Rampart Police officers were accused of corruption by citizens. The victims and their families alleged that the police had arrested them and planted evidence in order to have them charged for crimes that they had not committed. The various cases that were thrown out of court over various technicalities led to the investigation ( The Scandal - Rampart Scandal Timeline | PBS - L.a.p.d. Blues | FRONTLINE | PBS , n.d.) . The police mostly targeted gang members whom they sought to get off the streets by any means necessary. They resorted to underhand tactics and framed a number of them, especially officers, from the infamous Rampart CRASH unit.
The police, on the other hand, responded to these claims by refuting them and blatant cover-ups. The biggest named culprit was Officer Perez. He was arrested and detained by the investigators. The Chief of the Rampart Police, Bernard Parks, was accused of covering up the various corrupt dealings in his department. The Chief seemingly thwarted the investigations in Officer Perez and other co-accused officers ( Rampart Police Corruption Scandal , 2011) . Through corrupt policies and internal negligence, most of the allegations were put to bed without proper investigations or prosecutions.
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The responsible parties include the citizens and police officers. The various checks put in place meant to safeguard the integrity of the police force were flouted and clearly ignored in the weeks, leading to the scandal's exposure. Any police chief needs to ensure that his officers follow the law and are punished in case of any misconduct instead of cover-ups. Police culture is known to be unfavorable to people of color and those that are involved in gang activity. Instead of carrying out investigations, they seek to have all the members incarcerated despite lacking any evidence. There is a need for police reforms in order to set up mechanisms to ensure that such travesty does not happen again.
References
Rampart Police Corruption Scandal . (2011, June 20). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhhpxpQHSoU
The Scandal—Rampart Scandal Timeline | PBS - L.a.p.d. Blues | FRONTLINE | PBS . (n.d.). WGBH Educational Foundation. Retrieved June 29, 2020, from https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/lapd/scandal/cron.html
