>Sender: >To: >X-Original-Message-ID: <001101bf0474$b3e1f270$9acf69cf@pacbell.net> >From: "Peter McWilliams" >Subject: Cops and the War on Drugs >Date: Tue, 21 Sep 1999 14:03:06 -0700 >X-Mozilla-Status: 8001 >X-Mozilla-Status2: 00000000 > > >These two articles--an op-ed and an interview--from today's LA Times pretty >much say it all. If we want to end police corruption, we must declare Peace >on Drugs. > >Enjoy, > >Peter > > > >Tuesday, September 21, 1999 >PERSPECTIVE ON POLICE >When Cops Become the Gangsters > The war on drugs has spawned an ominous form of corruption: protector >becoming the criminal. >By JOSEPH D. MCNAMARA > > > It may not be much comfort to Police Chief Bernard C. Parks and the people >of Los Angeles during the current corruption scandal, but the pattern of >small gangs of cops committing predatory crimes has occurred in almost every >large city in the nation and in a great many less populated areas as well. > Six years after retiring from 35 years in policing, I began research >for a book on police administration. Studying the nation's police forces, I >was stunned to discover that the old-type corruption uncovered when cops >occasionally were caught taking payoffs from gangsters had been replaced by >something considerably more ominous. Throughout the country, small groups of >cops were the gangsters. > The lure of fortunes to be made in illegal drugs has led to thousands >of police felonies: armed robbery, kidnapping, stealing drugs, selling >drugs, perjury, framing people and even some murders. These police crimes >were committed on duty, often while the cop gangsters were wearing their >uniforms, the symbol of safety to the people they were supposed to be >protecting. > Of course, only a small percentage of American police officers are >recidivist felons. Sadly, however, these predatory criminals are protected >by a code of silence. Otherwise honest officers who knew or suspected what >was going on did not report the crooks, and at times even lied rather than >testify against other cops. > A code of silence is not unique to police. It exists in the White >House, among students, doctors, lawyers, business executives and other >groups. Indeed, even as children, our parents and peers admonish us not to >tattle. Basic human characteristics of loyalty, trust and security are >involved. These motivations are even more intense in police work. If cops >make an error of judgment, they or someone else may be killed, or they can >be sent to jail for using too much force. And even the most ethical officers >fear being falsely accused of brutality or other crimes and of being >railroaded to prison because their chiefs or mayors will not support them in >politically volatile cases. > Furthermore, the code of silence is strengthened because many cops >chafe under the pressure from superiors to make petty arrests for drugs. >State and local police made approximately 1.4 million drug possession >arrests last year. Very few took place with search warrants, although the >4th Amendment, with few exceptions, requires the police to obtain a judicial >warrant to search people or their homes. It is so common for police to lie >about how they obtained drug evidence that the term "testilying" has >replaced "testifying" in police jargon. Ambitious politicians and police >brass calling for more arrests condemn the code of silence while ignoring >widespread police perjury in drug cases. It is not surprising that many cops >feel that the only one they can really trust is another cop. > Nevertheless, it is perverse when those sworn to enforce the law >instead shelter predatory criminals who happen to carry a badge. Minorities >tend to be the victims of the most grievous police crimes. The current Los >Angeles police shooting scandal, like the thousands of cop crimes elsewhere, >does immeasurable damage to the credibility of the criminal justice system. >Mayors and police chiefs usually assure their citizens that there are only a >few rotten apples when these scandals are publicized. Yet the number and >similarity of police gangster crimes nationally indicate a crisis in >American policing. > Official corruption will be a major problem as long as we cling to the >present drug policies. The code of silence cannot be totally eliminated. But >the harm to good cops and to society can be reduced if politicians abandon >their demagogic calls for a police war against drugs. Police officers who >are true partners with the community in reducing crime will be far more >likely to report thugs on the force than cops who think they're part of a >warring occupation army. >- - - > >Joseph D. Mcnamara, Retired Police Chief of San Jose, Is a Research Fellow >at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. His Forthcoming Book Is >"Gangster Cops: the Hidden Cost of America's War on Drugs." > > > >======== > > > >Tuesday, September 21, 1999 >Ex-Officer Calls Corruption a Chronic 'Cancer' >By SCOTT GLOVER, MATT LAIT, Times Staff Writers > > > Calling corruption at the Los Angeles Police Department "a cancer . . . >that has gone on a long time without being treated," the jailed ex-officer >who is the central figure in an ongoing probe of misconduct said Monday that >he and other officers routinely abused their power to win praise from their >superiors. > Rafael A. Perez told The Times in an interview that ambitious officers >join the LAPD's anti-gang and other specialized units "trying to do the >right thing, thinking they're doing the right thing, trying to impress >supervisors . . . and stopping at nothing to do that." > As he fulfilled his lifelong dream of being a narcotics officer, Perez, >32, said he knew "no limit." > The former Rampart Division officer is cooperating with investigators >as part of a plea bargain agreement in which he is expected to receive a >five-year prison sentence for stealing about eight pounds of cocaine from >LAPD facilities. He already has implicated himself and his former partner in >a shooting that left an unarmed man confined to a wheelchair and wrongfully >imprisoned, and has described at least one other Rampart shooting in which a >man was killed as "dirty." > As a result of the corruption probe, 12 officers who work or have >worked at the Rampart station have been relieved of duty. Three others, >including Perez, have been forced off the job. Investigators are