Commission orders LAPD chief to cooperate with DA in corruption probe

Garcetti, left, and Parks

March 17, 2000
Web posted at: 5:46 p.m. EST (2246 GMT)

From Correspondent Charles Feldman

LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- Los Angeles Police Chief Bernard Parks has been ordered to cooperate with the district attorney's probe of city police corruption.

The order came from the Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners during an emergency session held Friday.

The commission is the civilian panel -- appointed by the mayor -- that oversees the police department. The emergency meeting was spurred by an escalating feud between Parks and District Attorney Gil Garcetti.

Garcetti has accused Parks of refusing to cooperate with his investigation.

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Sources say Parks has blamed Garcetti for mishandling the corruption probe, alleging that prosecutors had given the police department bad legal advice and could not be trusted. Parks had announced he would deal directly with the U.S. Attorney's office.

But the police chief has also maintained that he has never denied the DA access to any information.

In a strongly worded motion, however, the five-member police commission appeared to side with Garcetti.

"It is clear that the department made a change in policy regarding reporting relationships," the panel said. "No member of this commission received any notice from the chief of police ... regarding a change in policy concerning cooperation with prosecutors in the Rampart investigation."

The commission ordered an investigation into whether the police department withheld its cooperation from the district attorney.

The police corruption scandal began last fall after a police officer was caught stealing cocaine from a police evidence locker. To obtain a reduced prison sentence he told prosecutors that officers in a now-disbanded anti-gang unit that had operated in the Rampart neighborhood had beat, framed and even shot suspects.

After Friday's commission hearing, Parks insisted that he had never changed his reporting policy, but took a verbal jab at Garcetti, who is up for re-election.

"If we've made a mistake in this process so far, it's that we have gotten into a verbal dispute with a person who has a sagging political future," Parks said. "And we do not intend to get into that anymore."

Garcetti did not attend Friday's commission meeting.

Since the police scandal broke, 39 criminal convictions have been overturned after it was learned they were based on false police testimony and, in some cases, planted evidence. At least 70 officers are currently under investigation.

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Board of Police Commissioners
The Los Angeles Police Department
Los Angeles County District Attorney
United States Attorney's Office, Central District of California
Federal Bureau of Investigation

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