Vultures circling SB again

By Robert Rogers on September 18, 2007 10:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (242) |

Tomorrow's Sun will break a story interesting to some, trite to others and deja vu inducing to anyone who's been in town for more than a decade ...

The buzzards are back ... The Sun has discovered that at least one SB policeman is selling T-shirts at $10 a pop that depict a San Bernardino most residents would like to push into the past. On the front is a vulture, red bandana over face, pistol in claw, perched on a sign that reads "Welcome to San Bernardino."

Population 200,000 is crossed out to read "187," the penal code for murder, in red. The back is more of the same, with the addition of another bird of prey, this one adorned in blue, a clear ode to gang colors.

The officer has been identified only as a 20-plus year veteran of the force. Police Union President Rich Lawhead verified the re-circulation of the shirts, a similar model of which was distributed by police and a popular buy among locals in the mid-1990s.

The Sun has obtained a T-shirt.

Why does this story matter? For Lawhead, it shows a familiar dissatisfaction among rank-and-file officers over stubbornly high crime rates, a mood similar to that which enveloped the department in the early to mid 1990s.

Crime is up this year, Lawhead says, and he's right. The officers are frustrated with a lack of progress.

It could also mean something more. The shirts are a brisk sell, according to Lawhead. He saw it first about a week ago at a public safety picnic. A retired CHP officer was wearing one of the shirts that brandished Berdoo's unsavory, and well-earned, reputation.

Many other officers are buying, and Lawhead said the officer has sold shirts in the police headquarters parking lot, while off-duty.

Lawhead said union leadership does not endorse nor profit from the shirts' sales, although the principal seller and buyers are police union members.

Why is this a hot buy? Why do officers who see the underside of the streets want to buy a shirt that makes cartoonish light of it? City Attorney James F. Penman said on Tuesday that the dark humor may be a necessary release, a way for tough men and women to cope with the violence and deprivation they roll their sleeves up and tackle every day.

City Councilman Rikke Van Johnson has a different take. He said officers who buy or sell shirts which mirthfully depict tragic violence should be "ashamed." Indeed, it could be pointed out, many of the "187's" the shirts show, along with tombstones, have been the shattered lives and bodies of innocent children cut down in the city's deadly violence.

Mayor Pat Morris said the shirts are in poor taste and shouldn't taint the valiant work police men and women do every day.

Penman said he was disappointed the shirts had returned.

Police Chief Mike Billdt said he didn't agree with the shirts in the 1990s and he doesn't now. He declined to comment on what, if anything, he would do about their renewed sales, saying it was an "internal management" matter.

We'll see what, if any, fallout we get from the story. It's happening, and we thought it relevant enough to tell you about it, much to the chagrin of some city leaders we spoke with who thought it a non-story, probably for obvious reasons.

You may find it interesting, outrageous, or trite. We'll see.

242 Comments

Two Wrongs Don't Make A Right said:

San Bernardino is fortunate to have a beautiful new main police station building with a lovely fountain honoring the fallen heroes in blue before all who enter there. What a travesty to have surviving officers pandering tee shirts there as though in cold mockery to their deceased peers and members of the community they have sworn to serve and protect. Is that the value seen by them in San Bernardino? How opportunistic and cynical. How very shameful!

It strikes me as hypocritical, too. How far would a $1.00 ice cream, tamale, corn-on-the-cob or other street vendor get in the SBPD parking lot before all merchandise were confiscated and a citation, if not an arrest, took place? Could it be that the implication that SBPD’s rank & file support street vendors with their own purchases is the reason years of trying to eradicate those unwholesome illegal wares have failed? This seems to be yet another travesty of, by and for SBPD.

What a truly sorrowful day this is, indeed.

Criminal Justice college courses are quick to explain the ingrained cynicism found in correctional officers after even short years of performing those duties. It is the reason deputies seldom – almost never – succeed in transferring from jail duty to patrol duty. Could there be a similar corollary among the reported 20+ year SBPD veteran and his cynicism? It would appear so.

What are we to do with our long-time officers so consumed by their years of front-line service to our community that their compassion and sense of humanity for their own peers and those they have sworn to serve is worn away, revealing a heart of blue steel under the blue uniform and vulture festooned tee?

They no longer merit a place among San Bernardino’s Finest, in my opinion. They have forgotten their own mantra, “10% of the criminals commit 90% of the crime”. They have lost sight of that enduring font of hope, PEOPLE ARE BASICALLY GOOD.
Understanding how this tragedy could happen to a person facing 20+ years of San Bernardino’s mopping up efforts not from reviewing the distanced sterility of the headlines but from the stench and gore of the frontlines is one thing. Allowing that person to remain an armed and entrusted denizen of SBPD and as such our epitome of peace, trust and safety is another.

The swap meet sounds like the place this officer now needs to go hang his hat. I hope Chief Billdt guides him toward the exit doors before his head needs to hang even further in shame.

As an aside, The Southerlands, owners of Funhouse, between Arrowhead & D on Baseline, had a concession of the tees in their shop the last time this perennial disgrace took place. One can hope that as Baseline Area Business Association leaders and supposed concerned citizens they will not repeat that embarrassing error inside the shop this busy Halloween season.
As a further aside, Jim Penman may wish to stop the partiality and maintain an unambiguous stance toward illegal street vendors, regardless of their financial benefits to his prior campaigns.

Remember Jim, you say you are tough on blight and street peddlers are unwelcome in San Bernardino ~ at least that’s what you said when the toddler was rushed to hospital after the cooler full of scalding corn water toppled from the peddler’s margarine coated grasp on the wobbly shopping cart a few short years ago.

You have been playing favorites, Jim Penman, and most recklessly, in an election season, too! Thank you for this clarification for any voters who may have been on the fence.

Two Wrongs Don’t Make A Right

September 19, 2007 3:13 AM

SB watcher said:

Interesting to hear how Rikke Van Johnson sees the shirts as shameful. Especially since he has been benefiting from crime in the city for many years. Everytime someone is arrested, regardless of the crime, Rikke rushes to get them bail and back on the street. How many murders and other crimes has he assisted in by getting criminals back on the street and benefiting financially when doing it? The real shame is on you Rikke. Oh yea, step off the young boys body from the Dorjils that you've been standing on for political gain too.

September 19, 2007 7:26 AM

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