stole $722,000. The investigating officers handling the case suspected the assistant bank manager, Errolyn Romero. Once she was brought in for questioning, she confessed and stated that her boyfriend, an LAPD officer David Mack was behind the planning of the robbery. David Mack was convicted and sentenced to 14 years in prison. The investigating officers also determined that David Mack was involved with a gang known as the Mob Piru Bloods. The gang is highly associated with Death Row Records.

Another circumstance was the Station House Beating that occurred on February 26, 1998. On this date one of the CRASH LAPD officers in the Rampart LAPD post, Brian Hewitt arrested a gang member called Ismael Jimenez. Ismael was taken in for questioning, and during the process, he was severely beaten by Hewitt and Ethan Cohan. The gang member was beaten until he started to cough up blood. The two officers had committed an offense of unprovoked beating. The LAPD was faced with another incident when on March 27, 1998, there was a report that six pounds of cocaine evidence was missing. The main suspect was Rafael Perez; he was a member of the CRASH Rampart unit.

As a result of the increase in the number of cases of police misconduct, the LAPD Chief Bernard Parks established an internal investigative task force. This task force focused mainly on the prosecution of Rafael Perez and the investigations of the criminal misconduct of the officers at LAPD. Rafael Perez was arrested and taken in for questioning, during this period Perez made a deal with the prosecutors. The deal outlined that Rafael was to plead guilty and was to provide the prosecutors with information on other Rampart CRASH officers who were involved in criminal misconduct. This confession would be rewarded with a sentence of five years and immunity from further prosecution. The deal between Perez and the Prosecutors led to the implication of over 70 officers involved in misconduct.

There were further investigations carried out after the confessions of Perez and as a result of these investigations several reports were written concerning the extent of corruption in Rampart. They include the following "LAPD Board of Inquiry into the Rampart Area Corruption Incident," "Report of the Rampart Independent Review Panel," and the "An Independent Analysis of the Los Angeles Police Department's Board of Inquiry Report on the Rampart Scandal."

Rampart Scandal Causes

The major causes of the Rampart Scandal that can be derived from the reports on the scandal include the following: The lack of Managerial Oversight; there was a breakdown in the managerial oversight at LAPD especially in the CRASH unit. Despite the emphasis on Respect and character in the LAPD, the CRASH officers were not held accountable for failure to portray respect and character in their work. The members of the CRASH unit were acting as if the unit was not under the influence of the Upper management. There were numerous personnel complaints about the police; there were more injuries reported as a result of the use of force, however, these occurrences were deemed as insignificant CITATION Web00 \l 1033 (Webb, 2000). The main reason behind the lack of supervision was because of the good work the CRASH unit was doing. The unit reduced the rate of criminal activity in Los Angeles. As a result, the supervisors left the CRASH unit to monitor itself. This lack of supervision led the officers to break laws.

The bureaucrat discretion is another cause of the Rampart scandal. The bureaucrat discretion entails that the police culture has abandoned the moral responsibilities that accompany the profession. The police culture is governed by money, racism, and power. The element of bureaucrat discretion also entails that as a result of the nature of the officers' jobs, the police officers face the dark parts of the society. These dark parts of the society paint a picture of a negative and distorted world. The negative view of the world causes the police officers to do certain acts that constitute criminal misconduct CITATION McN99 \l 1033 (McNamara, 1999).

The blue wall of silence is another cause of Rampart Scandal; this is a rule that discourages the officers from reporting one another and encourages them to stand by each other. Most of the new officers joining the LAPD force tend to subject themselves to a subculture of policing that require the new officers to emulate the senior officers. If the junior officers fail to follow the blue wall of silence, they are subjected to torment and ridicule. The new officers will tend to keep quiet once they witness acts of criminal misconduct done by their fellow seniors CITATION Koe99 \l 1033 (Koepke, 1999).

The lack of civilian oversight also led to the Rampart Scandal. In the LAPD the officers have the insular nature, this insular nature refers to the refusal of the police department and its officers to cooperate with outsiders with regards to the investigation of in-house matters. The LAPD was of the view that the investigation on police misconduct was its responsibility. The lack of an outsides view such as the Inspector Generals view on the affairs of the LAPD encouraged the LAPD officers to abuse their power.

Methods of Preventing Police Misconduct

The LAPD should adopt discipline guidelines, the LAPD through the relevant authorities should enact and apply discipline guidelines that have a matrix that contains information on the penalties that every officer will face once they get involved in misconduct. These guidelines will develop consistency and transparency in the disciplinary process of the police. These discipline guidelines will reduce the time applied in individual cases.

The LAPD should improve supervisory accountability and effectiveness; supervision is a very crucial part of improving and monitoring officer conduct CITATION Pun00 \l 1033 (Punch, 2000). The essence of supervision is not only to detect misconduct but also to prevent misconduct. Supervision also entails that the supervisors are to be held accountable for the conduct of those below him/her. The LAPD can improve supervisory accountability by improving the Field Training Officer program and also by improving the process of hiring, promoting and training of supervisors.

The LAPD should work on a method of introducing regular training of the officers. The officers should be subjected to continuous training sessions on topics such as procedural justice or police legitimacy. These regular training sessions will enable the police officers to recommit and refresh their minds on the need to become better police officers.

The LAPD should use Technology to keep every officer in check. The department can invest in equipping every officer with body-worn cameras. These cameras are very light and do not interfere with the officer's movement. The camera can be used to detect instances of police misconduct

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY \l 1033 Chemerinsky, E. (2000). An Independent Analysis of the Los Angeles Police Department's Board of Inquiry Report on the Rampart Scandal. Loy. LAL Rev., 545.

Frontline. (2014). Rampart Scandal Timeline. Retrieved from Frontline: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/lapd/scandal/cron.html

Koepke, J. E. (1999). The Failure to Breach the Blue Wall of Silence: The Circling of the Wagons to Protect Police Perjury. Washburn.

McNamara, R. D. (1999). ). The Socialization of Police, in eds. Dennis Jay Kennedy. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger.

Punch, M. (2000). Police corruption and its prevention. European. Journal of Criminal Policy and Research, 301-324.

Webb, C. (2000). The Rampart Files. The Associated Press, ABC News.