LAPD Officer Arrested on Sexual Assault Charges

Los Angeles: An off-duty LAPD Officer stands accused of sexual assault following a holiday celebration at a hotel near Los Angeles International Airport.

Police Officer Eduardo Bermudez, 29 years of age, assigned to Pacific Area Patrol Division, two years on the Department, was arrested Sunday morning, December 7, 2008, at around 8:00 a.m. by detectives assigned to Internal Affairs Division.  Officer Bermudez was booked for California Penal Code Section 664-261, Attempt Rape.  Officer Bermudez was booked at Men’s Central Jail and was held on $100,000 bail.

Based on preliminary information, it appears that a sanctioned LAPD Pacific Area holiday party had concluded and several Department employees were participating in an unofficial “after party” at the hotel.  When allegations of criminal activity came to light, proper notifications were made and on-duty police supervisors and Internal Affairs Division investigators were dispatched.  

Internal Affairs Division has assumed responsibility for the investigation.                    

Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to contact Internal Affairs Division at 213-473-3870.  After-hours and on weekends calls may be directed to the 24-hour, toll-free number, 1-877-LAPD24-7 (527-3247) or texting CRIMES (274637) and beginning the message with LAPD.  Tipsters may also submit information on the LAPD website, and can remain anonymous.

Comments

[on the brite side]

Well atleast he didnt shoot himself in the leg...right? Whats going on in Pacific? Must be the leadership....sigh...

[marty]

The quality of supervisors and street cops at Pacific has gone down hill since Joe Hiltner got to be captain there. Decent cops transfer or retire to get out of there.

[Willie]

An "unofficial after party?" Yeah right! Weren't the raffle prizes hotel rooms and wasn't a lot of booze flowing at the "official party?" Pacific's Captains no doubt coerced cops to go to this party or not get the day off. They're as responsible for this poor woman being violated as much as Bermudez is. Cops cannot police themselves!

[warthog]

You hit the nail on the head Brite Side. This kind of stuff never went on when Bill Williams was Captain at Pacific!

[joe]

poor leadership?? will cause an officer to commit attempted rape?? you guys can't be serious!

[JAFO]

To all of you COPS posting on here...cut out the crap about command staff and admit it; We do this to ourselves. Coppers get in more trouble drinking than anything else. Get your heads on straight and know when to say when. I am not picking sides, but no one forced anyone to drink at that party.

We are all grown...you would not accept some sorry excuse like "I drank to much" from a suspect, don't try to minimize the culpability we all had to watch out for our own.

Oh, by the way, pretty much everyone in the world has a holiday party and officers try to minimize the cost by PURCHASING TICKETS WITH THEIR OWN MONEY.

We should be proud of those officers who were there, realized a crime had occurred and lived up to the integrity they swore to maintain when they came on the job by reporting misconduct. We get burned in the media ALL DAY LONG but no news outlet will pat us on the back for policing our own which is what we did here.

[Don]

The majority of the men and women assigned to LAPD Pacific Area are dedicated and upstanding people. The obvious weak leadership in Pacific's Captain and Lieutenant ranks and the stupidity of this one officer should not be used to paint the fine officers with the same broad brush!

[Angelica]

I agree with Don. I have contact with alot of the pacific officers at the beach. They're respectful, ethical, not confrontational, trustworthy, law abiding, intelligent, honest, unselfish, knowledgable, caring, unbiased & fair minded. The crime of one will not lower my opinion of them.

[citizen]

Blame everyone but the person who did this. You cops are pathetic you always want to put the blame on someone else. You just have to live with the fact that one of you went bad. Sorry but that's the way it. Don't blame the command staff. All you do is moan groan cry whine and complain.

[Shaky Jake]

Joe & Citizen: You are obviously surrogates for LAPD management and you don't seem to understand the concept of Leadership. Let me explain where I think the people posting here are coming from. Rape isn't a crime of passion. It has everything to do with the perpetrator having power over his victim. It isn't a 1-time crime, act or thought either. I agree that the LAPD command staff are not the only group of people to shoulder the blame for Bermudez's attempted rape of another female officer. That's because leadership isn't an individual or single group responsibility; it is a TEAM responsiblity. Everyone on the team bears responsibility for this crime happening because each member undoubtedly noticed warning signs when it came to Officer Bermudez's behavior on and off duty. In this case the team members are Captain Hiltner and his Pacific Division command staff, Personnel Division and its background investigators, Bermudez's academy instructors and classmates; Bermudez's field training officers, watch commanders, supervisors, partners and peers. The Team needs re-training!

[citizen]

The captain, LT, did not do this and should not be blamed by officers who are just not happy with there jobs. I don't feel that a police officer should have to be watched 24/7 by his Team to make sure his is behaving. If this is how you really think then do everyone a favor and quit.

[LAPD Vet]

Take it easy people, don't think you've got all the details by reading this simple blog. Let it all come out in the investigation and let all tell their side of the story. Don't convict the guy so quickly yet don't blame it on the leadership in the Division. That's all too ridiculous.
We've all got to take responsibility for our own actions...you may not like the Command Staff yet they don't drive us to break the law. We are our own worst enemies. Give this guy the benefit of the doubt.

[Peking Duck]

When are we officers at Pacific going to figure out that the two things which often lead to career ending behavior are excess liquor consumption & confrontation with other people, usually of opposite gender? Actually we've already figured it out, but we do nothing to stop it. Instead most of us, including members of our area command staff are 'enablers' of the excess drinking that we all know goes on at our holiday parties. This year was not an exception. Our tickets were good for some free cocktails weren't they? Didn't we host a cash bar & buy each other drinks and shots? Weren't our tickets used for the raffle where some of the prizes awarded were large bottles of liquor and hotel rooms? Didn't some of our supervisors sponsor a pre-holiday party cocktail party? Yes we're responsible for our own actions but don't dare deny that our actions don't always result in what's in the best interest of others, especially when it comes to fellow police officers. This incident is ugly because we know deep down that a brother officer violently tried to sexually assault a sister officer. Will we ban liquor at next year's holiday party or summer picnic? Probably not. So don't be shocked when our sister sues and the department's knee jerk reaction is to prohibit liquor at all department events!