The Code.

The Code of Silence.

The Blue Curtain of Silence.

The Blue Wall of Silence.

By whatever name you may know it, all the above terms describe a code of silence which has long been seen as an integral part of being a member of a law enforcement agency or police department.

Perhaps one of the most well known cases involving the “code of silence’ fellow police officers refer to when describing the code that they live by, was portrayed in the 1973 Al Pacino movie “Serpico”; a movie about “an honest New York City cop who blew the whistle on rampant corruption in the force only to have his fellow police officers turn against him”. After all as the movie tag line said, “Many of his fellow officers considered him the most dangerous man alive - an honest cop”.

The code of silence is a code which says that under no circumstances, will a police officer inform or “rat out” if you will, a fellow officer.

Whether or not it is true that police departments operate under an unspoken “code of silence”, one thing is for sure; in most cases involving police misconduct or corruption, rarely will a police department’s internal investigation result in finding an officer at fault.

That has been proven time and again in situations involving police departments around the country.

And what about here; in the “Giant side of silence”? Well, judging by the LPD’s recent history, it seems to me that the LPD is no different.



Exhibit A

In April of this year in the case involving Lubbock resident Juan Manuel Nunez, an internal police investigation took place, and to no one’s surprise, it found that the officer acted appropriately when he tased Nunez; which ultimately resulted in Nunez’s death. An internal investigation resulted in predictable results. A civil lawsuit is still pending.

Exhibit B

This past summer, a LPD officer was videotaped tasing Lubbock resident L. J. McCallan almost instantly after approaching McCallan during a routine traffic stop. The victim filed a civil lawsuit against the LPD and now the city has responded to the lawsuit saying that the officer, Marsh Blackmore did nothing wrong. No charges were filed against McCallan even though the city’s response claims that McCallan did not obey the officer’s commands. There are two other officers listed in the lawsuit, Lieutenant Chris Powell and Lieutenant Jonathan Caspell; who both played a part in the internal investigation.

(A sidebar to this exhibit if you will: Representing the city in the McCallan case is attorney George Thompson. Thompson you may recall was in the news in 1999 when he was accused of using a racial slur. Here’s how it was reported in the Lubbock AJ in September 1999, “About two years ago, (Attorney Kevin) Glasheen and Thompson met prior to the start of a legal proceeding and Thompson allegedly asked Glasheen, ''Do you know what you would call the Flintstones if they lived in East Lubbock,''. Thompson then used the racial slur in providing the answer”.

According to the report, Glasheen reported the incident to the city. And the city’s reaction? Well you decide. Here’s how it was reported in the AJ: (City Attorney Anita) “Burgess said her office investigated the claim and found no evidence that Thompson used a slur.”

''I think there are a lot of people that would like to see Mr. Thompson not work for the city. He's a powerful advocate,'' Burgess said. ''It's a tribute to Mr. Thompson's skills and to his accomplishments that people want him off cases for the city.''

Again an internal investigation produces the same results; no one did or say anything wrong. By the way, McCallan is African American)

Exhibit C

Last Thursday, an LPD officer, Jacob Opperman, was reported driving his police cruiser with two flat tires and the other two missing or flat also. A citizen called 911 and when police arrived, Opperman refused a breathalyzer and field sobriety tests. The officer is arrested on “suspicion of drunk driving” and is now on administrative leave with pay. In addition one local TV station has played the recording of the 911 call. Although too lengthy to transcribe in this space, it won’t surprise you to know that the 911 operator asked to speak with and spoke to Opperman before taking action on the call. How many of us would get that opportunity?

The LPD says it is investigating and will report its findings.

We can hardly wait…

If the typical pattern is followed, I suspect the report will conclude that no one did anything wrong; Opperman will probably get to keep his job, no one will be penalized for damaging or vandalizing public property and what really happened will be kept behind the blue wall. All we, the public will get, will be either a “no comment” or a “that is not

relevant to the case”, or a “we do not comment on internal police matters” kind of comment. It will say that it was just a case of “boys being boys”, drinking a few too many and having fun at the expense of a 22 year old police officer who was TOO DRUNK TO EVEN REALIZE THAT HE WAS DRIVING ON TWO FLAT TIRES AND TWO TIRE RIMS!

We live in an age where drunk driving is strongly discouraged and laws have been toughened to penalize drunk drivers. In this city alone, many Lubbock resident’s lives, or those of their loved ones, have been permanently changed due to a death or deaths caused by drunk drivers.

