Brothers in Arms : Police From Moscow Suburb, Orange Join in Friendly Summit

Few things seem to bond police of any culture like a good SWAT team show.

A demonstration by the Orange Police Department’s black-clad assault group won cheers and applause Wednesday from a delegation of Russian police, who are in town as part of a sister cities exchange. Hands down, it was the highlight of the day for the visitors from the Moscow suburb of Novo-Kosino.

So impressed was Novo-Kosino Police Chief Yury Safronov that at its conclusion he grabbed several rifles and insisted on having his picture taken in combat pose.

“Rambo, Rambo,” he said, while smiling at the SWAT team and repeating one of his few English words.

Safronov came to Orange for the week along with other police officials, politicians and businessmen from Novo-Kosino to see first hand the high-tech hardware, software and weaponry used by police in California. While Mayor Vladimir M. Chernov had visited Orange two years ago, the other Russians are on their first trip to California.

The intention was to go beyond formal top-level exchanges of goodwill and into the nitty-gritty of technical exchange.

“You know, all of the top leaders like Gorbachev and Yeltsin have come to the United States, but this is the first time for local police to come to Orange,” said Mayor Chernov, through an interpreter.

The group, which arrived from its hometown of 50,000 last week, has visited a school and Disneyland, then Tuesday exchanged gifts and formal greetings at a reception with City Council members.

But Wednesday was a highlight of the trip, the visitors said.

With boys-in-a-toy-store grins, the equipment-starved Russians were treated to computer demonstrations by the department’s composite sketch artist and the technicians in its emergency dispatch center that handles 911 calls.

“Their technology is pretty primitive,” said Jack Ferraro, president of Orange’s sister city association. A view of Novo-Kosino’s Police Department in 1992, when the sister-city relationship began, reminded him of police equipment from the 1930s, he said.

The “exchange” Wednesday was largely one-sided as the American police--constrained by Miranda warning requirements and Fourth-Amendment limitations--were in no position to adopt techniques learned by police trained under a totalitarian regime. But the Americans were glad enough just to show off their accouterments.

During the week, several in the seven-member Russian delegation have been taking their hard currency and visiting computer firms that make the software for the Orange police.

As part of Wednesday’s tour of the city’s modern $14-million police headquarters, Capt. Gene Hernandez gave out T-shirts, badges and other souvenirs to the Russians, although he said they probably would have been happier with some good sets of handcuffs.

“They are fascinated with our equipment,” he said.

The Russians have guns but little ammunition to spare and none of the goodies that hang on the belt of the average American cop. They don’t carry pepper spray and other advanced tools for knocking down criminals, Hernandez said.

“We do have armaments, but they are Russian-made,” Safronov said.

Boris Bavazov, his compatriot who heads the local version of the Highway Patrol, added that Russian arms are “dependable,” though that was the best that could be said about them.

Besides the dazzling weapons, the officers were most impressed with the sense of order and the stylish uniforms worn by Orange officers.

“The uniforms are very attractive,” Safronov said.

“I’m happy to see that America is doing the proper thing to fight crime,” Safronov said. “Everything is set properly to get information from the criminals and they seem to have the proper armaments.”

Mayor Chernov was a tad defensive when asked to compare the police operations.

“A lot of the things are very similar,” he said. “The technology is more advanced, but we are moving in that direction.” He and the officers rely on the dedication of their force, he said, adding that “even in difficult situations, they come and do their job.”

And if the Russians seemed “one-upped” by part of the show, they could feel redeemed by the last event of the day--the canine demonstration, said Capt. Hernandez.

“They do a lot better with dogs,” Hernandez said, adding that he was almost embarrassed to show the department’s small K-9 corps. “Our dogs look like babies next to theirs.”