Riverside Deputies to Hold Their Own Rally

Sheriff’s deputies here say they’re the ones being bashed these days, they’re the ones under siege, and they’ve had enough and now they want some support.

They hope to get it at a “Law Enforcement Appreciation Rally” that the Riverside Sheriff’s Assn.--which represents 1,300 rank-and-file deputies--is planning for Monday in downtown Riverside. Their keynote speaker: former Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl F. Gates.

The rally, said association President Dan Swift, is not intended as a specific show of support for embattled deputies Tracy Watson and Kurt Franklin. They were shown on videotape wielding batons on two Mexican immigrants at the conclusion of a harrowing, 80-mile high-speed pursuit April 1 from Temecula to South El Monte.

During the chase of a pickup truck, the occupants allegedly threw debris at the deputies’ patrol car, and the truck’s driver--who has not been identified--appeared to try to hit other vehicles to divert the pursuing deputies.

The incident has prompted widespread criticism of the deputies’ use of force on two unarmed occupants of the pickup, which was filled with illegal immigrants. It also sparked lawsuits by two passengers--one of those who was shown being struck with a baton and one who says he was thrown to the ground and kicked. The FBI and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department are conducting a joint criminal investigation, and a review by the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department’s internal investigations unit is underway.

An audiotape of the incident and its aftermath surfaced this week and sparked yet another investigation, this one by the California Highway Patrol into allegations that a patrol officer used a racial epithet at the scene of the incident.

Swift said the rally is intended to send a message to critics, investigators and the deputies’ own boss, Riverside County Sheriff Larry Smith, who swiftly criticized the two deputies’ actions, that the public stands behind law enforcement in general, and that the two deputies should not be judged too quickly.

“We’re being tarred by the same racism brush and we’re tired of it,” Swift said. “This [April 1 incident] is not a racism issue, but a use-of-force issue, and those true facts are still to come out.”

Deputies are weary, he said, of the media’s coverage of the incident and of “the anti-police activists who are showing up at all the same rallies. They’re professional activists and this is just their latest chance to get on their soap box.”

It’s time to turn the tables, Swift said. The invitation to attend the 11:30 a.m. rally--in front of a police memorial at a law enforcement complex at 11th and Orange streets--is going out to the public and to lawmen throughout California through various law enforcement associations.

One promotional flier includes the police radio code 11-99--”Officer needs help.”

Steve Craig, president of the 40,000-member Peace Officers Research Assn. of California, said the rally is important “because law enforcement is under siege. People are in agreement with 99% of what law enforcement does, but when you have that 1%, everyone turns their back on you.”

Said Riverside’s Swift: “We have not made a judgment on whether the use of force in this case was outside policy. But we support our deputies because there is a due process to investigate this case, and the facts aren’t in yet.”

Not the least of the association’s anger, Swift said, is directed at their own sheriff because of his quick criticism of the deputies.

“The rank-and-file is not happy that while the factual investigation is not yet completed, it appears the decision already has been made that [Franklin and Watson] were in error, and that causes us a lot of concern,” Swift said Wednesday.

Too many questions--including how much danger the deputies perceived at the conclusion of a potentially deadly car pursuit--remain unanswered for their boss to rush to judgment, Swift maintained.

He and other officers of the deputies’ labor group already have met with Smith to share their frustration, Swift said, but he would not describe the content or mood of those conversations.

Smith said it would be “inappropriate” for him to attend the rally because the April 1 incident “is under investigation, and the final determination on the administrative investigation into it rests with me.”

He said he stands by his initial reaction to the videotape, “that it appears that force was used excessive to what was needed.” But he said that since investigators haven’t determined possible mitigating or aggravating factors leading to it, he has not passed final judgment.

Meanwhile, deputies have met with Franklin and Watson to offer their support, Swift said.

“They’re going through hell,” he said. “They’re in the middle of this giant political firestorm and media feeding frenzy. The political climate could quite easily trample over the facts of the case and lead to a political rush to judgment.

Gates was asked to be the main speaker, Swift said, because “he’s a very eloquent speaker, has a lot of support from among rank-and-file police, and he can get our message across.”

As Los Angeles Police Chief, Gates was critical of some police actions during the March 3, 1991, beating of Rodney G. King, but his defense of other officers accused of using excessive force earned him the deep enmity of some civil libertarians.

Gates on Wednesday criticized both the public’s and Smith’s quick reaction to the Riverside deputies’ actions--and said he would speak to that “rush to judgment” on Monday.

Law enforcement rallies are important, he said, “because when we’re so besieged by the media and the activist groups and the politicians, you wonder if anyone out there still likes us.”

Times staff writer Jim Newton contributed to this report from Los Angeles.