Police Study on Lethal Force Won’t Suggest Big Changes : Killings: Chief Bob Burgreen says that an extensive study on spate of police shootings, 10 of them fatal, will recommend minor changes but no ‘magic’ to solve the department’s problems.

Nearing the end of a study on the use of deadly force by the San Diego Police Department that he touted as the nation’s most extensive, Police Chief Bob Burgreen is already warning that the changes he will outline sometime before Christmas won’t be earth-shattering.

“It will just be a lot of little things. No big stuff,” he said. “There’s no magic stun gun that will solve all our problems. No Star Trek fazer we can get to set on ‘stun.’ But there are some little things that we can do so our officers are less likely to have a deadly confrontation.”

Burgreen ordered the study in August and personally took control in mid-September after a rapid spate of shootings by San Diego police officers this year. So far, 24 people have been shot, 10 fatally, which equals the department’s worst years for such occurrences.

Some of the fatal shootings have been particularly controversial because some who have died weren’t carrying guns but baseball bats, a garden stake and a trowel. Many critics of police conduct believed officers in those situations could have done something other than firing, although the district attorney’s office has found no criminal wrongdoing in any of the cases brought before it.

The department has held seven--mostly poorly attended--community forums to gather public opinion on the shootings. Burgreen has personally met with more than 300 police officers to seek their opinions, and department representatives have visited 15 law enforcement agencies, including the FBI’s Virginia headquarters, the Phoenix and Kansas City police departments, and the Los Angeles police and sheriff’s departments.

“I don’t think anyone has done anything like what we’ve done here,” he said. “We’ve actually made the trips and reviewed the literature and sat in classes and had hands-on meetings with our troops.”

Still reluctant to discuss specific recommendations that will be presented next month, Burgreen said he will probably require that department officers attend far more than the mandatory 40 hours per year of training.

He also wants to work on the public’s perception of the Police Department that he said is formed most often by local newspaper reports but more dramatically by television shows and movies.

A shift in perception may take a public awareness campaign, the specifics of which Burgreen will not describe.

“It may take public service announcements or our own public-awareness program,” he said. “People think of police officers and they think of ‘Lethal Force’ and other movies, where they suspect we can shoot guns out of people’s hands. We have to show people what we do is different from what they’re seeing in the movies or on TV.”

Although he will not say how, Burgreen said he wants to develop a better policy for handling the mentally ill during potentially explosive confrontations with police.

“The community has an unrealistic expectation of who we’re dealing with out there,” he said. “The community believes that we are dealing with average citizens. The people out there are mentally ill and have problems with drug abuse.”

Burgreen estimates that he has spent more than half his time on this project, since he took over from Deputy Chief Mike Rice in mid-September. Rice resigned from the task force studying the use of deadly force when his son, a police officer, fatally shot a man who police said was threatening him and another officer with a stick.

Andrea Skorepa, the head of the Citizens Advisory Board on Police/Community Relations, said her organization will take a more active role in working with community organizations and neighborhood associations to promote better relations between the public and police.

Traveling with Burgreen to the FBI, police departments in Phoenix and Kansas City, Skorepa said she is aware of new weaponry that the San Diego Police Department might use, including a new compound of tear gas spray that stuns suspects but is not yet licensed in California.

The department also is discussing the use of guns that shoot rubber or plastic bullets that must be used at long range to prevent death. Skorepa said that, although the guns are bulky, they might be kept in select patrol cars in case of emergencies.

Skorepa’s group will spend Monday trying to develop recommendations for Burgreen at a retreat in Mission Bay.

She agreed with Burgreen that the changes probably will not be glitzy.

“In the long-term, the little things are what will make the difference, not the flash-bang kinds of things,” she said.

The public, Skorepa believes, thinks San Diego police officers are doing a good job but finds questionable shootings--such as those in which suspects were armed with a trowel or garden stake--harder to take.

“Nobody faults an officer for shooting at someone with a gun,” she said. “But it is this non-traditional weaponry (in suspects’ hands) that is causing the concern.”

She is also aware that some have criticized her group for working so closely with police administrators that members may be developing a blind spot for police problems.

“Some people are leery of us,” she said. “They think we’ve copped out and become cheerleaders for the Police Department. But we understand our role and are not stonewalling any of what will come out.”

NO BIG DEAL: Police Chief Bob Burgreen, getting ready to conclude an extensive police study on the use of lethal force next month, said nobody should expect earth-shattering changes at the department, although many small changes may be implemented.