Today the ACLU of Southern California, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., Asian Pacific American Legal Center, Japanese American Citizens League, and California Women's Law Center announced the six-figure settlement of a significant retaliation lawsuit against the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department (LASD), and asked that Los Angeles County take immediate steps to make sure that such misconduct does not recur. In a letter to each of the county supervisors, the civil rights groups will call for the creation of an independent review process, so that the LASD can prevent similar incidents and avoid its own version of the ongoing LAPD scandal.

The settlement of over $138,000 includes damages, attorneys' fees, costs, and interest, and puts an end to the Moriguchi v. County of Los Angeles litigation. This case arose from a racist drawing that was posted on an official bulletin board of the Metrolink office of the LASD. The caricature depicted an Asian face with eyes slanted shut and exaggerated buck teeth, wearing round wire-rim glasses, with the words 'ah so!' next to his face. After Deputy Moriguchi, at that time a 10-year veteran with an impeccable record, raised his concerns with his superior officers, he alleges he was subjected to retaliation, including false misconduct charges, his locker being raided, and his girlfriend being followed by another LASD officer.

The Sheriff's department's actions reveal a classic 'code of silence' designed to stifle internal criticism, much like what has recently come to light in the LAPD. On July 20, 1999, a Los Angeles County Superior Court jury returned a unanimous verdict that defendants had illegally retaliated against Moriguchi for speaking out. Although the county initially appealed, it has now dropped its appeal.

In an attempt to improve the working conditions in the Sheriff's department, Moriguchi was willing to withdraw all of his claims for money damages, if the county would agree to set up a civilian review board to examine complaints of discrimination and harassment. The county rejected Moriguchi's proposal.

Civil rights groups join Moriguchi in calling upon the county to revisit this issue and, in particular, to set up an independent office external to the Sheriff's department, so that officers are free to speak up about other officers' misconduct without fear of retaliation . In an open letter to the Board of Supervisors, civil rights groups urged that this issue be put on the board's agenda no later than March 28, 2000.

It's time for the mayor to wake up. This city and its police department need an independent commission - and we need it now. Relying on the police department to ferret out all of the underlying problems is like having a cancer patient operate on himself. Only an independent, blue-ribbon commission with a broad mandate to examine the entire criminal justice system and then to ensure that the necessary reforms are implemented by the police department can do the job the residents of Los Angeles deserve.

First we were told we were just looking at a few bad apples - now Chief Parks is calling this corruption a cancer eating away at the LAPD. Chief Parks has proposed a number of good reforms, but at root he continues to treat this as a character issue that he can resolve by going around to every precinct and personally telling officers to up their professional standards. Well, that is not enough. This indeed is a cancer. It's structural and it's cultural - and it stems from the LAPD's ongoing refusal to open itself up to public scrutiny so that officer misconduct can be screened for, detected and eradicated before it has a chance to spread.

The problem with this report is it really tells us nothing new; it just acknowledges longstanding problems within the department: a faulty complaint system, inadequate tracking systems, poor supervision, and bad hiring practices - problems that groups interested in police reform have pointed out for years. Chief Parks wants us to believe that "we do not need to reinvent the wheel, introduce a flock of new programs or institute revolutionary approaches to police work. What we do need to do is emphasize a scrupulous adherence to existing policies and standards."

Chief Parks, the present system cannot be defended. The LAPD claims credit for uncovering this scandal and making it public, but the report admits systemic failure to find the problems in the first place. If Rafael Perez had not been arrested for theft and copped a plea following a mistrial in order to gain a lighter sentence, the structural problems that have been festering for years - shootings, beatings, cover-ups, perjurous statements - would not have been discovered.

Chief Parks blames, in part, the lack of an adequate computer tracking system to track officer misconduct. The Christopher Commission recommended this system back in 1991; the federal government gave seed money to the department to implement it. Why didn't the chief, the second in command of the department until 1992 and then in charge of Internal Affairs, make sure that this system was in place long before he learned of the Rampart scandal?

The Board of Inquiry report fails to look at what is going on in divisions outside of Rampart. It fails to take into account the most recent revelations of corruption within the department. It fails in its attempt to ensure the public that true structural changes will be made and must be made.

The ACLU of Southern California announced its support today for LAPD Chief Bernard Parks' request to bring in a team of FBI agents to help investigate the most serious scandal in the department's history.

'This is a constructive development,' said executive director Ramona Ripston. 'Federal agents will help uncover the depth and breadth of the current scandal.

'However, asking for help with the investigation should not divert our attention from the need to have an independent blue ribbon panel look at the Los Angeles Police Department to determine what changes in policies and practices are necessary to bring about needed reform,' Ripston continued. 'The panel's mandate should include a look at the entire criminal justice system to find out if prosecutors and judges ignored evidence of deep-seated corruption. Until changes are put in place, we cannot be assured that a scandal of this magnitude will not happen again. Public confidence will be restored only when an independent commission recommends systemic changes, with a procedure in place to ensure that changes are actually implemented.'