LAW ENFORCEMENT: KING CASE MAKES THE JOB HARDER

Even in places as far away and seemingly isolated from the problems of Los Angeles as is Cape Girardeau, law enforcement officials say that fallout from the Rodney King ordeal has negatively affected their lives and hindered the way they do their jobs.

Mike Brown, a criminology professor at Southeast Missouri State University and director of the regional police training academy, said that police officers will inevitably be isolated by the entire situation.

"It's a case of guilt by association," Brown said. "A lot of people might think that if this kind of thing is happening in one place, it has the potential to happen here, too.

"I think (the King trial) has been bad for law enforcement there's no question about it," he said. "But people may be led to believe that this kind of thing is an everyday occurrence in policing; it isn't."

Brown said that the most damaging effect that the trial might have on police is that officers might be hesitant to use adequate force in an arrest situation, for fear of ending up in a courtroom.

"I would hope that no officer I have trained would be hesitant to use force when necessary," Brown said. "That's how officers get injured."

Brown said one positive benefit that will come from the trial is a renewed emphasis on management supervision of police movements.

"That part of the Los Angeles Police Department was clearly out of control," Brown said. "They had gone from enforcing the laws to punishing the offenders; that's not their job."

Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle said that he has witnessed the effects of a bias against police in recent juries.

"First of all, the prosecution goes into trials with a big advantage because of police testimony," Swingle said. "Traditionally, jurors in our area have had good law enforcement role models and will believe police witnesses.

"But since the Rodney King videotape was first aired on television, I have seen a growing inclination of juries to be less trusting of police officers and more suspicious and questioning of their trial testimony," he said.

Swingle feels that the whole situation is unfair to area law enforcement agencies, who pride themselves on training and professional behavior.

"There have been isolated incidents in the courtroom where situations have boiled down to the jurors' perceived credibility of police witnesses," Swingle said. "Police officers who I have known to be of the absolute highest integrity who have testified, and juries have not believed them."

The prosecutor believes that there can be no true winners in a case like King's.

"It's a lose-lose situation," Swingle said. "If the officers are acquitted, you've got a case where the public perception was that the officers used too much force; if they are convicted, then the officers have lost their rights to be protected from double jeopardy in the same case."

Swingle believes that, in time, people's attitudes toward police will return to normal.

"I think we are on a cycle that will eventually pass," Swingle said. "I believe this will end up turning back to where police officers are completely respected and trusted."

Capt. Steve Strong of the Cape Girardeau Police Department said that he has not noticed a local change of reaction to police officers, nor will he pre-judge the actions of the Los Angeles police.

"I have not seen the whole videotape, nor have I heard all of the testimony in the (King) trial," Strong said. "That section of tape which everyone has seen so many times appears to be inappropriate on the part of the Los Angeles police.

"But, I don't believe that the public should prejudge anyone just by a 30-second or less piece of videotape which has been repeatedly shown by the news media," Strong said. "I haven't got all the facts or information and it would not be proper to form an opinion at this point."

Strong feels that it is not only the police who may be to blame for the King fallout.

"It's not unusual for the news media to take something very graphic and show just a small section of that," he said. "We must be careful in making definite statements about things as serious in nature as this incident."

Lt. John Brown, head of the detective division in the Cape Girardeau Police Department, feels that public opinion toward police officers is becoming more negative.

"When I first came here (in the 1960s), there was a lot of negative response to the police department, in the wake of race riots and civil rights demonstrations," Brown said. "But in the 1970s, the pendulum swung back the other way, and police were highly regarded and respected.

"Now, unfortunately, it seems as though we're headed back to the negative side," he said.

Brown attributes part of that swing to the King beating.

"I think the (King) case is one that really highlights public opinion," Brown said.

"That video was shocking, even to police officers," he continued. "We had viewed the Los Angeles police as a very professional department."

And now police all over the country must suffer its fallout.

"The video triggered a reaction which has surprised and disappointed us all," Brown said. "I think that we are all being judged right now, and it's really not fair."

Cape County Sheriff Norman Copeland places much of the blame of the King situation on the media outlets that have repeatedly shown the brief seconds of King's beating.

"Most people know that newspaper and television coverage has been so slanted to serve the occasion, that they don't necessarily believe everything they hear anymore," Copeland said.

"I haven't noticed much of a change in attitude toward law enforcement," Copeland said.

"An isolated incident has been blown out of perspective," he said. "The incident doesn't make everyone who wears a badge the same. We are not equally guilty."