"It cuts both ways," said Laurie Levenson, a former federal prosecutor and a law professor at Loyola Law School. "It illustrates a department cleaning its own house, but it also shows a department cleaning house because of the consent decree. But it does show it is no longer business as usual."
The Rampart scandal erupted in the mid-1990s. Officer Rafael Perez, after being caught stealing narcotics, told authorities that he and other officers had routinely falsified evidence, framed suspects and covered up unjustified shootings.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Sunday May 14, 2006 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 38 words Type of Material: Correction
LAPD officer: Two headlines on an article in Saturday's California section wrongly said a Los Angeles Police Department officer had been arrested after a sting operation. Officer Edward B. Zamora was relieved of duty Friday but not arrested.
After an investigation, the U.S. Justice Department accused the city and the LAPD of civil rights violations. The city agreed to a five-year consent decree under which the LAPD would make a series of reforms with scrutiny from a federal judge and a court-appointed monitor.
Under the 93-page consent decree, the LAPD more rigorously trains and supervises officers, more closely monitors confidential informants and more thoroughly probes use-of-force incidents than in the past. As of last month, it was in substantial compliance with 149 of the 191 consent decree mandates.
The single largest shortcoming, according to the federal monitor, is a computer system designed to track vast amounts of officer performance data, including the number of times officers fire their weapons and the number of citizen complaints they incur. That system took years to create and has not been running for two years as required by the decree.
Zamora could not be reached for comment Friday. Bratton said Zamora's partner was assigned to home duty, but he did not name the partner or provide details.
The chief said he sees the case as an isolated incident that should not reflect on the rest of the Rampart station.
"There will always be a small percentage of our officers who don't get it," he said. "If they don't get it, we'll get them."
Although Bratton is pushing for lifting most of the decree, he acknowledged Friday that such internal stings are now part of LAPD life.
In 2004, there were 127 investigations. Of them, 18 led to administrative discipline cases and six were referred to the district attorney for possible criminal prosecution. Last year, there were 204 investigations, with 15 administrative discipline actions and one criminal referral.
One officer to face criminal charges based on a sting worked in Rampart. Authorities accused the officer in 2004 of charging a Korean woman $500 to file a police report.
