CAPTAIN UNDER FIRE AS RAMPART PROBE EXPANDS

Corruption: Station's former No. 2 officer is accused of failing to
supervise staff under his command. Officials call for reviving D.A. team
that investigated police shootings.

The Los Angeles Police Department's investigation into corruption at the
Rampart Division has expanded into the command ranks. Capt. Richard Meraz,
formerly the station's second-highest officer, has been cited for failing
to supervise officers under his command, officials familiar with the
investigation said Monday.

According to those sources, Meraz has come under fire because a supervisor
in the station at one point brought an officer to the captain and said the
officer had witnessed the alleged beating of Ismael Jimenez inside the
Rampart station. Meraz's response, the sources said, was to say he did not
want to hear any details.

If true, those accusations could land Meraz in serious trouble, though he
is not a suspect in any of the criminal wrongdoing under investigation.
Administrative charges already have been filed against him, and senior LAPD
officials have convened a special board of inquiry to investigate, among
other things, the quality of supervision in Rampart.

The captain, who was transferred from Rampart last year and now works in
the LAPD's Central Division, was not available for comment. If found guilty
of the departmental charges, sources say, Meraz is unlikely to be fired,
but may face a lengthy suspension; if the board of inquiry finds other
breakdowns of supervision at the station, Meraz could face more serious
action.

As the Police Department continued its corruption probe--which includes
allegations of stealing drugs, shooting and beating suspects, planting
evidence and lying to cover for fellow officers--Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti
pledged a "thorough and professional" investigation of the alleged crimes,
one of which his office previously rejected for prosecution. The county
public defender's office warned that hundreds of cases may be affected by
the scandal. Top city leaders recommended restarting the district
attorney's dismantled team that investigated police shootings. And Mayor
Richard Riordan urged Los Angeles residents not to judge the entire police
force by the actions of a few.

Speaking directly to the department's rank and file, Riordan said: "This
incident is not about you. . . . You have the support of the Los Angeles
community."

Riordan called the allegations of wrongdoing "unfortunate, disappointing
and disgusting," and said he should be held accountable for the LAPD's
effectiveness in trying to clean up the problems.

"Just as I can take some credit for making Los Angeles safer," he said, "I
take my role in this investigation seriously."

Riordan was joined at his news conference by Police Chief Bernard C. Parks
and Police Commission President Gerald Chaleff, both of whom enjoy the
mayor's confidence but whose rocky relationship with each other is a source
of consternation in the Riordan administration. In fact, their differences
flared even in what was supposed to be a demonstration of unity.

At one point, Parks warned reporters not to trust the statements of lawyers
representing the family of one of the Rampart officers' shooting victims,
Javier Francisco Ovando. While Ovando is cooperating with police, attorneys
for his daughter have said they will sue the LAPD on her behalf. "Who are
you going to believe," Parks asked, "the lawyers . . . or Mr. Ovando and
the police?"

Chaleff, who is a defense lawyer, winced and looked away.

Giving Inspector General Access

Scrambling to contain the scandal, top city officials said they favored a
pair of proposals intended to strengthen public confidence in the LAPD.

Chaleff said he had met with top LAPD brass and directed them to provide
the commission's inspector general with unfettered access to every phase
and aspect of the Rampart investigation. The department, Chaleff said, agreed.

That represents an important breakthrough on an issue that continues to dog
top police officials and their civilian bosses.

Although he has never refused an inspector general's request for
information, Parks has sought to draft rules delineating the inspector
general's role and access to material, as well as to clarify any
inconsistencies between the inspector general's powers and his own. For its
part, the commission has argued that the inspector general should be free
to launch any investigation of any aspect of the department. City Atty.
James K. Hahn will issue a legal opinion today that affirms the
commission's authority.

Regardless of how they resolve that dispute, a temporary deal has been
struck to avoid conflict in the Rampart scandal.

"I've been assured by the department that they will be open to our
inspector general," Chaleff said Monday afternoon. The inspector general
himself, former federal prosecutor Jeffrey Eglash, said he too was
optimistic that the department would allow him into the inner circle of the
probe.

"The commission is in charge of this Police Department," he told Warren
Olney, the host of KCRW's public affairs program "Which Way LA." "I'm
hopeful that the department, understanding its role in the chain of
command, will comply."

In addition to the agreement on the inspector general's role, Riordan,
Parks and Chaleff endorsed reviving the district attorney's defunct
roll-out team, which until 1996 sent prosecutors to the scene of every LAPD
shooting.

"It's valuable because you have a prosecutor, experienced in these matters
. . . going out to the scene and determining the propriety of the
shooting," Chaleff said of the team. "It clearly would help with public
perception."

Parks echoed that endorsement, saying he would welcome the return of a unit
that he called "very positive."

Riordan also backs the idea, said Deputy Mayor Noelia Rodriguez, adding
that the mayor believes the decision on whether or not to reinstitute the
program is up to Garcetti.

Created amid much fanfare by then-Dist. Atty. John Van de Kamp and his
assistant, Johnnie L. Cochran Jr., the roll-out team was charged with
responding to all police shootings. In theory, the team was supposed to
provide a check on the practice of having the police investigate situations
in which police might be suspects. In practice, however, the unit compiled
a mixed record, in part because LAPD investigators and legal rules sharply
curtailed the unit's access to crime scenes and officers.

After years of friction, Garcetti disbanded the unit in 1996, citing budget
concerns.

Roll-Out Team's Effectiveness Debated

At an afternoon news conference, Garcetti said he had always been in favor
of the roll-out team, but had to give it up when the County Board of
Supervisors told him it could not afford it. To restart the team, Garcetti
said, would cost "a little more than a million" dollars.

"The roll-out team was a valuable civilian check when it existed because it
arrived at the scene shortly after the shooting and was able to conduct a
full and independent investigation," said Katherine Mader, a former member
of the team and the Police Commission's first inspector general.
"Currently, without a D.A. roll-out team, there is no effective outside
civilian oversight of police shootings."

But many outside observers dispute Mader's characterization of the unit
performing full and independent investigations, saying that in almost all
instances the prosecutors merely accepted the Police Department's own
investigation. But advocates of the team note that while it was in
existence at least it ensured that prosecutors regularly were forwarded
police shooting investigations.

As details of the scandal and the officers under investigation have become
public, local officials are bracing for what many see as an inevitable
deluge of claims from suspects who encountered the suspect officers.

On Monday, Assistant Public Defender Bob Kalunian said his office is
reviewing all cases involving three principal officers linked to the
scandal and is requesting the names of any others who are under investigation.

"This could impact hundreds of cases," he said.

Without saying how many cases he believes will be affected, Garcetti called
the scandal "potentially devastating to the criminal justice system."