GROWING L.A. POLICE SCANDAL

The focus on the spreading LAPD Rampart Division scandal is ignoring a
problem equally as worrying. What we should be asking is what is the matter
with the district attorney's office, the public defenders and judges? With a
lot of evidence to the contrary they were willing to sentence the accused to
years in jail (in the case of one judge who should resign), even a
wheelchair victim of the police.

It is the job of prosecutors to weigh evidence before indicting. Not just
take the word of a police officer--even in the best of police forces. The
district attorney's office is not another arm of the Police Department. We
have a right to expect them to be competent and unbiased prosecutors. This
is what happens when a district attorney's office is neither.

LORRAINE LAHR, Studio City