Costa Rican athlete
Was a nine-year LAPD veteran. Worked mostly in the Rampart Division as a gang enforcement officer in the CRASH unit (Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums) and as an undercover officer in the Field Enforcement Section of the Narcotics Enforcement Unit.
Is the whistle-blower of the famous Rampart Scandal.
During his period in Narcotics, he was responsible of an impressive amount of arrestations. When Perez was arrested, he confessed that most of the cases he worked on Narcotics were made on bogus charges.
Was the main inspiration of Denzel Washington for creating his character, Detective-Sergeant Alonzo Harris, in Training Day.
Due to his allegations of corruption within LAPDs anti-gang unit, Chief Bernard Parks disbanded every CRASH unit and replaced them by Special Enforcement Units.
During his time in the Rampart CRASH unit, he was on the hit list of two of the most violent gangs in the area : The 18th Street Gang and the Temple Street Gang. Both gangs failed to achieve the hit.
The characters of Officer Alton Davis, played by Mario Van Peebles, in Michael Manns TV show Robbery Homicide Division, and Officer Frank Tenpenny, voiced by Samuel L.Jackson, in Rockstars Video Game Grand Theft Auto : San Andreas, were also modeled on Rafael Perez.
- at the beginning of his interview by Internal Affairs officers.
