Film About Police Slayings Triggers Deep Emotions

After losing nine officers in the span of a decade, the San Diego Police Department embarked on an ambitious project last year in an attempt to end the string of tragic police slayings.

As part of that effort, two police supervisors were assigned to produce a video reenactment of the Sept. 14, 1984, shooting deaths of officers Kimberly Sue Tonahill and Timothy Ruopp, even though the suspected killer was still awaiting trial.

“We decided an honest reenactment of what happened would show our officers that (Tonahill and Ruopp) became complacent and a little sloppy and what price you could pay when you become complacent and sloppy,” said Assistant Police Chief Bob Burgreen. “As police officers, you can’t afford to do that. That was clearly the message.”

The elaborate production, called “Contact and Cover” after the name of the arrest procedure introduced in the film, is the first project of its kind in San Diego. More than a simple reenactment of the crime, the film employs special effects and a sophisticated sound track. It portrays in detail the attitudes of the main characters in their home lives and daily activities before they arrived at Grape Street Park.

The film has been shown in two-hour training sessions to most of the Police Department’s 1,500 sworn officers since it was finished early this year.

During many of the sessions, Burgreen said, officers have been overheard gasping at the safety violations committed by the officers while trying to apprehend the alleged killer, Joselito Cinco.

The Police Department restricts the film to police officers because it does not want to publicize sensitive information on arrest procedures. However, a Times reporter was permitted to see “Contact and Cover” twice.

The film depicts Tonahill and Ruopp stopping Cinco and three other acquaintances for alcohol violations late at night in Grape Street Park. While Tonahill pats down Cinco, he knocks her down and then shoots both officers repeatedly.

The most dramatic scene in the reenactment occurs when Cinco walks over to Ruopp, who is lying on the ground wounded, and shoots the officer in the head.

For officers like Robert T. Staley, the horrified expressions on the faces of the actors playing Ruopp and Tonahill made a lasting impression. Staley told police investigators that images of the Grape Street Park slayings flashed across his mind immediately before he shot Jose Oscar Esqueda in August.

Through his attorney, Dan Krinsky, Staley said that the film hit him “pretty hard” because he knew the officers. Krinsky said the images of the slayings were “one of many factors that made (Staley) fear for his life.”

Michael Mantell, a police psychologist, said it is common for most officers to revert to their training when confronted with a decision on whether to pull the trigger.

Krinsky said: “Here, you could argue that since (Staley) was aware of this, he was prone and ready and primed to shoot. I think to some degree that’s true, but the alternative would be to have the department not try to learn (from the shooting), not try to re-create and not try to teach. It can’t afford to do that, either.”

Before approving the project, Burgreen said, police administrators discussed the possibility that some officers would recall the film’s graphic scenes in future instances where their lives were threatened. But the Police Department decided that its officers should be educated on how to avoid making the same deadly mistakes, Burgreen said.

Deputy Chief Norm Stamper, who first suggested making the film, said he was interested in improving the safety of the public as well as police.

“If our officers are experiencing problems protecting themselves, then they are certainly not going to be able to protect the citizens,” Stamper said.

Reaction to the film from officers has been overwhelmingly favorable, according to Stamper.

“A lot of officers, for example, have told us this was the first time they learned what really happened in that shooting,” Stamper said. “You can listen to stories in the workplace and you can read the newspaper, but this gave everyone a very clear picture of what happened.”

For some officers, however, the dramatization of two fellow officers being brutally gunned down and a third officer seriously wounded has caused emotional problems.

“For some it’s ‘Hey, we’re talking about a brother and sister police officer. It’s too close to home . . . It’s kind of gruesome. Sure it’s a possibility and, yes, we do need to be reminded of the consequences of our errors, but it’s still a tough pill to swallow,’ ” Stamper said.

According to police training instructors, Tonahill and Ruopp should have grown suspicious of Cinco by recognizing that, while others were clad in shorts and T-shirts on a hot September night, Cinco wore a jacket, which, it turned out, concealed a weapon.

But the most critical mistake occurred when the officers searched and apprehended Cinco and a male acquaintance at the same time. Under the rules of contact and cover, one officer is assigned the duty of contacting the suspects while the other officer provides security, or cover.

The film is divided into two parts--the reenactment of the slayings and a discussion of the use of contact and cover.

Deputy Al Guerin, who teaches “Officer Survival” at the San Diego County Sheriff’s Academy, said the Police Department did an excellent job of capturing the attitudes of the three main characters. Police officers played the parts of the slain officers, the suspects and other roles.

Guerin said the film depicts Ruopp as calm and low-key; Tonahill as depressed and experiencing doubt about police work, and Cinco as an intense “gun-runner” for street gangs.

“We don’t really use it as a training film per se,” Guerin said. “We predominantly use it for the impact of the reenactment.”

Police officials said they were unable to provide a cost estimate for the film, which took 10 months to produce. Much of the manpower, equipment and supplies were donated to the Police Department, said Lt. John Morrison, project coordinator for the film.

For 12 nights, the Police Department closed the neighborhood surrounding Grape Street Park to shoot the film, Morrison said.

“It was a logistical nightmare,” Morrison said. “You were looking at a production that would normally be done by a full-fledged Hollywood production studio. We had a couple of guys and a little video-graphics shop.”

The Police Department consulted statements by witnesses, police reports and the homicide investigation in re-creating the events. Morrison described the film as being as “close as we could possibly get” to accurately retelling the story.

But Cinco’s defense attorney, John Cotsirilos, said: “I had people observe the filming. It was not an accurate reenactment. . . . I’m sure it’s their re-creation of how they think or how they hope it occurred.”

“Our feeling is we’d love for the jury to see it,” Stamper said.

Both prosecution and defense attorneys said “Contact and Cover” was intended solely for police training purposes and won’t be used as evidence in Cinco’s upcoming trial.