Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums
Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums | |
---|---|
U.S. | |
Size | 498 sq mi (1,290 km2) |
Population | 3.8 million |
Operational structure | |
Officers | 300 (estimated) |
Parent agency | Los Angeles Police Department |
Areas | 18
|
The Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums (CRASH) was a specialized
CRASH was subject of the
History
Establishment
By 1973,
In the 1980s, gang violence began to increase dramatically as a result of the drug trade, specifically the introduction of crack cocaine.
Operation Hammer
Operation Hammer was a CRASH-led 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 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. Despite the large number of initial arrests, they only resulted in 60 felony arrests, and charges were only filed in 32 instances.[5] While considered successful by some, this operation and the LAPD were maligned with accusations of racism; some believed that 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 asserted that it was not discriminatory as all gang members arrested had warrants for their arrests.
Rampart Division CRASH scandal
Every LAPD patrol division had a CRASH unit stationed in it. One of the most prominent CRASH units was stationed in the Rampart Division.
On February 26, 1998, Rampart CRASH officer Brian Hewitt was suspended and later stripped of his job when allegations arose of a cover-up of the beating and asphyxiation of Ismail Jiminez. Hewitt was accused of choking Jiminez in an interview room when the suspect refused to provide evidence of gang activities. When Jiminez reported his beating at a hospital, the evidence implicated Hewitt and led to his termination at a Board of Rights hearing.[6]
In August 1998, the same month that Chief
As part of his plea bargain, 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.
Kevin Starr, the State Librarian of California, wrote in his history of California in the 1990s that "CRASH ... became, in effect, the most badass gang in the city."[10]
In popular culture
A fictionalized version of C.R.A.S.H. appears as the main antagonist faction in the 2004 open world action-adventure video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. The unit is led by Officers Frank Tenpenny (voiced by Samuel L. Jackson) and Eddie Pulaski (Chris Penn), who have criminal ties in Los Santos (the in-game version of Los Angeles) and often engage in deals with gangs for personal profit. The unit's unofficial motto ("We intimidate those who intimidate others") is explicitly used by Tenpenny with protagonist Carl Johnson (Young Maylay), whom he blackmails into doing various jobs meant to prevent C.R.A.S.H's illicit activities from going public. However, C.R.A.S.H.'s third member, Jimmy Hernandez (Armando Riesco), eventually decides to do the right thing and report his partners' illegal activities, causing him to be killed by them. Near the end of the game, Pulaski is killed by Carl, and Tenpenny is arrested for his crimes, but is acquitted in his trial due to an alleged lack of evidence. This enrages the residents of Los Santos, resulting in violence across the city, mirroring the real-life 1992 Los Angeles riots. The riots eventually end after Tenpenny's death in a car crash.
The 1988 film Colors stars Robert Duvall and Sean Penn as two members of C.R.A.S.H.
Although corruption in L.A.'s C.R.A.S.H. unit had yet to be exposed when Training Day was written, Antoine Fuqua has stated that the emergence of the Rampart scandal in the late 1990s catalyzed the completion of the film. Denzel Washington also grew a beard in order to emulate the appearance of Rafael Pérez, an LAPD narcotics officer involved in multiple scandals.[11][12]
The police drama series The Shield (2002-2008), which revolves around a corrupt anti-gang unit called the Strike Team, is based on the Rampart scandal. Rampart was the original name for the show.
See also
References
- ^ "Gangs: Additional Resources". Los Angeles Police Department. Retrieved June 26, 2006.
- ^ Frontline. Retrieved June 26, 2006.
- ISBN 978-0553073010.
- ^ "Interviews: Gerald Chaleff". PBS Frontline. Retrieved June 26, 2006.
- ISBN 978-1-57444-559-6.
- ^ GLOVER, SCOTT; LAIT, MATT (February 14, 2000). "Beatings Alleged to Be Routine at Rampart" – via LA Times.
- ^ "Ex-Chief Refuses to Discuss Rampart". www.latimes.com. August 23, 2003.
- ^ "Rampart Scandal - Cover Up? - PBS - L.a.p.d. Blues - FRONTLINE - PBS". www.pbs.org.
- ^ Cannon, Lou (October 2000). "One Bad Cop". The New York Times.
- ^ Kevin Starr, Coast of Dreams: California On The Edge, 1990-2003 (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004), 92.
- ^ Murray Pomerance (February 1, 2012). Bad: Infamy, Darkness, Evil and Slime on Screen. SUNY Press.
- ^ Jonathan Markovitz (October 14, 2011). Racial Spectacles:Explorations in Media, Race and Justice. Taylor & Francis.