DOJ Revokes LAPD Access To CalGang Database After Gang Framing Scandal
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – The California Department of Justice has revoked the Los Angeles Police Department's access to the state's gang database following the arrests of three LAPD officers charged with falsifying records in order to wrongly frame people as gang members even though they were not.
State Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced Tuesday that his office has revoked the LAPD's access to CalGang, a statewide system which tracks people who may be affiliated with gangs.
The investigation began in early January, when the three officers were placed on leave, accused of falsifying field interview cards during stops in order to frame people as gang members.
In February, Becerra said the state DOJ would review the LAPD's records and policies regarding the use of CalGang.
The LAPD entries accounted for about a quarter of all 78,000 records in the CalGang system, the DOJ said.
In early June, amid the George Floyd protests over police brutality, the LAPD Board of Police Commissioners said that the commission would put a moratorium on the LAPD entering names into the CalGang database. Then on June 19, the LAPD confirmed it had placed an immediate moratorium on the use of the CalGang System.
Then last week, L.A. County District Attorney Jackie Lacey charged Braxton Shaw, Michael Coblentz and Nicolas Martinez in a 59-count complaint for falsifying records in which they allegedly claimed people they had stopped were gang members or associates, even though they were not.
Becerra said Tuesday's decision simply stemmed from the LAPD's decision to pull out of the program.
"Today's announcement follows the decision by LAPD Chief Michel Moore to permanently withdraw from the CalGang program after an internal audit uncovered significant misuse of the gang-tracking database by LAPD personnel, including entry of false information," the attorney general's office wrote in a news release.