Fallout From LAPD Scandal
The Los Angeles Police Department is dealing with a scandal that reads like a crime novel.
It includes allegations of cops planting evidence and even sending innocent people to jail. The accused officers work in a gang unit in one of L.A.'s toughest neighborhoods, the Rampart District. The scandal broke when a former officer in the unit, Rafael Perez, turned informant after he was caught stealing eight pounds of cocaine from a police evidence locker. He's now cooperating with investigators in hopes of a lighter sentence.
Officer Perez claims he and his former partners framed 99 people over three years. Since the scandal broke, more than 20 LAPD officers have been fired, put on leave, or told to quit. 23 criminal cases believed tainted by Perez and his former partners have been thrown out of court. Thousands of additional cases are now under review.
Los Angeles Police Chief Bernard Parks has said corruption has tainted at least 57 cases, adding police officials will press to have more cases dismissed.
"I am committed to eliminating any corruption within LAPD," Parks has said.
Officer Perez's lawyer is Winston Kevin McKeeson, who told CBS News' The Early Show on Monday that his client is less of a villain than others in the scandal.
"The line got blurred," said McKesson about Officer Perez. "He was seeing things done in the unit and made a few mistakes and is sorry for them. He's trying to make things right for his life now."
When caught with the cocaine, Officer Perez admitted shooting an unarmed man who was paralyzed and then planting a gun on him. That man, Javier Ovando, was sent to jail on, among other charges, assaulting a police officer. Ovando was released a few weeks ago.
And a former California police chief told The Early Show on Monday that he does not think the LAPD is demonizing Officer Perez.
"It's a terrible thought to think that police officers would plant evidence and send innocent people to prison, but unfortunately it's happened thousands of times," said Joseph McNamera, former police chief of San Jose, Cal. and Kansas City, Mo.
"Even though a relatively small percentage of officers are involved, they do terrible damage to the victims and to the credibility of police everywhere," he added.
McNamera said not enough facts are known to conclude whether the LAPD corruption is worse than similar police scandals elsewhere in the country. But he did shed light on why police corruption has had a long and pervasive history in the City of Angels.
"I think one thing is the police officers are being told they're in a war on drugs," McNamera said. "If you tell them that, then the Bill of Rights isn't paid much attention and the due process of law begins to take on a sense of street justice."
"The whole system breaks down when you can't believe that police officers on the stand and think he may have planted evidece on someone who is innocent," he added.
And only last week, another LAPD officer who worked with Officer Perez in the Ramparts station said he could back up several of Perez's corruption claims.
That officer told The Los Angeles Times that Rampart officers engaged in unjustified shootings that were later covered up and framed innocent people by planting drugs on suspects. The officer, who spoke on a condition of anonymity, also told the Times he has not spoken to investigators for fear of losing his job. He has been relieved of duty pending the outcome of the investigation