Burgreen Wants New Ethics Guidelines Established on Prostitution

Acknowledging that members of his department may have had improper contact with prostitutes, San Diego Police Chief Bob Burgreen wants to establish new ethics guidelines to discourage officers from any such involvement in the future.

Burgreen said the move comes in response to findings by the Metropolitan Homicide Task Force, the group examining the deaths of 43 women--mostly prostitutes and transients--who have been slain in the past five years. One unit of the task force is investigating possible police corruption, including police ties to prostitutes.

Although Burgreen declined to say what the findings were, he said he is intent on making some changes “that address the traditional aspects of police work with prostitutes.

“There may have been some people who did things that were improper or illegal,” he said of allegations linking officers to prostitutes. “I think there were some things that were going on in the mid-1980s. The only thing you can do now is to find those people and prosecute them.”

Burgreen would not say how many officers may have been involved with prostitutes, but sources have told The Times that at least five current officers and one former officer were under the task force’s investigation for their ties to prostitutes Donna Gentile and Cynthia Maine.

Gentile was killed and Maine disappeared shortly after naming police officers who were involved with prostitutes.

In 1985, police internal affairs detectives looked into allegations that some officers had sex with Maine, but could not determine whether the charges were true or false.

The Police Department has long had a policy that prohibits officers from engaging in criminal activity or having a personal relationship with anyone who has a criminal record.

However, Burgreen said he wants the prostitute issue included in a broad study already under way that he says will result in new training programs and procedures that stress the perils of police corruption.

“The question is how do we assure ourselves that we are not hiring people who are prone to that type of activity and how do we make sure in our training that we reinforce those values?” he said. “How do we make sure . . . that we are properly watching for those kinds of problems, and even further, how can we be proactive to keep those things from happening?”

Burgreen established an office of professional responsibility in March to help discourage officers who might consider getting involved with narcotics or be tempted to steal drugs or drug money, as has happened in several police departments throughout the country.

The first result of that office’s research came last month when the department decided to impose mandatory random drug testing on officers who serve in units whose members are at high risk of being exposed to narcotics corruption. Those units include criminal intelligence, the gang unit, internal affairs, the narcotics street team, the narcotics task force and the vice squad.

The issue of police and prostitutes now must be added because of “what we have learned through our work with the homicide task force,” Burgreen said.

The task force, which was created in 1988, is made up of 23 members of the Police Department, Sheriff’s Department, district attorney’s and state attorney general’s offices. The state is leading the task force unit that is investigating possible police corruption.

Burgreen said any officer involved with prostitutes “will be dealt with administratively,” but not until the task force has concluded its investigation. “You cannot intersperse administrative investigations and criminal investigations. You end up screwing both of them up because the laws are different.”

A police officer can be fired for personal involvement with a prostitute.

Burgreen said he is most interested in “finding a defendant” in the cases of Donna Gentile and Cynthia Maine, both police informants. Gentile testified against two police officers in 1985 and shortly thereafter was found murdered in East County. Rocks had been stuffed in her mouth.

Maine served a jail term in late 1985, which was shortened because she gave incriminating evidence to the department’s internal affairs division that linked police and prostitutes, her family said. Two months after she was released from jail, she disappeared and has not been found. Her family said she had a lengthy affair with police Officer John Fung, now a member of the narcotics task force.

Fung has not returned repeated telephone calls.

Maine’s family also said she had contact with former Sgt. Dennis Sesma, Sgt. Sal Salvatierra and Detective Les Oberlies. Salvatierra volunteered to allow the task force to search his San Diego home two weeks ago. His attorney said there is nothing to link his client to Maine’s disappearance. Sesma has denied wrongdoing. Oberlies could not be reached for comment.

A law enforcement source close to the task force said the agency is interested only in police involvement with prostitutes who are either dead or missing. So far, the source said, the task force has found links only between police officers and Maine or Gentile.

Burgreen and Deputy Chief Mike Rice, who is heading the ethics committee, said the public mistakenly assumes it is wrong for prostitutes to work as police informants.

“You can’t run a police department without associating with prostitutes,” Burgreen said. “Prostitutes are useful informants. And just because we use them as informants doesn’t mean police officers kill them.”

Rice said he will have the recommendations of his ethics committee ready by the end of the year.