L.A. Secret Police. Inside the LAPD Elite Spy Network by Mike Rothmiller & Ivan G. Goldman

Author:Mike Rothmiller & Ivan G. Goldman [Rothmiller, Mike]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2014-01-08T05:00:00+00:00

Palace Intrigues

Although the OCID captain and the political team reported directly to the chief of police, the department's chain of command was structured so that no part of the chain was neatly tied in place. There was supposed to be a checks-and-balances system always at work to prevent corruption. Vice and narcotics cases, for example, were investigated by vice and narcotics units within the geographical divisions and also by Administrative Vice and Administrative Narcotics, two centralized units that were supposed to be pursuing major cases. But these units were also supposed to be watching each other.

The checks-and-balances system had been set in place before Gates's time by his mentor, Chief William Parker, who had plucked Gates from obscurity and set him on the LAPD fast track. Designated as Parker's personal driver and all-around gofer, Gates learned police espionage at the feet of the master and later employed it as Parker's OCID commander. Under Gates's reign, LAPD units continued watching each other.

This internal scrutiny was supposed to be in the interest of keeping the department clean. And in fact, the kind of corruption seen in some other police departments around the country–cash-filled envelopes distributed around the department like chain letters–was not a part of the LAPD style. There was evidence some of this occurred, but it was not pervasive, and so the evidence was swept away to keep the department's reputation intact.

Meanwhile, the checks-and-balances system provided a built-in excuse for a subtler form of corruption that wasn't based on hinky finances. Instructed to keep an eye on one another, the top pogues had only to make a short leap in tactical strategy to employ espionage against their rivals in order to win some advantage within the department's internal rat race.

Sometimes the department, therefore, took on the character of a fifteenth-century Italian duchy; palace intrigues were everywhere-feuds that flared up and sputtered awhile only to flare up again as nobles and prelates fought for position.

As Rothmiller took his place in OCID, he was trying to figure out just whom he worked for. Although his captain reported directly to the chief, the assistant chief who headed the Office of Special Services was given the latitude to play a hand in OCID. From time to time orders were sent down that were said to come from this assistant chief, who wielded power of his own over the OCID palace guard.

Rothmiller was once ordered by an OCID lieutenant to quietly investigate a deputy chief of the department. "Has he been accused of anything?" Rothmiller asked his supervisor.

No, the lieutenant answered. He made it clear that Rothmiller was just supposed to look the guy over and see if he could find anything to keep him in line. This order, Rothmiller was told, had come from the target's rival, an assistant chief. It appeared to stem from just another one of the ongoing pogue territorial disputes. Rothmiller was sure that no OCID lieutenant would take it upon himself to investigate a deputy chief. Clearly the order came from above.

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