EDITORIAL RAMPART'S FINALE AT LAST, THE LAPD CAN MOVE FORWARD.

NOW it's official: The Los Angeles Police Department"LAPD" and "L.A.P.D." redirect here. For other uses, see LAPD (disambiguation). This article or section is written like an . ..... Click the link for more information. stands guilty of allowing a rogue unit to run wild in the streets but not a ``pattern and practice'' of civil rights violations as the U.S. Department of Justice alleged. After two years of exhaustive investigation, District Attorney Steve Cooley Stephen Lawrence ("Steve") Cooley (born May 1, 1947 in Los Angeles, California) is a veteran prosecutor who was elected as Los Angeles County's 36th District Attorney on November 7, 2000. He was sworn in for his second term on December 6, 2004. has found that the corruption alleged by dirty-cop-turned-informant Rafael Perez was limited to his Rampart Division anti-gang unit. Lousy management and some other bad cops like Perez let the anti-gang unit run out of control, and the police code of silence concealed what a lot of officers knew was going on. But Cooley found no evidence of systemic discrimination or abuses.

Since the D.A. worked closely with federal officials, it's a safe bet that Washington won't either. The numbers tell the story: After untold millions spent in trials, investigations and court settlements, only nine Rampart officers were ever formally charged. Of those, four were convicted and sentenced. Three other convictions were overturned and are on appeal. One was acquitted, and one case is pending. About a dozen officers were fired or retired. That's all. The findings are both a relief and an outrage. The relief is the knowledge that Rampart did not materialize into what Mayor James Hahn For the Iowa politician, see .James Kenneth "Jim" Hahn (born July 3, 1950) is an American politician from the Democratic Party. He was the Deputy City Attorney (1975-1979), City Controller (1981-1985), City Attorney (1985-2001) and Mayor of Los Angeles, California has called the city's ``worst fear - of police officers admitting they fabricated fab·ri·cate tr.v. fab·ri·cat·ed, fab·ri·cat·ing, fab·ri·cates1. To make; create.2. To construct by combining or assembling diverse, typically standardized parts: evidence and sent people to jail on planted evidence.'' But the outrage is that the city had already allowed its worst fear to consume itself by giving in a falling inwards; a collapse.See also: Giving to the Justice Department's demands for a federal consent decree A settlement of a lawsuit or criminal case in which a person or company agrees to take specific actions without admitting fault or guilt for the situation that led to the lawsuit.A consent decree is a settlement that is contained in a court order. that surrenders local control to a court-appointed monitor who can second-guess every action by every officer. When Justice, citing little more than Perez's exaggerated and deceitful claims, demanded control over the LAPD 1. LAPD - Link Access Procedure on the D channel.2. LAPD - Los Angeles Police Department. , city leaders never fought back. They just rolled over, and Hahn, as city attorney, took the lead role in negotiating the city's plea to crimes it did not commit. Now, for at least five years, every LAPD cop will find his or her every move scrutinized by a federal monitor. City leaders and police commanders alike will have their policies and reforms subject to the whim of judges and bureaucrats. Taxpayers will be stuck with the bill - $25 million to get the consent decree implemented and $45 million a year to maintain it. Then there's the cost to officer morale, which is incalculable in·cal·cu·la·ble adj.1. a. Impossible to calculate: a mass of incalculable figures.b. Too great to be calculated or reckoned: incalculable wealth. , but massive in a force that's hemorrhaging personnel. There are some people who will never join the LAPD because of the consent decree albatross, and others who will leave because of it. But worst of all, there are the many more who will stay, afraid or unwilling to do their jobs as best they can for fear of triggering the ire of a distant yet hypersensitive hy·per·sen·si·tiveadj.Responding excessively to the stimulus of a foreign agent, such as an allergen; abnormally sensitive.
hy federal overseer. And for what? For an awful scandal blown out of proportion by professional cop-haters. For all the damage the unnecessary consent decree will wreak wreak tr.v. wreaked, wreak·ing, wreaks1. To inflict (vengeance or punishment) upon a person.2. To express or gratify (anger, malevolence, or resentment); vent.3. , it still won't even fix the core problem: the war between management and the rank and file. Nor are we convinced that the code of silence has been broken and that morale will suddenly improve because Hahn has made good on his promise to implement a shortened workweek for officers. Still, with their worst fears safely behind them, city leaders can at last get on with what should be their top priority: fixing the department's real problems once and for all.
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