LA POLICE CHIEF DECRIES 4 OFFICERS

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- At least four of 12 officers involved in a police
corruption investigation never should have been hired because they had been
arrested or had outstanding debts, Chief Bernard C. Parks said Wednesday.

Initially, the four were disqualified but they were later hired, in some
cases after an appeal, the chief said.

``They were misdemeanor arrests, alcohol ... domestic violence, things like
that,'' or debts that showed an inability to handle their finances, Parks
said.

``Those are the kinds of things that are red flags for us as it relates to
how an officer will perform in the future,'' said the chief, who was ordered
to make a public presentation by the City Council on how he is handling the
growing corruption scandal.

Former Officer Rafael Perez, hoping for leniency when he is sentenced for
stealing cocaine from an evidence locker, claims officers in the Rampart
Division near downtown framed and brutalized people and even shot unarmed
suspects. Lawsuits involving such claims could cost the city $125 million,
according to one official estimate.

More than 30 convictions also have been overturned as a result of the
corruption probe. Parks said 99 defendants in 57 cases involving Perez may
have been framed through perjury or false arrest.

Parks said he did not know whether Perez was one of the four officers whose
background checks turned up problems that should have kept them off the
force. Parks did say that one of the four was fired in 1998 for allegedly
beating a handcuffed suspect inside the Rampart station.

A report to be submitted to the civilian Police Commission by March 1 will
call for giving lie detector tests to all police officer candidates, beefing
up the Internal Affairs division and setting up ``sting'' operations to trap
bad cops.

Parks also told council members that ``telltale signs'' of poor performance
in the Rampart Division were missed by overworked supervisors, and the
problem exists across the department.

At least 11 officers have been relieved of duty since the corruption scandal
broke last fall. Parks declined to provide a new count.