Rampart scandal

The LAPD Rampart scandal refers to widespread corruption in the Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums (CRASH) anti-gang unit of the Los Angeles Police Department's Rampart Division in the late 1990s. More than 70 police officers either assigned to or associated with the Rampart CRASH unit were implicated in some form of misconduct, making it one of the most widespread cases of documented police corruption in United States history, responsible for a long list of offenses including unprovoked shootings, unprovoked beatings, planting of false evidence, frameups, stealing and dealing narcotics, bank robbery, perjury, and the covering up of evidence of these activities.

The Rampart investigation, based mainly on statements of CRASH officer Rafael Pérez, also known as Ray Lopez, an admitted corrupt policeman, initially implicated over 70 officers of wrongdoing. Of those officers, enough evidence was found to bring 58 before an internal administrative board. However, only 24 were actually found to have committed any wrongdoing, with 12 given suspensions of various lengths, 7 forced into resignation or retirement, and 5 terminated. As a result of the probe into falsified evidence and police perjury, 106 prior criminal convictions were overturned. The Rampart scandal resulted in more than 140 civil lawsuits against the city of Los Angeles, costing the city an estimated $125 million in settlements.

Partly as a result of the scandal, Mayor James K. Hahn did not rehire Police Chief Bernard Parks in 2001. Both the scandal and the de facto firing of Parks are believed to have precipitated Hahn's defeat by Antonio Villaraigosa in the 2005 mayoral election.

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