The Whole Truth

One of the toughest jobs in our society belongs to the cop on the street.

Every shift has its share of boredom and bureaucracy, its share of physical, mental and emotional stress--and the potential for even the most routine situation to flare into a life-or-death test of reflexes and instant judgment.

There’s always too much pressure, too little appreciation, too little understanding of just how many skills and talents it takes to do this job well.

And nearly all of our Ventura County law-enforcement officers do the job well. They are the ones who pay the price when one of their colleagues falls short.

That is why the public owes it to the good police officers, as well as to the county residents who pay their salaries and rely on their competence, to swiftly crack down on the few who do not wear the badge with honor.

On Tuesday Oxnard Officer Robert Flinn will be arraigned in federal court in Los Angeles on charges of beating a suspect and lying about the incident in a written report.

Like the Los Angeles police officers in the Rodney King case, Flinn is being charged with federal civil rights violations after being found not guilty by a local jury. It is the first federal civil rights prosecution against a Ventura County police officer.

Flinn, 30, stood trial last year after he was accused of beating a burglary suspect with a flashlight and kicking another man in the face while making an arrest. He was acquitted of two counts of police brutality, while the jury deadlocked on two other charges.

During that trial, a series of Oxnard police officers called Flinn an excellent cop who would never brutalize a suspect--contradicting the testimony of a former Oxnard officer who accused Flinn of using excessive force. Ventura County prosecutors called Flinn a “185-pound bully with a badge” and accused Oxnard police officers of maintaining a “code of silence” to protect him.

In the federal civil rights case too, Robert Flinn is presumed innocent until proven guilty. If he is in fact a fine officer falsely accused, then may this ordeal come to a speedy end and may he have a long and successful career. But if the truth has indeed been shrouded by some conspiracy of silence, then the officers called to testify must ask themselves what is gained by perpetuating a lie--other than a potential perjury charge. Those officers owe it to themselves and to their law-abiding colleagues everywhere to testify candidly and completely.

“The vast majority of police officers would never dream of violating the law,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan S. Shapiro. “But if the public is going to have faith in law enforcement, they have to trust that when brutality occurs, it will be prosecuted.”