looking >into allegations ranging from illegal shootings and drug dealing to >excessive use of force and "code of silence" offenses. On Monday, police >sources confirmed that a captain formerly assigned to the Rampart station >was among those facing punishment in connection with the scandal. > In his first public statements since his arrest last year, Perez >declined to answer questions about the growing scandal on the advice of his >attorney, Winston Kevin McKesson, who monitored the telephone interview with >reporters at his Beverly Hills office. Perez spoke freely, however, about >the shame and remorse he says he feels for his crimes and misconduct at the >LAPD. > His greatest regret, he said, had to do with Javier Francisco Ovando, >the unarmed man he says he and his partner shot, then framed so he would go >to prison for attacking police. Because of Perez's cooperation, Ovando, 22, >was released from prison after serving 2 1/2 years of a 23-year sentence. > Perez said memories of his mistreatment of Ovando even invade his >dreams. > "I go to sleep with it and wake up with it," the former officer said, >speaking on a pay phone from county jail, the metal clank of cells closing >and the chatter of inmates and TV audible in the background. > "It's something I have been living with for almost three years and I >wanted to find some closure for me and, in a sense, a beginning for Mr. >Ovando," said Perez, who accepted the plea agreement against his attorney's >advice. As part of the deal, Perez received immunity for his involvement in >the Ovando shooting. > "Even if we had gone to trial and won, I don't know that I could have >continued to live my life with all these things that are bottled up in me," >said Perez, whose soft-spoken, polite answers during the 30-minute interview >belied his reputation as a hard-charging street cop. "This is something that >I'm doing for me and for my God, and something that I feel I need to do to >make me whole." > Perez said he wanted to be a cop from the time he was a boy watching >"Adam 12" and "CHIPS" on TV. As a teenager, witnessing drug deals taking >place all around him on the streets of Philadelphia, he vowed to fight that >problem in particular. > "Each corner had about three people standing on it, and every one of >them would stop cars and sell drugs," Perez said. "I remember telling the >guy standing next to me, 'One day I'm gonna be an undercover officer and I'm >going to bust all of you.' " > At first, after a four-year stint in the Marines, he said he loved his >job with the LAPD. He was particularly happy to have been selected to work >CRASH (Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums), which he considered an >elite unit of officers charged with cracking down on gangs and drugs. There >was a "point in my career that I would have been proud to have died in the >line of duty," said Perez, reflecting on nine years of service that began >with promise but have ended in disgrace. "At least I would have had some >pride." > Perez pleaded guilty earlier this month to eight felony counts stemming >from the theft of eight pounds of cocaine from LAPD facilities over a >three-month period in early 1998. > According to police, Perez lived life "in the fast lane," spending >money on vacations, cars and women, including a drug dealer girlfriend. > That lifestyle came to end in August 1998 after LAPD investigators >discovered the cocaine missing and traced it to Perez. Despite being >confined to a jail cell like the criminals he used to arrest, Perez said his >own arrest may have saved his life. > "I feel this is one of the best things that's ever happened to me," >Perez said. "I definitely believe I was on a road to destruction. I was on a >road to a place that no one should be. This experience has opened my eyes, >opened my heart to a lot of things." > Six days after his arrest, Perez was sitting in the county jail when >another inmate came up to him and asked him what it felt like to be a cop >behind bars. The inmate said he wished all police officers would have to >spend 30 days in jail before they work the streets so they know how their >job affects the people they arrest. > "When he told me that, it hit me to the bone," Perez said. "It made me >think: Absolutely right. If an officer was forced to spend 30 days just to >get a feel of the isolation and what jail is like, I'd have to tend to >believe that things would be a little bit different." > The extent of the wrongdoing alleged by Perez took detectives by >surprise, and has raised new questions about the quality of the LAPD's >internal review of officer-involved shootings. It also has renewed concerns >that police officers remain willing to cover up the misconduct of other >officers, despite reforms in the wake of the 1991 beating of Rodney G. King >aimed at changing such attitudes. > "I'm not proud; I'm not boastful in any way of the things that I've >allowed myself to get involved in with this CRASH unit. I will live the rest >of my life with a great deal of shame and regret and even resentment. . . . >I say resentment because I allowed myself to get involved and intertwined in >a group that was not doing the right thing." > Most of the department, he noted, "is doing the right thing." > Perez was friends with another disgraced former LAPD officer, David A. >Mack, who was sentenced earlier this month to 14 years in prison for robbing >a bank of $722,000. Perez and another LAPD officer partied with Mack in Las >Vegas two days after the bank heist. > Though investigators are searching for clues that Mack and Perez may >have been involved in crimes together, they have found no such evidence. >Perez said Monday he was stunned by news that Mack had robbed a bank, and >was unaware of his involvement in any other crimes. > Within the county jail system, sheriff's officials have had to put >Perez in protective custody. When he was transported by bus with other >inmates to court, he was cursed at, called "rat," threatened and spat on, >sources said. > "My sincere hope is that for all the bad, and all the wrong that I've >been involved in, that I can create some right and some good," Perez said. > >======== > > > > > >================================================================ > >This message is sent to you because you are subscribed to > the mailing list . >To unsubscribe, E-mail to: