LAPD Rampart Division

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The Rampart Division of the Los Angeles Police Department serves communities to the west and northwest of Downtown Los Angeles including Echo Park, Pico-Union and Westlake, all together designated as the Rampart patrol area. Its name is derived from Rampart Boulevard, one of the principal thoroughfares in its patrol area. The station house is located at 2710 W. Temple Street in Westlake. With 300,000 residents occupying a 7.9-square-mile (20 km²) area, Rampart is Los Angeles's most densely populated community, and the most densely populated community west of the Mississippi.^[1]

1 The "Rampart Scandal"
2 Colors
3 The Shield
4 Dirty
5 External links
6 Notes

[edit] The "Rampart Scandal"

Main article: Rampart Scandal

The Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums (CRASH) anti-gang program initiated under the direction of LAPD Chief Daryl F. Gates had encountered some success in the Rampart Division. However, in 1998-99, graphic allegations emerged of extreme police misconduct among Rampart's CRASH squad. This misconduct involved several officers, most notably Rafael Perez. Perez was involved in a bank robbery; he also stole six pounds of cocaine from an LAPD evidence locker. His most egregious act involved the shooting--and framing--of unarmed gangmember Javier Ovando. Perez originally claimed that Ovando had opened fire at both Perez and another officer. The officers then returned fire, leaving Ovando paralyzed. Perez and his cohort then framed Ovando for the attack and he was found guilty and sentenced to 23 years in prison (Ovando was later released once Perez admitted to shooting and framing Ovando). After several incidents, LAPD became suspicious of Perez and began to investigate him. Perez later pled guilty to the cocaine theft in exchange for information about other corrupt officers within the Rampart Division. In turn, Perez implicated approximately 70 officers of misconduct.

The resulting scandal—exacerbated by what is widely viewed as inept public relations management by then-chief Bernard Parks—severely compromised the credibility of the LAPD, and the Rampart Division in particular, during a time when the department had only just begun to recover from the public relations fiasco of the Los Angeles Riots.

The most prominent casualty of the scandal was Parks, who was not rehired by newly elected Mayor James K. Hahn in 2001. While Parks's termination was hailed by outside observers and the LAPD's rank and file, Hahn's indelicate handling of the matter cost him the support of South Los Angeles's black community, leading to his crushing defeat by Antonio Villaraigosa in the 2005 election.

[edit] Colors

The 1988 film "Colors," starring Robert Duvall and Sean Penn (and directed by Dennis Hopper), attempted to realistically portray the police work of a veteran and a rookie LAPD officers partnered together in a gang infested Los Angeles. The movie actually uses the real-life CRASH anagram as the division Duval and Penn are working under.

[edit] The Shield

FX Networks' hit series The Shield is inspired by Rampart's CRASH squad. Originally called "Rampart" when the first ads were run, the show's title was later changed at the request of the LAPD. By calling the show "Rampart", the LAPD claimed that the show's graphic content would portray them as corrupt. The show primarily follows the activities of corrupt detectives who make up the 'Strike Team', a special unit specializing in gang activity and drug trafficking.

[edit] Dirty

Another portrayal of the Rampart Scandal can be seen in the film Dirty, which follows two members of an LAPD Anti-Gang unit through a day at work, and showing the eventual consequences of the killings of gang-members, theft of narcotics evidence, and planting of evidence on shooting victims.