Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums

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Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums, usually known as CRASH, was a special unit of the Los Angeles Police Department established in the early 1970s to combat the rising problem of gangs in Los Angeles, California. Each of the 18 divisions had a CRASH unit whose primary goal was to suppress the influx of gang-related crimes in Los Angeles that came about primarily due to the increase in narcotics trade.[1][2]

In addition to gang-related crime prevention, CRASH officers also had to obtain information about a specific gang that was assigned to them and relay that information between districts.[2] The CRASH officer's "freedom of movement and activity" and "gung-ho" nature has led some of them to incite controversy among themselves and the whole CRASH unit.[3]

In March of 2000, CRASH was gradually diminished and replaced with a similar anti-gang unit. This unit's minimum requirements for enlistment are higher than was CRASH's, requiring recruits to have a sufficiently high amount of experience and a low amount of personnel complaints.[4][5] Major categories of crime offenses and attempted crimes in 2000 in Los Angeles increased over those of the previous year, when CRASH was at full staff.[6] In the 1980s, gang violence began to increase dramatically as a result of the drug trade (specifically the introduction of crack cocaine). However most criminology and sociology experts outside of the law enforcement community attributed the increase in gang activity to an ever shrinking living wage job market in urban Los Angeles and a growing illegal drug market, rather than the activities of the CRASH units.

Contents

[edit] Operation Hammer

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Main article: Operation Hammer (1987)

Operation Hammer was a CRASH initiative that began in 1987 to crack down on gang violence in South Central Los Angeles. As a result of increasing gang violence and a drive-by killing resulting in the deaths of six to seven people, then Chief of Police Daryl Gates responded by sending CRASH officers to arrest suspected gang members. At the height of this operation in April 1988, 1,453 people were arrested by one thousand police officers in a single weekend. This operation was maligned with accusations of racism; some believe Operation Hammer heavily employed racial profiling targeting African-American and Hispanic youths that were labelled as "urban terrorists" and "ruthless killers." However, proponents of the operation counter that it was not discriminatory as each gang member arrested had warrants for their arrests.

[edit] Rampart CRASH Scandal

Main article: Rampart Scandal

One of the prominent CRASH units was stationed in the Rampart Division.

On February 26, 1998, two CRASH officers from Rampart were stripped of their jobs when allegations arose of a cover-up of the beating and asphyxiation of an 18th Street gang member. Officer Brian Hewitt was accused of choking the gang member in an interview room when the suspect refused to provide evidence of gang activities. Hewitt, along with officers Ethan Cohan and Daniel Lujan, did not report this incident. When the gang member reported his beating at a hospital, evidence, including blood in the interview room, implicated the three officers. Before a Board of Rights council, only Lujan was acquitted of his role.

In August 1998, the same month that Chief Bernard Parks claimed that the Christopher Commission reforms were "essentially complete", officer Rafael Pérez, a nine-year veteran of the department, was arrested on charges of stealing six pounds (≈three kilograms) of cocaine from LAPD's Property Division. Perez was initially tried on one count of possession of cocaine for sale, grand theft and forgery each. After a mistrial on December 7 of that year, more reports of cocaine theft by Perez arose. In September 1999, in exchange for partial immunity from prosecution, he testified about a pattern of abuse and misconduct that threatened to overturn thousands of criminal convictions, accusing about seventy fellow CRASH officers.

As part of his plea bargain, Rafael Pérez implicated scores of officers from the Rampart Division's anti-gang unit, describing routinely beating gang members, planting evidence on suspects, falsifying reports and covering up unprovoked shootings.[7]

As of May, 2001, the Rampart investigation had brought 58 officers before an internal administrative board. Of these, 12 were suspended, seven resigned, and five were terminated. [8]

These events are sometimes referred to as the Rampart Scandal. The State Librarian, Kevin Starr, in discussing this sordid episode, wrote that "CRASH ... became, in effect, the most badass gang in the city."[9]

[edit] Media references

  • The 1988 film Colors starring Sean Penn and Robert Duvall revolved around the LAPD C.R.A.S.H. unit.
  • The video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is set in a fictional state of "San Andreas" that is intended to represent a combination of 1990s Los Angeles(Los Santos), San Francisco(San Fierro), and Las Vegas(Las Venturas). The corrupt officers of the fictional "Los Santos Police Department" are members of the C.R.A.S.H. unit.
    • The actions of the C.R.A.S.H. unit (Officers Tenpenny, Pulaski and Hernandez) in the video game, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, are reminiscent of the alleged activities that their real-life counterparts were involved in (homicide, planting evidence, misconduct, assault causing bodily harm, falisfying reports etc.) Hernandez, by far the least corrupt, later decides that the actions they are taking cannot continue, and sells out the other two.
  • The cable channel FX's series The Shield centers on a corrupt police unit named the Strike Team, modeled after the Rampart Division's CRASH unit. One of the names originally considered for the show was "Rampart."
  • The exteriors of the Rampart Station were featured in the 1960s television show, Adam-12.
  • Rapper Xzibit mentions the "Crooked ass cops from the Rampart District" on the song "Multiply".
  • Rapper The Game mentions the Rampart scandal in a song called "Start from Scratch" from his album, The Documentary.
  • The films Cellular (2004) and Dirty (2005) were inspired by the Rampart Scandal while Training Day (2001), written before the incident, was modified to include some elements from the scandal.
  • In the Special Features section on the DVD version of Cellular, there's a segment on the Rampart Scandal called "Code of Silence."
  • Underground hip hop emcee MURS mentions his local C.R.A.S.H. unit in the song "Last Night"

[edit] References

  1. ^ Gangs: Additional Resources. Los Angeles Police Department. Retrieved on 2006-06-26.
  2. ^ a b CRASH Culture. PBS Frontline. Retrieved on 2006-06-26.
  3. ^ Interviews: Gerald Chaleff. PBS Frontline. Retrieved on 2006-06-26.
  4. ^ LAPD's Anti-Gang Unit is Disbanded Following Widespread Corruption Scandal. CNN (2000-03-12). Retrieved on 2006-06-26.
  5. ^ Rampart Scandal Timeline. PBS Frontline. Retrieved on 2006-06-26.
  6. ^ Crime Statistics - Year 2000 (PDF) 2. Los Angeles Police Department. Retrieved on 2006-06-26.
  7. ^ StreetGangs.com
  8. ^ PBS.org
  9. ^ Kevin Starr, Coast of Dreams: California On The Edge, 1990-2003 (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004), 92.

[edit] External links

Rampart Scandal
Notable Accused Officers Victims Coverup and Investigation Gang Involvement Other elements