LAPD Rampart Division

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 convert|7.9|sqmi|km2|sing=on area, Rampart is Los Angeles's most densely populated community, and the most densely populated community west of the Mississippi. [ [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/lapd/later/streets.html PBS.org on the LAPD] ]

The "Rampart Scandal"

The Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums (CRASH) anti-gang program initiated under the direction of LAPD Chief Daryl F. Gates in the late 1970s had encountered some success in the Rampart Division. However, between 1998-2000, graphic allegations emerged of extreme police misconduct among Rampart's CRASH squad. This misconduct involved several officers, most notably Rafael Perez. Perez was suspected to be involved in a bank robbery committed by another Rampart officer, David Mack; he also stole six pounds of cocaine from an LAPD evidence locker, which led to his arrest. [ [http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0003/12/sm.01.html CNN.com] ] 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, Nino Durden. The two officers then returned fire, leaving Ovando paralyzed. [ [http://www.wsws.org/articles/1999/sep1999/lapd-s23.shtml Ovando Shooting] ] [ [http://www.streetgangs.com/topics/1999/091599javolv.html StreetGangs.com] ] 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) [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/lapd/scandal/cron.html PBS Timeline] ] . 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.

Popular Culture

"Adam-12" (TV series)

Although not set in the Rampart Division, the long-running television series "Adam-12" featured the Rampart Division station on Temple Street as the setting for the series. However, according to the radio call sign of the unit "1-Adam 12," the station is actually the Central Division station (Division One), which serves Downtown Los Angeles.

"Colors" (1988 film)

The 1988 film "Colors," starring Academy Award winning actors Robert Duvall and Sean Penn (and directed by Dennis Hopper), attempted to realistically show police work by portraying the lives a veteran and a rookie LAPD officer partnered together in a gang-infested part of Los Angeles. The film actually uses the real-life CRASH anagram as the division Duvall and Penn's characters are working under.

"Training Day" (2001 film)

The 2001 film "Training Day" starred Academy Award-winner Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke (and was directed by Antoine Fuqua). The film, as the title suggests, follows a single day in the life of a young LAPD officer, Jake Hoyt (Hawke), as he is subjected to a single-day evaluation by Alonzo Harris (Washington), a highly decorated detective with the LAPD narcotics division, to see if he has what it takes to be a "narc" (narcotics officer). The entire film takes place over a single, intense 24-hour period in Los Angeles. It was partly based on and heavily influenced by the Rampart Division CRASH unit and the surrounding scandal.

"The Shield"

FX Networks' hit series "The Shield" is inspired by Rampart's CRASH unit. 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. Consequently, the show was set up in the fictional Farmington Division ("the Farm") of Los Angeles (Based on East and South Central Los Angeles), using a converted church ("the Barn") as their police station. The show primarily follows the activities of Detective Vic Mackey (portrayed by Emmy winner Michael Chiklis) and the corrupt detectives under his command who make up the 'Strike Team', a special experimental LAPD unit specializing in anti-gang activity and drug trafficking.

"Dirty"

Another portrayal of the Rampart Scandal can be seen in the film "Dirty", which follows two corrupt members of an LAPD anti-gang unit (portrayed by Clifton Collins, Jr. and Academy Award winner Cuba Gooding, Jr.) through a day at work, showing actions such as the killing of gang-members, theft of narcotics evidence, and planting of evidence on shooting victims, and showing the eventual consequences of these actions, which for the two officers portrayed in the film, prove to be fatal.

References

External links

* [http://www.lapdonline.org/rampart_community_police_station LAPD Rampart Division]
* [http://www.lapdonline.org/search_results/content_basic_view/32828 Rampart Blue Ribbon Panel]
* [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/lapd/scandal/cron.html PBS Rampart Timeline]
* [http://www.lacitybeat.com/article.php?id=4094&IssueNum=164 Rampart Revisited]
*imdb title|0286486|The Shield