Paradox for Probers : Positions Help D.A. Staffers Avoid Tickets

San Diego County prosecutors, now studying whether to pursue criminal charges against top San Diego police administrators for fixing tickets, have been able to use their law enforcement connections for years to avoid speeding and other traffic citations.

As part of the local law enforcement fraternity, members of the San Diego County district attorney’s office routinely take advantage of an unwritten code of “professional courtesy” that gets them out of paying traffic tickets, according to interviews with six former prosecutors.

The courtesy also is extended to city attorneys, City Council members, firefighters, fellow officers and their families, say police officers. The practice is widespread, though officers point out that the courtesy is not an absolute guarantee against receiving tickets, especially for serious driving violations.

Some prosecutors boast about being able to break traffic laws without having to pay fines or accumulate points on their driving record, one former prosecutor said.

“I know people in the D.A.’s office who drive like maniacs,” said the former prosecutor, now in private practice locally. “They habitually drive like this, and they’ve gotten out of numerous tickets. If they had not gotten out of the tickets, they would have had to change their driving habits because they wouldn’t have a license.”

Many current and former prosecutors said they were either unaware that police granted such favors, or never had the occasion find out firsthand because they had not been stopped by a police officer.

But six former prosecutors, speaking on the condition they not be identified, described how they or their colleagues used different techniques with police to take advantage of their positions.

Dist. Atty. Edwin Miller said it “doesn’t surprise me” that police officers would decline to issue traffic tickets to fellow officers.

“But I don’t believe that general fraternal attitude applies the same to the D.A.’s office,” Miller said. “In fact, I think it’s probably quite the reverse . . . I would say that a lot of prosecutors would probably be given tickets if they told the officer that they were working for the D.A.’s office.”

Miller’s office is considering whether to investigate Police Chief Bill Kolender and his top assistants for dismissing thousands of parking tickets and at least 30 moving citations since the beginning of last year, many of them for friends, relatives, former police officers, the media and prominent San Diegans. A Times investigation found that in many cases the dismissals were based on flimsy or fabricated excuses, and no investigations were done before the tickets were dismissed.

City Manager John Lockwood on Nov. 25 reprimanded Kolender and Assistant Chief Bob Burgreen for fixing tickets. Lockwood also found that Kolender assigned city employees and equipment for personal tasks; used his position to help a friend avoid the mandatory 15-day “cooling off period” before purchasing a gun, and failed to report gifts on his financial disclosure forms.

Miller, asked whether his office faces an ethical dilemma because his employees sometimes receive special treatment from police, said, “No.”

Evan McKenzie, a deputy district attorney between 1981 and 1985, said prosecutors are able to justify the favorable treatment because they work alongside police officers.

“This is one of the few little fringe benefits, in a sense, of this kind of work,” McKenzie said. “It’s an association with law enforcement. It’s like we’re on the same side of the police. It’s like you’re a member of the same club.”

McKenzie, a defense attorney who also teaches a criminal justice course at San Diego State University, said it was common knowledge in Miller’s office that prosecutors could use their clout to sidestep traffic citations.

“I knew it when I was a D.A. And I had conversations with other deputy D.A.s where it was apparent they knew it as well.”

Another former deputy district attorney explained the police courtesy by saying, “It’s kind of like if you work in a bakery, you get free bread.”

The former prosecutor admitted that he used his position several times to get out of traffic tickets. He asked not to be identified because he still practices law in San Diego County.

Another veteran prosecutor who recently left the D.A.’s office said, “I don’t know any deputy D.A.s who would ask not to have a cite written, but I know a lot who would expect it.”

For many prosecutors, making sure that police officers find out their association with the district attorney’s office requires finesse, several sources said.

“You don’t say, ‘I’m a D.A. Don’t give me a ticket,’ ” said one former prosecutor who left the district attorney’s office last year.

Rather, the idea is to get the police officer to inquire about your place of employment. Several former prosecutors described a variety of methods to make sure police officers find out their employment:

- Carrying a driver’s license in the same folder as the district attorney’s office identification card.

This was a favorite tactic, according to one former prosecutor, because when the folder was opened, “there in letters about three-quarters of an inch high it would say District Attorney . . . .”

- Storing the driver’s license with a handgun in the glove compartment.

“That way you can say to the officer that, ‘Listen, I’ve got my license in the glove compartment but I’ve got a gun, don’t get nervous,’ ” said a former prosecutor, who has used the ruse himself.

When the officer asks why there is a gun in the car, the driver courteously explains that he works in the district attorney’s office.

- Listing 220 W. Broadway on the driver’s license.

“Every cop in town knows that’s the courthouse . . . “ said a former prosecutor. “It’s one of the best-known addresses in the city.”

State law allows prosecutors to put the courthouse on their licenses, because it is considered a mailing address.

Between 1979 and 1982, Miller used “District Attorney’s Office, Courthouse” on his license, according to Department of Motor Vehicles records. Miller’s current license lists both his work address and La Jolla residence.

In 1981, Miller’s office charged C. Anthony Gilham with perjury for listing the city attorney’s address on his driver’s license even after he left City Hall to enter private practice. The charges were dismissed.

In arguing the case, Deputy Dist. Atty. Henry R. Mann told a judge that Miller’s office believed “the only thing obvious from putting your address at the city attorney’s office is to try to extract some kind of favor from people who stop you, police officers who stop you.”

“An attorney has a higher degree of duty in this state because we swear to do that when we are sworn as attorneys,” Mann said. “Therefore, we think it is a serious situation when an attorney . . . puts on his license something that would give him an advantage over other people, and we think that’s what was done here.”

