D.A. RAIDS L.A. COPS MOVE RILES UNION, DEFENSE ATTORNEYS.

Byline: Beth Barrett and Greg Gittrich Staff Writers

Over LAPD's objections, gun-toting teams of district attorney's investigators swept Friday into the homes of at least 17 LAPD officers in search of evidence of crimes related to the Rampart Division corruption scandal, the police union and prosecutors said.

The raids were carried out by the District Attorney's Office, which obtained search warrants after police investigators reportedly refused to go before a judge to request them - the usual procedure.

LAPD investigators balked because they didn't feel the searches were merited and wouldn't gather significant evidence to support charges against the officers, sources said. Officers went on the raids as observers only, the sources said.

Sources familiar with the items seized during the searches characterized them as mostly ``trinkets'' of seemingly minimal value to the investigation.

``They didn't appear to be items of significance,'' one source said.

District Attorney's Office spokeswoman Victoria Pipkin said the raids were a joint operation in which LAPD detectives accompanied county investigators. She declined comment as to whether the police had refused to sign the warrants.

``They were executed as part of the ongoing corruption probe,'' she said. Investigators were looking for notes, photographs, T-shirts, plaques, mugs and other paraphernalia that could link the officers to suspected crimes committed by the now infamous Rampart Division anti-gang unit, sources said.

The raids came two weeks after District Attorney Gil Garcetti filed criminal charges against three former Rampart officers, the first such charges related to the worst police scandal in city history. At least an additional 20 officers are under investigation and more charges are expected to be filed in the coming months.

< Searches quiet

For the most part Friday, the searches were handled quietly. During at least one raid, however, guns were drawn; at another, an officer was forced to leave his home wearing only his underwear.

The District Attorney's Office initiated the coordinated raids across the region at 7 a.m. and also searched the officers' lockers at Los Angeles Police Department divisions across the city.

The aggressive move prompted an immediate outcry from the Los Angeles Police Protective League and the officers' attorneys, who called the searches heavy-handed and abusive.

``This is really a naked abuse of power and authority,'' PPL President Ted Hunt charged, adding that investigators came away with ``really trivial stuff.''

Calling the searches an ``egregious and blatantly political act on the part of the district attorney,'' Hunt added in a statement that the investigators acted in an ``unprofessional and brutish'' manner despite the officers' full cooperation in the past and their presumption of innocence.

``For instance, the district attorney ordered his investigators to present themselves with guns drawn in a combat stance in front of children; forced an officer to stand outside on his front lawn in his undershirt and shorts; and an officer's elderly father was physically pushed around. Another officer's home was searched without a proper search warrant,'' a search that was therefore illegal, Hunt said.

< Items taken

The Police Protective League president said the items taken included ``T-shirts, personal notes, photographs and family financial records.''

Loyola Law School Professor Laurie Levenson said the raids were consistent with - though not necessarily indicative of - a tactic to gather the kind of evidence that might bolster a conspiracy case.

``It is an aggressive investigative technique,'' Levenson said. ``It does seem to indicate a broad scope to the investigation, and while one can't say for sure, it would be consistent with a conspiracy charge.''

Defense attorneys and sources told the Daily News the district attorney's investigators were running the operation, with LAPD detectives acting only as observers.

In most search warrant applications, police investigators go before the judge. But in this case it was prosecutors who asked that the warrants be issued, a source said.

LAPD spokesman Cmdr. David Kalish declined comment, referring inquiries to the District Attorney's Office.

< Searches to continue

The officers were not notified prior to the raids, their attorneys said. But other private defense lawyers indicated they have been told similar searches would continue over the weekend. Defense attorney Barry Levin said his client was told to expect his home to be searched Friday afternoon or later.

Attorney Paul DePasquale confirmed the homes of fired cop Brian Hewitt and Sgt. Brian Liddy, who was charged last month with criminal wrongdoing, were raided. DePasquale said he had not seen the warrants but had spoken with at least one of his clients. Both officers have denied wrongdoing.

``I surmise it was anything that relates to Rampart CRASH,'' DePasquale said, referring to the now disbanded Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums anti-gang unit.

``I understand, for example, it was interpreted so widely as to include pirate flags from Disneyland and T-shirts,'' he said.

Levin said his client Sgt. Edward Ortiz was expecting his home to be searched Friday afternoon. Ortiz also has been charged with criminal wrongdoing, which he has denied.

Levin called the searches ``hysterical vengeance'' on the part of the District Attorney's Office.

``They're like a one-man band; they seem to be doing everything humanly possible to prejudice a potential jury determination by the people of this county,'' Levin said. ``I think their actions are going to result in the deprivation of the citizens of Los Angeles deciding this case.

``The leaks they've been responsible for in the media, the extreme position they're taking in respect to this case, the reckless and irresponsible statements, all are trampling all over the due process rights of individuals who enjoy the presumption of innocence.''

Levin charged the District Attorney's Office has gone beyond its prosecutorial responsibilities and is acting as a law enforcement agency.

< Home staked out

In addition to the searches, he said, teams of district attorney's investigators staked out Ortiz's home during the days before he was charged on April 24 with a criminal conspiracy to commit perjury and falsify a police report.

``The D.A. wanted to make a real spectacle,'' he said.

According to Levin, Ortiz will cooperate with the search. He said he expects the investigators will look for ``junk, knowing how the District Attorney's Office has operated so far.''

``They'll be looking for the ridiculous to the sublime, from mugs and patches to memorabilia given to officers for working CRASH,'' he said.

Defense attorney Joel R. Isaacson confirmed his client, Officer Paul Harper, who also was charged with criminal misconduct last month, had his home searched. Harper has denied wrongdoing.

Another private defense lawyer, Patrick Thistle, confirmed the home of one of his clients was searched, but he would not name the officer. Thistle said he read one of the search warrants. The document specified that investigators were searching for field officers' notebooks, photographs and other documentation of the officers' on-duty work at Rampart, he said.

Other search warrants were said to have specified plaques, as well as mugs taken from beer parties in which the officers supposedly took part after a few questionable shootings.

``It was obviously a D.A. operation,'' Thistle said.

``They're going to do what they're going to do,'' he added. ``I think it's heavy-handed.''