LA'S FINEST SHAMED BY RENEGADE CRIME SQUAD

IT is the biggest scandal since Raymond Chandler portrayed the seedy
underbelly of policing the City of Angels 60 years ago. Rogue members of
the Crash Squad, an elite unit within Los Angeles Police Department, are
accused of everything from running drugs and robbing banks to shooting
unarmed suspects and lying under oath.

The problem is reminiscent of the Thirties, when graft and extortion
permeated the highest levels of the city's administration. The squad was
set up to combat street gangs but members are said to have often taken the
law into their own hands.

An investigation into the unit now threatens to overturn nearly 200
prosecutions against gang members. In one case, officers are accused of
shooting an innocent man during a raid in 1996, then planting a gun and
claiming that he shot at them first. Three officers testified against the
man, Javier Ovando, who is now paralysed and confined to a wheelchair.

The policemen claimed in court that Mr Ovando, now 22, came at them
brandishing a sawn-off assault rifle after they searched his house looking
for stolen weapons. Mr Ovando, who had no criminal record, was sent to
prison for 23 years, with a judge remarking at his trial that he showed no
remorse for his actions.

He was freed from jail last month after it emerged that he had been shot in
the head while handcuffed and lying on the floor. Lawyers acting for his
two-year-old daughter, born while he was in prison, have launched a pounds
12 million lawsuit against the city.

One officer in the case has now broken ranks to provide prosecutors with a
different version of the Ovando shooting and other events. Rafael Perez, an
officer in the unit, agreed to a deal on testimony after being caught
allegedly stealing about pounds 600,000 worth of seized cocaine from a
police locker.

The officer has told tales of widespread lawlessness and corruption within
the unit - known in full as Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums -
in exchange for a lighter sentence. He has claimed that prisoners were
beaten until they coughed blood and that dealers were routinely made to
hand over cash and drugs.

Some of his stories - since corroborated by other officers - suggest that
the Crash Squad differed little from the criminals it was pursuing. New
members were "jumped on" in initiation beatings mimicking those of the
violent street gangs of south Los Angeles. Officers also used gang signs,
sported tattoos and are alleged to have held "death parties" to celebrate
fatal shootings of suspects.

In one incident, 10 officers burst into a house being used by one gang's
members, killing one and badly injuring two others. One man was originally
said to have been shot in the chest while brandishing a weapon. In fact,
none of the gang was armed and the bullet entry wound was in the victim's back.

Officer Perez is also implicated in the death of a suspect in 1993. In this
case, too, the man was said to have been armed and threatening the lives of
officers at the time. Witnesses now deny this. Perez's police partner
during the incident was David Mack, who is now serving 14 years for taking
part in a pounds 450,000 bank robbery.

As inquiries into the Crash Squad continue, 11 other officers have so far
been relieved of their duties and another 50 are known to be under
investigation. Richard Riordan, the mayor of Los Angeles, has spoken of a
"dark shadow" over the police.

Bernard Parks, the police chief, said: "Anyone who would not be horrified
by some of these things is not human." Mr Parks has a reputation as a
strict disciplinarian, and has sacked 70 officers during the past 18
months. However, some in the police believe that he is undermining the
force. Earlier this year, one group even asked that he not attend their
funerals if they were killed on duty.

He has attempted to restore the reputation of the Los Angeles Police
Department, which was badly damaged by the beating of the black motorist
Rodney King and the riots which followed, as well as the perjury and racist
comments by a detective during the O J Simpson trial.

Such American anti-street-crime units are no strangers to controversy. A
squad in New York city was accused of the killing of an African immigrant
in the Bronx in April. Four officers have been charged with his murder.

Until recently, Los Angeles had generally prided itself in having one of
the most honest police forces in the United States. Back in the Thirties,
the force was notoriously corrupt, accepting bribes and pay-offs from
bordello owners and bootleggers in a culture depicted most recently in the
film LA Confidential.