L.A. MAYOR `DISGUSTED' BY ALLEGED POLICE CORRUPTION

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Mayor Richard Riordan, confronted with a police
corruption scandal, said Monday that he was "disgusted" by cops gone bad and
vowed to "get to the bottom" of criminal acts by officers.

Standing before reporters at City Hall with Los Angeles police chief Bernard
Parks and police commission head Jerry Chaleff, Riordan implored the city
not to judge its police department by the actions of rogue officers.

"Fellow Angelenos, you have my word that we are doing everything possible to
get to the bottom of this," Riordan said. "Do not let a few evil officers
ruin the reputation of the entire police force."

In their first joint news conference since the scandal broke last week,
Riordan, Parks and Chaleff urged patience while they probed charges of
misconduct at the LAPD's Rampart Division by Officer Rafael Perez.

Perez, who has pleaded guilty to stealing cocaine from an LAPD evidence
locker and is cooperating with authorities, has told detectives that he and
his partner, Nino Durden, shot Honduran immigrant Javier Francisco Ovando
while he was handcuffed, then framed him for a crime he did not commit.

Ovando, a member of the notorious 18th Street Gang who was left unable to
walk, served three years of a 23-year prison term before a judge freed him
Thursday at the request of prosecutors.

Perez has also said he saw Rampart officers shoot and kill an unarmed man
during a raid on a gang hide-out and then plant guns on him and another
suspect to justify the assault.

The scandal is also being probed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and
the Justice Department's civil rights arm.

They are also investigating allegations that Rampart officers sold drugs
taken during busts and in February 1996 beat a suspect so severely that he
vomited blood.

Parks said a commanding officer who learned about the 1996 beating and
"chose not to take the appropriate action" has been suspended and faces a
so-called Board of Rights hearing to determine if he will keep his job.

So far, 12 officers now or previously assigned to Rampart, which patrols a
crime-plagued, mostly poor and Hispanic district west of downtown, have been
suspended or fired in the scandal, including Perez and Durden.

"It is unfortunate, disappointing and disgusting that a police officer would
violate the laws he or she is sworn to uphold," Riordan said.

Parks said Ovando has not been in police custody since his release, but is
in hiding and cooperating with detectives.

Asked about repeated claims by lawyers for Ovando's girlfriend that he has
not been allowed to talk to her since his release, Parks responded: "Who are
you going to believe, the police and Mr. Ovando or these lawyers?"