Yet here we allegedly have a bunch of “Lubbock’s finest” allowing one of their own to leave a party, too drunk to know that his tires have been flattened by one or more of his fellow officers as a prank! And these are the very people who have taken an oath to “serve and protect” and enforce the drunk driving laws? If true, that they vandalized public property; they allowed a drunk driver to threaten the safety of the very citizens they took an oath to protect. They endangered public safety. If true, that night, public safety took a back seat to reckless conduct. If true, those involved must be held accountable. The big question though is; will we ever know the truth?

And then, you have Opperman himself refusing to undergo a breath and field sobriety test. The very tests he has probably performed on other people; some who might have initially refused as he did but agreed after being scared out of their wits.

I consulted a local attorney regarding just what happens when a person refuses a breath test. Essentially, a person’s license is taken from them by the officer and they are issued a temporary one. The DPS will then send the person a letter informing them that their license is suspended for 120 days. A person can request a hearing, but must request it within a certain amount of time; otherwise the suspension is automatic. A person must also pay a fee in order to get the license back after the 120 days. There is no penalty for refusing a field sobriety test.

In this case, Opperman was charged with suspicion of drunk driving, was taken to jail and should have spent a

minimum of 4 hours in jail; he should have been brought before a magistrate to have the charges against him read, and bond set. The question is, did this happen? If so, it is improbable that Opperman could have gotten out of jail before noon. Just when Opperman got out of jail is another question that the LPD needs to answer. Another is: Did the officer receive special treatment?

Internal Investigations?

To begin with, I place zero credibility in “police department internal investigations”; especially when most investigations lead to the same old “no-fault” results. Most of the time the people in charge do not want to know what really happened for fear it will reflect badly on their department and let’s face it, most people will be reluctant to cooperate; especially if it means that they might incriminate themselves.

In all organizations, the possibility of malfeasance or unlawful conduct exists; a police department is no different. And in this case, from what I have heard or read something definitely happened and that requires that many, many questions be answered. The problem is that we have to depend on the very people who were involved to answer the questions. And if they are answered honestly, will those conducting the investigation be willing to be open and candid about what happened; and take the heat for making all the facts public?

Sadly, I don’t think so.

In the field of law enforcement, those who take an oath to enforce the law should be held to a higher standard. A law enforcement officer has a duty and takes an oath of office to not only enforce the laws but abide by them as well. When a question arises as to whether someone within a particular law enforcement agency has acted inappropriately or broken the law; it should be left up to an outside body, such as a Citizens Review Board to determine the facts: in order to avoid the appearance of partiality, bias or predisposition to protect one’s own.

A citizens review board would in the very least, provide that credibility factor that seems to be so lacking whenever a law enforcement agency is allowed to investigate itself.

Where are Mayor Miller and the rest of the Lubbock City Council?

To the mayor and the rest of the city council, I would say this: Where are your voices? Are you not the least bit concerned that LPD

officers have been involved in at least the 3 questionable instances cited above? Where does accountability begin and whose responsibility is it to demand it? Is it not your responsibility as elected officials to make sure that “government of the people…and for the people” is conducted out in the open?

To Mayor Miller: Is this the kind of police force you want for the model city you keep talking about? Take a page out of Houston Mayor Bill White’s mayoral book who has called for an independent study on the use of Tasers by the Houston PD; after members of the Houston community charged that Tasers were being used disproportionately on black residents.

To Mrs. DeLeon and Mr. Price: It’s no secret that relations between the mostly minority communities that you represent have a long history of experiencing problems with the LPD and poor police relations; where are your voices in the McCallan matter; in the Nunez matter? When will you decide that it is time to address these issues; no matter how unpopular they may be?

And to Mr. Boren, Mr. Gilbreath, Ms. Jones, and Mr. Leonard: Need I say more?

My Conclusion

As usual, in cases such as these, there are more questions than answers. But it is time. It is time for an independent review board. The board could consist of both citizens and representatives of the LPD. The board would have the power to review all internal investigations after they have been concluded and follow up until they are satisfied that all questions surrounding the investigation have been answered. Only then will we have meaningful accountability and not just secret internal investigations which just result in citizens becoming more disunited and more fearful of a police department that is supposed to protect them.

It is time for this city to be run as a city of over 200,000 DIVERSE people and not as a city that believes that these kinds of things don’t happen here. It is time we devoted as much time to these polarizing issues as we do to things like red light cameras and revenue producing annexations.

Because if we don’t, we’ll wake up one day and realize that the dreams held by some that Lubbock can somehow become a model city will have disappeared behind the blue wall.

Because until we do, we’ll just keep wondering why officer Marsh Blackmore

made the statement that he did when he finally turned on his microphone after tasing McCallan and said:

“I’m gonna need a lot of help on this one, Holy Crap.”

It’s time…



Email: acruztsc@aol.com