LAPD OFFICER WHO WAS TARGETED IN STING IS CHARGED

Policeman from the Rampart Division, which was plagued by scandal in
the late '90s, is accused of making false arrests.

A veteran Rampart Division officer was charged Friday with making
false arrests, culminating an elaborate sting operation by the Los
Angeles Police Department.

Authorities allege that Edward Beltran Zamora arrested two undercover
officers -- who were posing as suspects -- on suspicion of possessing
drugs, when surveillance video showed that they did not.

The six-month operation by the LAPD's Ethics Enforcement Section
began after officials noticed an unusual pattern to Zamora's arrests,
they said.

The team was created in 2001 as part of the reforms instituted to
help ferret out corruption after the Rampart scandal. Chief William
J. Bratton has cited the Zamora case as an example of how the
department is trying to tackle such problems.

Zamora, 44, could not be reached for comment Friday. He faces up to
three years in prison if convicted of the felony of filing a false
police report and two misdemeanor counts each of false arrest and
false imprisonment.

Several times during his 16-year tenure, suspects have accused Zamora
of planting evidence. The city has paid $520,000 to settle two civil
lawsuits filed against him.

In December, the City Council approved a $300,000 settlement of a
lawsuit by a 42-year-old man whom Zamora and a partner had arrested
on suspicion of possessing a rifle.

A year before, the council approved a $220,000 settlement with a
South Los Angeles man who alleged that Zamora and other officers had
planted a rifle and a bag of drugs on him after they searched his
home in November 1998.

In 2003, Zamora was accused in an internal LAPD report of dishonesty,
making false statements and falsifying his daily activity field
report. Few details of the accusations are available. But an LAPD
Board of Rights found him guilty of having a report log that did not
match information on radio frequencies and a computer system,
according to court records.

Zamora was arrested at the LAPD's Parker Center headquarters Friday
morning and released on $20,000 bail. His arraignment will be Sept. 8.

Prosecutors said Friday that the detectives actually conducted two
stings against Zamora. The first occurred in January.

But Zamora did not file a police report on that case, so the internal
investigation continued.

Then on May 9 in the MacArthur Park area, Zamora arrested a person
who he did not realize was an undercover detective.

Prosecutors say Zamora falsely claimed in a police report that he
found a baggie of cocaine directly next to "the suspect." But
videotape reportedly shows that the baggie was more than 15 feet away
and that no drugs were on the undercover detective, said Jane
Robison, a spokeswoman for the district attorney's office.

The Zamora case has gained attention because he worked out of a
station that in the late 1990s became a symbol of corruption.

Rampart Officer Rafael Perez, after being caught stealing narcotics,
told authorities that he and other officers had routinely falsified
evidence, framed suspects and covered up unjustified shootings.

After an investigation, the U.S. Justice Department accused the city
and the LAPD of civil rights violations. The city agreed to a
five-year consent decree under which the Police Department would make
a series of reforms with scrutiny from a federal judge and a
court-appointed monitor.

A blue-ribbon report released last month found that although the LAPD
has made improvements since the consent decree was imposed, the
department is still at risk of officer misconduct and corruption.

Internal stings like the one targeting Zamora were among the measures
instituted after the Rampart scandal.

In 2004, the Ethics Enforcement Section conducted 127 internal
investigations. Of them, 18 led to administrative discipline cases
and six were referred to the district attorney for possible criminal
prosecution. Last year, there were 204 investigations, with 15
administrative discipline actions and one criminal referral.