CHIEF PARKS FILES CHARGES AGAINST 10 POLICE OFFICERS

LOS ANGELES--Police Chief Bernard C. Parks on Tuesday filed administrative
charges against 10 officers implicated in the department's ongoing
corruption probe.

The charges include false arrest, excessive force, theft, perjury, unlawful
searches and failing to report misconduct by fellow officers. Most of the
charges, if proved, could result in termination.

All but two of the officers already had been relieved of duty in connection
with the corruption investigation.

The other eight are or were assigned to the same Rampart Division Anti-gang
CRASH unit as Rafael Perez, the former officer at the center of the scandal.
In addition to the pending departmental charges, those officers also are
under criminal investigation by the LAPD's corruption task force.

Parks has been pressing forward with administrative charges against officers
suspected of wrongdoing, mindful that time limits for doing so are about to
run out in some cases, said Cmdr. David J. Kalish, an LAPD spokesman. There
was a similar flurry of charges last month.

The most serious charges were leveled against Perez's former partner, Nino
Durden, who has been suspended since August. Some of them stem from a case
the two worked in April 1997, in which they allegedly stole $2,700 from a
couple they threatened to arrest on drug charges. One of the alleged
victims, Cynthia Diaz, has filed a lawsuit against the city. Perez , who has
been cooperating with investigators, confirmed the theft, according to
interview transcripts obtained by The Times.

Durden, through his attorneys, has consistently declined comment.