The trial convinced several city and county prosecutors to drop their business addresses from their driver’s licenses, Gilham said.

Miller said the address on his license hasn’t been an issue because he hasn’t been stopped for a traffic infraction in San Diego County. The district attorney said he was pulled over once for speeding in Arizona but didn’t receive a ticket. His position never came up during the conversation, Miller said.

- Using county cars.

Some deputy district attorneys who work in Vista, South Bay and El Cajon are assigned county vehicles. When the driver is stopped for a traffic violation, the officer usually notices that the car is registered to the county.

“It used to be a standing joke among many of the D.A.s in the county cars that they could drive like maniacs,” a former prosecutor said. “When the officer would ask why they had a county car, they could say, ‘Because I’m a D.A.’ Then they would let them go.”

- Engaging in conversation that tips off your occupation.

One former prosecutor said he was stopped in Coronado for driving 10 m.p.h. over the speed limit.

“I said, ‘The prima facie speed limit is 25. But don’t you think the conditions would permit 35 to 38?’ ”

That comment led the officer to ask how the driver was so well versed in the law. The driver said he worked as a deputy district attorney.

- Taking advantage of their close working relationship with police.

“If you’re assigned to a beat in East County, North County, if you’re there for any length of time, pretty soon you would get to know most of the police officers,” said James C. Allen, who recently left the district attorney’s office for private practice. “Then you wouldn’t have to go to these ruses. If you’ve done a couple of cases with the guy, when he pulls you over, he’s going to know you.”

Such was the case a couple of years ago when an officer recognized Assistant City Attorney Curtis M. Fitzpatrick during a traffic stop downtown for making a left turn too close to an oncoming car.

“He looked at me and asked if I worked for the city,” Fitzpatrick said. “I said, ‘Yes, I work in the city attorney’s office.’ ”

Fitzpatrick was let go with a warning.

Professional courtesy is not guaranteed when a district attorney or city attorney is stopped on the road. Fitzpatrick said he was arrested for drunk driving in May, 1978, even after the officer learned of his position.

Other prosecutors said they had no knowledge of fellow deputy district attorneys exerting their influence to avoid getting traffic tickets.

“I don’t think that there is any such well-known practice, certainly not well known to me,” said Michael R. Pent, a deputy district attorney. “I know of no professional courtesy. Over the years, I’ve heard of D.A.s getting tickets.”

Former prosecutor Nancy Vaughan said, “It sounds like I worked in a different office. I’m very surprised.”

But a former prosecutor who recently left after working more than 20 years in the district attorney’s office said he found it difficult to believe that some prosecutors had never heard of the practice of avoiding tickets. On two occasions, the former prosecutor said, he used his position to get out of a traffic tickets.

“It surprises me that (some prosecutors) weren’t aware of it. I don’t know who they talked to or chitchatted with, but you talk to anybody over there who has been stopped in the last five years by a San Diego cop for traffic violations and they would have the same reaction.”

The Police Department does not condone officers giving breaks to motorists because of their position or influence, said police spokesman Cmdr. Keith Enerson. “Our policy is to treat people equally as best that can be done,” Enerson said. “There is no policy that, if you are a police officer or district attorney, you get off . . . I know that police officers receive citations. I know that D.A.s do.”

Enerson said that while officers may have extended such courtesies years ago, he believes favors are not given today “to any widespread degree.”

The Times reported last month that Lt. A.L. (Skip) DiCerchio, president of the San Diego Police Officers Assn., was driven to a coffee shop to sober up by two officers who stopped him for driving erratically, intending to arrest him as a drunk driver.

Former reserve officer Robert Sampson, one of the officers who stopped DiCerchio, said he has pulled over fellow officers on suspicions of drunk driving and arranged for them to safely return home without being booked into jail.

Sampson said he drove DiCerchio to a nearby Denny’s as “a courtesy to another officer.” DiCerchio confirmed the incident but denied he was under the influence at the time of the traffic stop.

Such favors are not restricted to fellow police officers.

Five years ago, McKenzie said, he was riding with a San Diego city attorney who was stopped for making an illegal right turn in Los Angeles. The city attorney handed the officer his license, which was attached to the flip side of his city identification card, McKenzie said.

The police officer turned the license over, read the identification card and let the city attorney go without a ticket.

City Council members have used their badges issued by the Police Department to identify themselves when they are stopped by police, said some officers. Council members contacted by The Times, however, said they have only used their badges to get past police lines at fires and major crimes.

Former Officer Dave Roemer recalled that he pulled up next to a car parked in a red zone in front of City Hall and motioned for the driver to move. The driver, who Roemer identified as a former assistant city manager, flashed a badge and was allowed to continue to park illegally.

Sometimes just being a friend is enough to get out of a ticket.

One former officer said he was hit from the rear by a motorist who was obviously drunk as he left the annual Over The Line Tournament at Fiesta Island. When his sergeant recognized the driver as a fellow member of the Old Mission Beach Athletic Club, the supervisor ordered him to let the driver off, according to the ex-officer.

Current police officers said they are faced with a dilemma when the violation involves a serious offense such as drunk driving and someone important such as a judge or a police supervisor.

A seven-year police officer, the one who arranged to transport Lt. DiCerchio to sober up at Danny’s, said he still questions whether he made the right decision.

“Should I have taken him down? Should I have caused him the embarrassment? In my mind, we were right.”

One former police sergeant added, “They put out memo after memo that you’re not supposed to do it. Still, nobody would dare issue a ticket to somebody with any rank . . . You always make special arrangements.”