Police Corruption: the Rampart Division Scandal

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Introduction Police corruption has been going on for many years. There are a number of crimes that the police have committed. Police brutality is not the only crime that they commit. There are some police officers, who have received gratuities from people, abused the legal system by planting evidence, perjuring themselves, hiding evidence, and using drugs while on and off duty. The Rampart division of the Los Angeles police department dabbled in a lot of those corruptive behaviors. This essay is going to explain the wrongdoings of the division and the outcome of the many trials that resulted because the actions of those police officers. Body The Rampart division of the LAPD is said to be one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in The United States. There are 375,000 residents and 350 police officers. There are 60 gangs in the area. The problems in the division became public in 1997 when undercover officer Frank Lyga shot and killed Kevin Gaines, who happened to be off-duty. Kevin Gaines was an African American police officer and Lyga was Caucasian. Lyga’s story was that Gaines had threatened him with a gun and the he shot him in self-defense. His statement was “In my training experience this guy had I’m a gang member written all over him” (pbs.org). During the investigation it was discovered that Gaines was connected to a rap label called Death Row records that was owned by Marion “Suge” Knight. It was found that Knight was hiring off duty police officers to work as security guards. There were three investigations into the shooting of Officer Gaines. Lyga was absolved of the shooting. It was found that he was in policy. In November 1997 there was a bank robbery of a Los Angeles Bank of America. The robbers stole over $700, 000. The investigators began to suspect the bank assistant manager Errolyn Romero. Romero was a suspect because the cash that he had

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