Is it us or does it appear that the LAPD operates by its own rules? Thinking back over the years about the some of the incidents that have occurred, most recently the immigration protest where people were beaten randomly, it just seems that the LAPD is marching to a very different drummer.  Two brothers who worked as police officers were convicted Wednesday of participating in home invasion-style robberies staged to look like legitimate law enforcement raids, prompting the judge to say that the case underscored the need for aggressive outside oversight of the Los Angeles Police Department reports the Los Angeles Times.

“I’ve never heard testimony like I’ve heard in this case,” said U.S. District Court Judge Gary A. Feess, who has practiced law since 1974 and was appointed to the federal bench 12 years ago.

Feess then disclosed to jurors that he is also the judge who oversees the federal consent decree imposed on the LAPD in the wake of the 1999 Rampart corruption scandal.

“People may now have an understanding of why we have that decree,” he said.

Feess also reiterated his commitment to the police reforms “to see that this sort of thing never happens again.”

The convictions of William and Joseph Ferguson capped a six-year probe by the FBI and LAPD and represented a major victory for prosecutors.

William Ferguson, 35, a former LAPD officer, showed little emotion as Feess read aloud the verdict. Prosecutors say he faces a minimum of 87 years in federal prison.

His younger brother, who had appeared confident and jovial only minutes earlier, seemed stunned at the verdict. He sat with his hands folded in front of him and looked toward his wife, who had begun sobbing in the front row of the courtroom gallery. Joseph Ferguson, 33, who is suspended from the Long Beach Police Department, played a lesser role in the ring and faces a minimum of five years in prison but could be sentenced to more than 50 years, prosecutors said.

Read it here: Former Officers convicted in Home-invasion robbery Trial