The Oxnard Rampage : Hundreds of Police Officers Gather in Shared Grief : Law enforcement: Squad cars and motorcycles in James O’Brien’s funeral procession carry riders reminded of the common dangers they face.

After a 250-mile motorcycle ride and a few hours rest, Salinas Police Officer Ken Bough dusted off his uniform and mounted his bike for Tuesday’s funeral procession.

Although he did not know slain Oxnard Detective James O’Brien, he said he had an obligation to pay tribute to an officer who was killed in the line of duty.

“We are here to pay our respects to a fellow officer,” Bough said. “It touches all of us when we hear of an officer killed like this.”

At 7:30 a.m. dozens of police officers lined up squad cars and motorcycles from cities like Cypress, Barstow, Fontana, Bakersfield, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and San Diego.

For the hundreds of officers involved, the funeral procession for O’Brien was both a show of respect for a fallen colleague and a reminder of the dangers that the police face daily.

“It hurts each one of us when an officer dies on duty,” said Tom Chronister, a senior Oxnard police officer. “It hits a nerve because every officer out there is thinking it could have been them.”

According to Oxnard Detective Ken Nishihara, it has long been a police tradition to send officers to the funerals of other officers.

“We play football and bang heads with police from other departments, but when it comes right down to it, we’re all part of the same team,” Nishihara said.

Many of the officers in attendance Tuesday had worked in Oxnard at one time.

Aaron Sockwell worked with O’Brien for five years in Port Hueneme and four more in Oxnard before becoming a sheriff’s deputy in Shasta County.

“Jim and I and three other guys were known around the station as ‘the Hueneme guys,’ ” Sockwell recalled. “We always stuck together. We both had K-9 units, we both had kids the same age, so we got to be very close.”

Sockwell said it was only after he saw O’Brien’s family Monday night that the gravity of the death truly hit home.

“It tore my heart up seeing his wife and kids,” Sockwell said before taking his spot in the funeral procession. “That’s when it hit me that he wouldn’t be there to raise his kids.”

But grief at the procession was not just reserved for those who knew O’Brien.

*

“This is a very difficult day for the young guys,” Chronister said. “For most of our guys this is the first time they’ve ever had to face something like this.

“You can imagine what it would be like for someone brand new,” he said. “They’re going through some real tough soul searching. You have to remember that these guys are human and they have emotions.”

O’Brien’s death brings to three the number of Oxnard peace officers who have been killed in recent memory.

For the officers in the Oxnard Police Department, the events of the past week have taken an emotional toll.

“There’s been a lot of depression and there’s been a lot of open emotion,” Nishihara said. “I’ve been here 28 years, this is my third time going through this, and I can tell you, it doesn’t get any easier.”

To combat the problem, Oxnard police have provided counseling in the department. The sessions, which have been well-attended, will continue next week, according to Cmdr. Joseph Munoz.

But Munoz said Tuesday’s funeral brought an element of closure to the department.

“This closes a chapter in our history, and tomorrow morning we’ll begin a new chapter,” Munoz said. “We move on from here, but he’s certainly never forgotten.”

To that end, Munoz said police would erect a tribute to O’Brien on the hallway bulletin board near the station’s rear entrance.

“They’ll pass his photo every single day,” Munoz said. “People will walk by and remember all of the good things he brought to our department.”