Report faults LAPD culture for corruption

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From staff and wire reports

LOS ANGELES, California -- The culture of the Los Angeles Police Department is to blame for its corruption scandal, a study commissioned by the police officers' union found.

The LAPD fosters an environment where excessive force and a code of silence are tolerated and corruption can fester, according to the 150-page report released Monday.

RESOURCES Read the report Board of Inquiry into the Rampart Area Corruption Incident    VIDEO The latest finding says the LAPD needs to change its 'culture of silence', explains CNN's Charles Feldman Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)     MESSAGE BOARD Policing the police

The study, which appraises the department's own recent Board of Inquiry report into the rampant corruption, recommends a more aggressive civilian review process and the appointment of a permanent special prosecutor.

More than 100 convictions have been overturned on charges that anti-gang officers lied under oath, planted evidence, wrote false reports and, in some cases, shot unarmed suspects. Some 70 officers are under investigation in the worst scandal to hit the department in its history.

"The Board of Inquiry report fails to recognize that the central problem in the Los Angeles Police Department is the culture," said the report's author, professor Erwin Chemerinsky of the University of Southern California. "The reality is there will not be meaningful reform in the Los Angeles Police Department until the culture is changed."

The department is authoritarian and has a code of silence that quashes whistleblowers, the report said.

The police department's Board of Inquiry report, released in March, recommended curtailing corruption by adopting several measures, including the expansion of the LAPD's internal affairs division. Ultimately, however, the board's report faulted officers and supervisors for failing to carry out existing department policies.

"The results in this department reflects a high level of officer enthusiasm to do their job, and that leadership comes from the management of this department, which includes myself," Parks said

Chemerinsky called for a return to community policing, a stronger civilian Police Commission and a system in which people can more easily complain about alleged police misconduct.

He also noted that the Los Angeles criminal justice system, including the county district attorney's office, shares some blame for not catching discrepancies in officers' cases.

The report calls for a permanent special prosecutor to look into allegations of criminal wrongdoing by LAPD officers.

One important recommendation is for the city to enter a consent decree with the Justice Department, which is threatening a lawsuit to force reforms if the city doesn't sign a binding agreement to implement them.

"It's the culture, stupid," said Connie Rice, a civil rights attorney who assisted in Chemerinsky's review. She said the Justice Department needed to stop "dillydallying around. They've had three months. They need to file that suit and demand a decree."

Mayor Richard Riordan had not read the report and had no specific response to the suggestion of a more aggressive civilian review process, a spokesman said.

"The mayor insists on reform, so that anything that is reasonable that relates to reform the mayor wants to seriously take a look at," said Peter Hidalgo, Riordan's press secretary.

Police Chief Bernard Parks defended the department's record.

"The results in this department reflects a high level of officer enthusiasm to do their job, and that leadership comes from the management of this department, which includes myself," Parks said.

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