PHOTO: Police Chief Charlie Beck, center, is flanked by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, left, and Police Commissioner John Mack. "The consent decree has made this a department that I am proud to hand over to my children,” Beck said.
The order ends oversight imposed in 2001, mostly over the Rampart scandal, which involved abuse of suspects, evidence tampering and perjury.
Federal judge lifts LAPD consent decree
The federal judge who oversaw a dramatic, forced transformation of the Los Angeles Police Department has freed the department from the final vestiges of federal oversight.
In a brief, three-line order Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Gary Feess formally lifted the binding agreement the U.S. Department of Justice imposed on the LAPD in 2001, which spelled out dozens of major reforms the police agency had to implement and frequent audits it was required to undergo by a monitor who reported to Feess.
The dismissal of the so-called consent decree, which arose largely out of the Rampart corruption scandal and addressed basic problems of accountability that stretched back decades, delivered a largely symbolic, but nonetheless important milestone for the LAPD as it continues to disassociate itself from a past marked by abuses and turmoil. Following revelations in 1999 that officers assigned to the LAPD's Rampart Division were implicated in serious misconduct, including physical abuse of suspects, evidence tampering and perjury, public trust in the police plummeted and federal officials responded to calls from a growing chorus of critics for intervention.
No comments:
Post a Comment