Pubdate: Mon, 27 Dec 1999 Source: Orange County Register (CA) Copyright: 1999 The Orange County Register Section: Local News, page 6 Contact: P.O. Box 11626, Santa Ana, CA 92711 Fax: (714) 796-3657 Website: http://www.ocregister.com/ AS LAPD'S SCANDAL UNFOLDS The news bite last week was that former Los Angeles policeman at the center of the LAPD scandal will have his sentencing on a conviction for stealing cocaine from an evidence locker delayed while authorities seek more corroboration of allegations he has made about fellow officers. The bigger story continues to unfold, undermining respect for what had been, until this decade, one of the most respected police forces in the country. The case ought to cause soul-searching and perhaps some quiet investigation within police forces throughout the country. Former LAPD officer Rafael Perez, convicted on the cocaine theft charge in September, admitted as part of a plea agreement that he and a former partner had shot a drug gang member, paralyzing him for life, then planted evidence that put him in prison. That man's 23-year sentence has been thrown out and he has been released. But the scandal is much larger. Four men have been released from prison, 11 convictions have been overturned and 13 officers have been dismissed or relieved of duty. With Los Angeles District Attorney Gil Garcetti's office looking into the entire history of these 13 officers - and perhaps others about whom allegations have been made that haven't yet been made public - some 3,300 cases going back 10 years are now under review. If the damage and wrongdoing were limited to Los Angeles it would be bad enough. But in 1995 eight dirty cops were convicted on corruption charges in Philadelphia, leading to 116 wrongful convictions being overturned. This year in Detroit six officers were accused of robbery, beatings and stealing money as a result of illegal searches. It is difficult not to believe that much of the corruption is linked to the war on drugs and the way some police agencies have chosen - indeed, have been urged by the most respectable of figures - to fight it. Reliance on asset seizures to fund day-to-day police expenses can lead to a corner-cutting mentality. Efforts to catch dealers and users in the act of selling or buying require penetration of private homes, sometimes by dubious means. The huge quantities of money extant in the illegal drug trade have led to corruption before and will do so again. It is heartening that Mr. Garcetti seems committed to pursuing the scandal aggressively. "We will go wherever the investigation takes us," he recently told NBC News, and so far he seems to be holding to that promise. Once this scandal has been exposed, however, it would behoove state and local lawmakers to take a fresh look at laws that seem to be impossible to try to enforce without tempting at least a few police officers into corrupt behavior. - --- MAP posted-by: Doc-Hawk