Gravediggers Prepare Resting Place for a ‘Real Good Cop’ : Oxnard: Officer James O’Brien, slain in last week’s rampage, will be buried next to his father. Thousands are expected to pay their respects today.

As Oxnard police prepared to bury one of their own, Patrick Perez and Jose Luis Aguilar went about their work Monday the way they have 100 times before.

Shortly before 2 p.m., after police finalized security measures at the Santa Clara Cemetery & Mausoleum, the gravediggers broke the earth where Officer James E. O’Brien will be laid to rest today.

“From what I hear, he was a good man,” said Perez, who has worked at the Oxnard cemetery for two years. “I hear he was a good cop, a real good cop. It’s always the good ones who go.”

Thousands of mourners are expected to jam the small Oxnard cemetery today to pay their final respects to O’Brien, shot dead last week during a roadside gun battle.

He will be buried next to his father, at the foot of a concrete wall that separates the cemetery from a housing subdivision.

This is a place where the rolling green lawn is dotted with pine trees and freshly planted flowers. It is a place that holds the famous and the anonymous, the very old and the very young.

And today it will be a place where people will gather to remember O’Brien as a dedicated officer gunned down in the line of duty.

With that in mind, Perez and Aguilar set out to dig a grave, 7 1/2 feet deep and 3-by-8-feet wide. They first used a shovel to outline the grave site, setting aside neatly cut squares of grass for reuse.

Then Perez--wearing heavy work boots, a hard hat and a pair of earplugs--climbed aboard a giant yellow backhoe and with expert precision began forming the yawning mouth that will serve as O’Brien’s final resting place.

With each scoop of coffee-colored earth, the pit took shape. The roaring engine of the yellow tractor seemed little bother to cemetery visitors.

Near where the gravediggers were working stood the copper-colored protective casing that will hold O’Brien’s casket.

“I have a lot of family buried here,” said Perez, taking a break while Aguilar drove off to dump the first load of dirt. “You’ve got to appreciate life, you can’t take it for granted. We’re only here for a little bit.”

Perez and Aguilar talked about the thousands of people who are expected to attend O’Brien’s funeral today. They said that the cemetery will close to accommodate O’Brien’s family, friends and co-workers.

Nearly the entire Oxnard police force is expected to attend the service. In addition, approximately 2,000 police officers from around the state are expected to go to the funeral.

“I bury everybody,” Perez said. “I get lawyers, cops, gang members. All of us are going to end up like this someday.”

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The grave took 40 minutes to dig. After they finished, Perez and Aguilar covered the hole with a plywood board. They then got on their hands and knees and wiped clean grave markers dirtied during the process.

“His pop is right there,” said Perez, wiping away the soil covering the grave marker of O’Brien’s father, who died in 1984. “They’ll be right next to each other.”

Perez and Aguilar say that they will dig three graves on a busy day. But they put a lot of care into their work, and digging O’Brien’s grave was no exception.

“That’s a pretty good grave,” Perez said, staring into the deep and dark pit. “I always do the best job I can, that’s why I dig graves. This one is no different.”