Traumatized Police Force Begins Task of Healing

With one of its officers dead at the hands of another, the Oxnard Police Department is making its first tentative steps toward a long, painful healing process.

“We are all traumatized,” Chief Harold Hurtt said after accidental shotgun blasts left 30-year-old Officer James Rex Jensen Jr. mortally wounded Wednesday morning. “This is a very difficult thing to go through as an organization.”

The death of an officer is always troubling, but many in law enforcement said the mourning becomes more complicated when another police officer is responsible for the shooting.

“It is probably the worst of all scenarios,” Sheriff’s Sgt. Curt Rothschiller said of such friendly-fire incidents. “Not only does the victim’s family suffer, but the other police officer involved has to be experiencing something very traumatic.”

Jensen was shot in the shoulder and chest by Sgt. Daniel Christian, 43, the leader of an Oxnard police SWAT team that was conducting one of 16 raids against a cocaine and methamphetamine ring.

Oxnard officers are grieving twice as hard, said Officer Stephen Adams. “This is a case where there are two victims--almost two losses, really,” he said.

Friends described Christian as “devastated” after the tragedy.

“I can’t imagine the feelings he’s going through,” Hurtt said. “I feel sorry for the Jensen family, but I also feel sorry for the Christian family. We are all wounded by this incident.”

From Ventura to Simi Valley, law enforcement officers expressed their sympathy for the Jensen family. Flags were ordered at half-staff at several stations and black bands were worn across badges.

“We are family,” Ventura Lt. Carl Handy said, tears welling in his eyes. “And it’s always hard when you lose a member of your family.”

Few if any officers in the Oxnard department have dealt with a case of an officer shooting a fellow officer, Hurtt said.

“It’s something we’re all wrestling with,” Hurtt said. “I have never been exposed to this in the almost 30 years I’ve been in law enforcement. I can’t even explain how I feel.”

Death is no stranger to the Oxnard Police Department. It was little more than two years ago that Officer James E. O’Brien was slain trying to capture a crazed gunman who had killed three people at an Oxnard unemployment office.

“I’m not even sure we’re over that death yet,” Adams said.

When O’Brien died, many officers were forced to seek comfort outside the department, which at the time had no chaplains. As a result, a counseling program was created, staffed by six volunteer interdenominational clergymen from across the county.

“We’re here to let them know that what happened was terrible, and the anger and withdrawal they are feeling is typical,” Chaplain Daniel L. Green said Wednesday.

The six chaplains, with aid from a crisis-intervention team from the Los Angeles Police Department, spent much of the day and night debriefing groups of officers and other employees and singling out some for intensive help. Two LAPD psychologists were also on hand to lend their support.

Several chaplains will remain at the station for extended hours over the next several days.

“Right now, people are dazed,” Green said. “This is a new experience for the department.”

Although the funeral has not yet been scheduled, the department has already established a trust fund for the Jensen family at Channel Islands National Bank on South A Street.

Pat O’Brien said the news of Jensen’s death rekindled painful memories of the death of her son.

“When I heard the first reports, I said to myself, ‘Dear Lord, not another one,’ ” O’Brien said. “I know what that family is going through.”

O’Brien, a Port Hueneme resident, urged Jensen’s widow and family to hold on tight to each other and accept the help of others.

“She must stay strong and be brave,” she said. “After all, she was the wife of a policeman.”