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Article: Storming the Rampart; The LAPD; The LAPD on trial.(United States)(Los Angeles Police Department)(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- December 2, 2000
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2000 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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UNLIKE some other bits of America, Los Angeles is used to seeing its civic dramas played out in court. The trials of Rodney King's assailants, of the Menendez brothers and of O.J. Simpson all gripped the city and buoyed up, or dragged down, the reputation of some of its most important people and institutions. The Los Angeles Police Department ( LAPD ) was one of those institutions. This time round its own officers are on trial, and its stock has sunk lower than ever.
The latest eruption of trouble started in August 1998, when Rafael Perez, an officer in an anti-gang unit known as CRASH ( Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums), based at a police station in ...