Message From Chief Burgreen Has a No-Nonsense Ring to It

To serve, protect and be fashionable. Or: No accessories after the fact.

It has come to this: San Diego Police Chief Bob Burgreen this week ordered the following directive be read to all 1,800 officers under his command:

“In order to eliminate any confusion, all personnel are reminded that the wearing of earrings by male officers while on duty is expressly prohibited. The wearing of earrings by male officers while off duty and on any police premise is also expressly prohibited.”

Burgreen further ordered that a copy be given “to all sworn personnel.” This is serious stuff, expressly.

The chief ordered that the no-earring rule be restated because of a recent grievance hearing. A male cop who had been scolded for wearing an earring had alleged that the rule was being enforced for some cops but not others.

Reading the directive at roll call is meant as a reminder that the ban holds even for cops who are off-duty and just cruise by headquarters to pick up a paycheck. All right buddy, drop those earrings before I have to get rough.

Male cops can only wear earrings if appropriate as part of an undercover disguise. Like when they’re trying to infiltrate a band of pirates, presumably.

Of course, San Diego attitudes toward male earrings are in flux. The Padres’ Benito Santiago and the Gulls’ Ron Duguay, both very macho, wear solo earrings.

Still, the Police Department remains culturally retrograde and not ashamed of it.

“The community expects the department to be a little more conservative, a little less trendy” than the overall society, explains Assistant Chief Cal Krosch.

Earrings are the latest labor-management dispute to hit law enforcement. (Sgt. Friday must be spinning like a lathe in his grave.) The San Francisco P.D. met just this week with the cops’ labor union to discuss earrings.

A federal court in Chicago last year upheld a ban on male earrings by the Police Department in Peotone, Ill. Earrings on male cops “cause disrespect” and are not protected by the First Amendment, the court ruled.

And, legally speaking, it doesn’t make any difference if the earrings are understated studs with tiny diamonds.

Imagine that.

She Watches Pot of Gold Carted Off

See it, believe it.

* Not everybody was pleased about Wednesday’s raid on three Indian gaming halls in San Diego County to seize illegal gambling machines.

Investigators hauling off machines from the Sycuan Reservation near El Cajon were severely scolded by an elderly woman, an inveterate gambler, who saw her lucky machine being hauled away.

“That’s my machine!” she yelled. Too late.

* Anti-pornography billboards are up this week in Oceanside and Vista: “Real Men Don’t Use Porn,” with a group picture of Storm Davis (former Padres pitcher, now a Royal) and former pro footballers Bobby Bell Jr., Ron Freeman and Jeff Tuppel.

The boards are part of a nationwide push by Morality in Media, a New York-based anti-porn group.

Former Padre-Giant Dave Dravecky will appear on a board in his hometown of Youngstown, Ohio.

* Now it can be told: While the Cleveland Browns were treating the Chargers rudely on a recent weekend (winning 30-24), a group of Browns boosters were doing the same to a Mission Valley hotel.

The boosters demanded that the bar be opened before breakfast. And four dozen rooms were considered “out of order” after the group departed.

* Councilman Ron Roberts has formed an “exploratory committee” for mayor. Peter Navarro is handing out “Navarro for Mayor” cards.

* San Diego bumper sticker: “Screw Guilt.”

Betty’s Pen Pal Takes the Stand

When you care enough to send the very best.

Maria Peralta, a former cellmate of Betty Broderick, provided some damning testimony this week that Broderick bragged and joked about the killings.

Question: Where does Peralta enter the picture?

Answer: Do you remember that X-rated greeting card (male genitalia wearing sunglasses) that Broderick sent to Deputy Dist. Atty. Kerry Wells?

It had been sent to Broderick by Peralta in a show of feminist/jailhouse solidarity. Broderick then shipped it to Wells to show the mental cruelty of prison life.

That tipped prosecutors to the link between Peralta, who has a varied criminal history, and Broderick. And led to her being called to testify against her onetime pal.