I was doing some research the other night and found out Los Angeles Police Chief Beck was assigned to the C.R.A.S.H. (Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums) unit of the LAPD, which was the elite but highly controversial police unit involved in the rampart scandals of Los Angeles in the 90's.
The Rampart Scandal refers to widespread corruption in the C.R.A.S.H. anti-gang unit of the LAPD Rampart Division in the late 1990s. More than 70 police officers in the CRASH unit were implicated in misconduct, making it one of the most widespread cases of documented police misconduct in United States history. The convicted offenses include unprovoked shootings, unprovoked beatings, planting of evidence, framing of suspects, stealing and dealing narcotics, bank robbery, perjury, and covering up evidence of these activities.
Although Officer Beck was not one of the 70 officers implicated in misconduct, I believe he must have harbored some awareness of the wrong doings going on within this elite group of officers, who became known as the most bad-ass street gang in America, during their reign.
After Tuesday nights raid of the Occupy L.A. encampment, I myself felt I was up against a gang. That's why I was surprised to come across this information about Officer Beck's involvement with the most notorious street-gang in America (members of this elite squad have also been implicated in the murder of Notorious B.I.G.).
I thought this information was important to share because it tells me that Officer Beck has no problem turning a blind eye to abuses perpetrated by those in a position of power. While he may not be the one directly committing the abuses with his own two hands, it seems he may be closely involved with people that are committing such abuses, but not speak up or even worse, assist them in committing these abuses to a certain extent. There is even the possibility he helped cover up some of these crimes.
I feel Chief Beck is playing the same role with Occupy Wall Street as he did with C.R.A.S.H. He himself is not committing abuses with his own two hands, and he is not responsible for creating the orders the police are carrying out. However, he is still a part of and acting in accordance with illegal behavior of those in a position of power to keep the oppressed in their current state.
I will be writing more about this.
1 Comment
Further
Submitted by TimFromLA on
Chief Charlie Beck was then, like the police commission, appointed by Los Angeles City Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa under Charter Amendment F, the June 2, 1992 ballot measure to end corruption within the Los Angeles Police Department after the beating of motorist Rodney King. King was in pursuit by the California Highway Patrol for speeding, failure to yield and evading arrest. When the chase went on city streets, as policy, the Los Angeles Police Department took over. Four Officers: Sgt Stacey Koons, Ofcrs: Timothy Wind, Theodore Briseno and Laurence Powell of Foothill division affected a felony car stop. The rest as many would say was history.
But there were some questions as for the procedure of punishment for the officers which, according to Kylene eventually bled into Rampart…the punishment portion. Yes all four officers were fired, but one has to ask why? Violating Kings civil rights? If that were the case, then why was King given $3 million for his rights being violated, when in plain site, the four officers did what they did? Because, at every step: from affecting the car stop, use of force and arrest the four officers followed procedure perfectly. It was proven in court that what the officers did was legal.
In federal court, the jury said that the four officers violated King's civil rights, but still, the four officers never served any jail time and Wind, eventually worked for Santa Monica Police Dept. as a civilian employee. Keep in mind, Prop F was in full force. Four disgraced officers: Rafael Pérez, Nino Durden, David Mack and Kevin Gaines were all CRASH Officers and all four were terrorizing gang members. Though some may say it was curbside justice, they were still harassing, torturing, and possibly murdering and raping gang members. Now unlike Rodney King, these four officers did everything in the cover of darkness.
When people screamed for justice, and Pérez in prison, the boy was singing like a canary. Former chief Bernard Parks was taking names from Pérez whom Pérez said that were responsible for the corruption in the LAPD. Officers from all over the City of Los Angeles were fired, suspended or had days off because Pérez was spilling the proverbial beans. But there was a problem. Pérez was lying. This lying cost the City of Los Angeles more than $100 million and lives possibly lost and destroyed.
But, this does not end here. The corruption we see on television by the LAPD is well hidden from us to see…unless you know where to look.
LAPD command staff under fire in wake of $38 million in harassment, discrimination payouts
http://www.dailynews.com/breakingnews/ci_19275067
The real corruption is not from the streets but in the glass building on First Street across the street from Solidarity Park. So far, the command staff has wasted hundreds of millions if not nearly a billion dollars on lawsuit because of their corruption.
“I have a running joke," said attorney Gregory Smith, who has filed about 50 lawsuits on behalf of officers against the Los Angeles Police Department.
"If I sue a supervisor, they're going to get promoted within the next six months. Why that happens is anybody's guess.”
TimFromLA
Pages