D.A. Tries to Mend Rift With Oxnard Officers

OXNARD â€”  Speaking before a squad room packed with Oxnard police officers, Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury tried Wednesday to mend a rift that had reportedly developed between his office and the department.

The meeting with members of the Oxnard Police Officers Assn. and Bradbury was prompted by a series of flare-ups between Oxnard officers and the district attorney’s office, said Sgt. Tom Chronister, vice president of the 218-member association.

“We file the majority of cases for this entire county,� Chronister said before the meeting. “The majority of people in the Ventura County Jail were arrested by Oxnard police officers. And the things that have gone on [between the department and the district attorney’s office] over the last year or so have caused some problems, to say the least.�

Bradbury, through a spokesman, declined comment on the meeting.

“It was a personal matter between Mr. Bradbury and the Oxnard Police Officers Assn.,� said Assistant Dist. Atty. Kevin McGee.

The association wanted a public apology from Bradbury for remarks made in court by Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael Frawley, who alleged that Oxnard officers had lied to protect fellow Officer Robert Flinn when he was prosecuted on charges of beating two suspects.

The case stemmed from an alleged beating early last year and another in late 1995 in which Flinn allegedly struck a robbery suspect in the head with a police flashlight after a foot chase; he allegedly kneed another man in the face in the other incident.

In early March, a Ventura County jury acquitted Flinn on two counts of police brutality and deadlocked in favor of acquittal on two other counts.

Last month, after eight months of administrative leave, Flinn returned to work--after Oxnard police internal affairs investigators also cleared him of any wrongdoing.

Chronister said the Flinn case had also undermined some friendships between Oxnard officers and investigators with the district attorney’s office.

During the trial, Sgt. Ralph Nievas of the Oxnard Police Department’s Internal Affairs Division testified that he and district attorney investigator Dennis Fitzgerald, a former Port Hueneme police sergeant, had a falling out because of the case after being friends for almost 20 years.

“Hey, this is serious,� Chronister said.

After the trial, Oxnard Police Chief Harold Hurtt sat down with Bradbury to discuss the growing friction between the agencies; that is when Bradbury suggested that he meet with officers, Chronister said.

Oxnard officers said they did not expect that Bradbury would give them the apology they wanted during the Wednesday evening meeting--which was closed to the public--but they expected Bradbury to ease some of the differences.

Bradbury had told the association previously that his reason for setting up the meeting was to “repair the damage done to the relationship between our offices as a result of recent events.�

There were other reasons for the rift, Oxnard officers said, including how Bradbury’s office handled the investigation into the accidental shooting death of Officer James Rex Jensen Jr. by fellow officer Sgt. Dan Christian during a botched drug raid last year.

Some officers said Bradbury’s office treated Christian poorly during the months-long investigation, including threatening him for not cooperating with its investigation.

On Wednesday, Bradbury was expected to explain his office’s rationale in that investigation as well as the Flinn case and also address other concerns, including accusations by some Oxnard officers that the department prosecutes only “slam-dunk� criminal cases, Chronister said.

A meeting is scheduled for representatives of law enforcement unions across the county Wednesday to discuss Bradbury and decide whether to support him when he comes up for reelection next year.