By Libor Jany
Los Angeles Times
LOS ANGELES — The LAPD has opened an internal investigation into a San Fernando Valley gang unit officer who used a photo of Rafael Perez — the face of the Rampart police scandal of the late 1990s — as the lock screen on his cellphone, according to four sources familiar with the case.
Perez went to prison in 2000 after confessing that he and fellow LAPD officers shot and beat suspects without provocation, planted and stole evidence, gave false testimony and framed innocent people for crimes.
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When confronted by a supervisor about having the photo of Perez visible on his phone, the current LAPD officer expressed admiration for Perez, according to the four sources, who requested anonymity in order to discuss a confidential personnel matter. The officer’s name has not been revealed.
The case has dredged up memories from one the darkest chapters in LAPD history, while also sparking a debate within the department about about when officers should be disciplined for sharing or displaying images of divisive figures.
With the Perez photo, the sources familiar with the matter said, LAPD officials contacted the district attorney’s office to determine whether the officer under investigation had been involved in any problematic cases. A spokesperson for D.A.'s office declined to comment.
LAPD officials discovered the Perez image, the sources told The Times, while reviewing footage from a vehicle pursuit that began in the West Valley patrol area.
When a supervisor watched body camera footage from the chase, which ended when the motorist crashed in a neighboring police division, the officer could be seen texting on his personal cellphone while driving, according to the sources.
The image of Perez, the sources said, was clearly visible and caused alarm among several supervisors, who reported it up the chain of command.
The matter eventually came to the attention of Deputy Chief Marla Ciuffetelli, the department’s top-ranking commander in the Valley. The sources said Ciuffetelli questioned whether the photo amounted to misconduct, but agreed to contact internal affairs after another senior West Valley official insisted it needed to be investigated thoroughly.
Both Ciuffetelli and an LAPD spokesperson declined to comment, citing privacy laws around officer disciplinary matters.
Carol Sobel, a longtime L.A. civil rights attorney, said that images — no matter how disturbing — are generally protected by the 1st Amendment when kept on a personal phone rather than a department-issued device.
It gets murkier, she said, when officers are using their personal phones to conduct work business.
She added that the department had handled similar issues inconsistently in years past. In one instance, she said, LAPD officers were placed under investigation — but seemingly avoided serious discipline — for sharing racist and misogynistic memes in private, cops-only social media groups in the wake of George Floyd’s murder in 2020.
“It’s OK when you’re saying that ‘Derek Chauvin was a hero,’ but you’re saying it’s not OK when it’s Rafael Perez, because he was an embarrassment to the department?” said Sobel.
Perez was part of a Rampart Division unit called CRASH, short for Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums. The scandal came to light in 1998, when he was accused of stealing six pounds of cocaine from an evidence locker.
Perez cooperated with investigators and struck a plea deal for a five-year sentence.
He gave information that led to the convictions of eight fellow officers. Perez faced questions about his credibility and a judge later overturned three of the convictions on procedural grounds, but prosecutors have said they found no evidence that Perez lied about police wrongdoing.
Among the crimes that Perez told authorities about was a 1996 case in which he and his partner shot a young man, then planted a gun on him to justify the killing.
His exploits inspired Denzel Washington’s Oscar-winning turn as a crooked L.A. detective in the film “Training Day,” according to IMDb.
The Rampart case ultimately led to a federal consent decree, court oversight of the Police Department and a series of reforms.
While still frequently referred to as CRASH in certain neighborhoods, the department’s anti-gang units were restructured and renamed Gang Enforcement Detail teams. Department officials have said that today’s gang officers are are among the most vetted in the department, and that they are on the front lines of efforts to get guns and drugs off the streets.
But complaints of excessive force, racial discrimination and misconduct have continued to plague the revamped units. Their focus remains “proactive” policing, in which officers initiate contacts with the public rather than responding to 911 calls.
In 2023, a group of gang officers in the Valley were accused of stealing from motorists they had illegally stopped, and attempting to hide their actions from their supervisors by switching off their body-worn cameras.
Longtime department observer Connie Rice said the case of the West Valley officer is indicative of the department’s failure to learn from the past.
She pointed to reporting by The Times last March that uncovered a complaint from an officer working in the department’s recruitment office who secretly recorded dozens of conversations in which fellow cops hurled racist and derogatory comments against Black police applicants, female colleagues, and lesbian and gay co-workers.
Despite evidence of persistent problems with racial and gender discrimination, Rice said, the department’s top brass have seemed unwilling to embrace change. At the same time, oversight of anti-gang units has slipped in the years since Rampart, she said.
“The training is inadequate and veteran gang officers are saying there’s danger of being another Rampart,” Rice said.
The sources familiar with the Perez photo case said the officer was accused of “conduct unbecoming,” widely considered a catchall category for inappropriate behavior under department regulations.
The outcome of the investigation may never be known.
LAPD internal probes are typically sealed from public view, with the outcomes rarely disclosed. The police chief can recommend an officer be fired, but that decision can be overruled by so-called board of rights panels often made up exclusively of civilians — a process that has long been the focus of criticism and calls for reform.
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