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Your letters: Allegations of trysts at police substation
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More from OpinionBuck doesn't stop in Oxnard
Re: your April 17 article, "Trysts at police substation alleged":
Oxnard Police Chief John Crombach asks that we "not paint the Police Department with a broad brush." Yet, these are the same two officers, collecting a combined salary of more than $160,000 — and not even on duty — who were involved in a previous matter that cost the city nearly $3 million. Now there is a second $1.5 million suit pending, involving one of the same two officers.
I have to ask City Manager Ed Sotelo and Crombach, as the people in charge: How is the city of Oxnard going to convince its citizens to vote in favor of a sales tax when this type of behavior continues with mounting costs to the city and no action against its employees? Where does the buck stop?
I can draw only two conclusions from this type of story: The city needs to begin a search for a new police chief, and voters need to decide now that a sales tax is not warranted in this city, with this type of continual behavior.
Sorry for using the broad brush, but I have to paint what I see.
— Arthur Preston, Oxnard
Double standard unacceptable
Re: your April 17 article, "Trysts at police substation alleged":
After The Star reported the vehicular death of Cindy Conolly on June 12, 2006, and the failure of the district attorney to prosecute Officer Frank Brisslinger for vehicular manslaughter, I protested the district attorney's obvious use of a "conflict of interest" to find Brisslinger "not responsible." I was ridiculed and berated by a community that has bought in to the policy of rendering one set of laws to citizens and a special set to law enforcement officers.
Neither the Board of Supervisors nor the Oxnard City Council considered my plea that officers be subject to the same justice as ordinary citizens. Well, their failure, it seems, has come back to haunt us.
The two officers involved in Cindy's death are now deeply embroiled in a shocking case of sexual misconduct. One is accused of raping a 12-year-old girl who went to the officer for help in the privacy of a satellite police office. This tragedy might have been avoided in an atmosphere that was as insistent as I that our laws be equally enforced.
Oxnard Police Chief John Crombach failed to implement ordinary Police Department procedure of booking, jailing and setting bail for the accused officer, instead placing him on paid administrative leave where, if guilty, he will pose a risk to other little girls in the community while earning a salary of $84,000 per year.
The City Council bears responsibility as well as the chief. Politicians gain from police endorsements in exchange for "looking the other way," impeding normal police procedures when officers are involved. We must be vigilant to scrutinize and reject candidates — incumbents — who benefit thusly.
— Miguel Espinosa Jr., Oxnard
Posted by newshound on April 21, 2008 at 8:21 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I couldn't agree with Mr. Preston and Mr. Espinoza more. This situation at the Oxnard Police Department is grim. This is reading like the Rampart scandal.
A Google search of Frank Brisslinger reveals a press release stating that in 2005 he was nominated for Officer of the Year. The award was sponsored by the Kiwanis Club. If he and his partner Polo are single out as examples of the best the department has to offer, how many more like them are out there? If he is nominated as Officer of the Year, how could his department have been so in the dark and so wrong about his character?
General Sanchez and the generals under his command took the blame for the Abu Grahaib prison scandal in Iraq. The buck stops at the top. The military was smart to punish the chain of command to let the rest of the world know that we don't tolerate acts of torture by our military. Officers in command are responsible for their subordinates. In the same manner, the Chief of Police must be removed or resign from the Oxnard Police Department to regain the trust of the public.
What I don't understand is why agencies are allowed to investigate themselves. How can you expect even well intentioned investigators to really jump in with a mindset of cleaning house when they are investigating people that they may know socially? It just seems like this is a situation where the FBI or some ther outside agency should come in and investigate this matter. Check out the FBI's website. (http://www.fbi.gov/hq/cid/civilrights...) It investigates civil rights violations. What could be more of a civil rights violation than to be killed while sleeping on a beach or to be raped as a child in a police station? If the District Attorney took a pass on the last case involving these officers, perhaps he is to close to the Chief of Police to go tough on bad cops. These matters have to be considered.
How many other officers knew about their trysts with women at the station? The department's internal security measures have to be severely out of balance.
Although the vast majority of officers at the department are probably great men and women who are serving the public, a few bad apples have really tarnished them all. The every day police officer ought to be upset at the command structure for letting things get this bad. Those at the top are to blame.
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