Anti-gang units a casualty of Los Angeles police scandal

Perez admitted that he shot and framed an innocent man

March 13, 2000
Web posted at: 12:55 a.m. EST (0555 GMT)

In this story: 'No one to protect us' 'We'll continue to do gang suppression' RELATED STORIES, SITES

From Correspondent Charles Feldman

LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- The worst scandal in Los Angeles Police Department history has resulted in the disbanding of elite anti-gang units that former members say aren't getting the gratitude they deserve and residents say were sorely needed in the community.

The department officially put an end to the units, known by the acronym CRASH (Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums), Sunday morning after more than 20 years of crime fighting.

CRASH became a target of criticism after former officer Rafael Perez, of the Rampart Division, admitted as part of a plea bargain for drug charges last year that he shot and framed an innocent man. Perez implicated other Rampart Division officers in a variety of abuses.

MESSAGE BOARD LAPD probe

Though most of the 300 or so men and women who were deployed in CRASH units were not suspected of wrongdoing, the revelations cast a shadow of doubt over years of criminal evidence gathered by the department.

The scandal has led to the investigation of 70 current and former officers and the overturning of some 40 convictions. Police Chief Bernard Parks has said as many as 99 people may have been wrongly convicted based on false testimony by officers.

"Yeah I do feel it some," said 15-year LAPD veteran Sgt. Curtis Woodle when asked if the forced breakup sent a message of ingratitude to the many honest and hard-working CRASH officers. "But I'll get over it. This department is resilient. We'll continue to do gang suppression in other forms."

Woodle says he is confident that gang suppression will continue to take place in the absence of the CRASH units

Adding insult to injury, said Woodle, was the formation of new and renamed units soon to be deployed and largely staffed by non-CRASH officers.

Despite the newly formed units, some residents of gang plagued neighborhoods that CRASH was meant to serve said they feel helpless and abandoned.

'No one to protect us'

"There's nothing much I can do," said one resident of such a neighborhood who fears that life without CRASH will be even more hellish than it already is.

The man, who asked to remain anonymous, said, "I'm hoping that some police officer or someone would be on patrol. This is the only hope I have, 'cause there's no hope if there's no CRASH unit or no one to protect us."

Woodle said former CRASH officers feel violated, and he puts the blame squarely on the shoulders of Perez, because "... he done some very horrible things, and he brought 300 or so police officers to shame. That's who I blame."

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The Los Angeles Police Department
Los Angeles County District Attorney
Federal Bureau of Investigation

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