San Bernardino Sun
A special thank you to Nan for finding the article and Debra for sending and typing the article out for me!!
THE
SUN - Saturday, July 12, 2003
DEPUTIES ACT FOR THE CAMERA
SB PHOTO SESSION PART OF A NATIONAL ETHICS CAMPAIGN
By Joe Nelson, Staff Writer
SAN BERNARDINO -- It wasn't the backlot of Universal Studios, but the
Sheriff's Department's Third Street headquarters on Friday had the makings
of a Hollywood production -- blood, sex and all.
There were cameramen and makeup artists, props and
lots of bottled water.
On hand to assist were a pair of pros" '70's
pop star Bobby Sherman and "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers"
producer Ronnie Hadar, both reserve deputies for the department.
Scenarios played out before the cameras as if they
were right out of an episode of a TV police drama. A deputy struggles
with his partner to keep him from pummeling a blooded, violent suspect.
A deputy makes sexual advances on a female Explorer. A deputy tries
to prevent his partner from overzealous pursuit of a suspect.
The simulations were for the sake of getting some
good photos for posters illustrating the split-second decisions many
officers and deputies have to make to keep from crossing the line while
on the job.
It was part of a national law enforcement ethics campaign
sponsored by the Sheriff's Department and the International Association
of Chiefs of Police, using posters to illustrate ethical challenges.
The posters with the likenesses of the San Bernardino
County sheriff's deputies will be displayed by law enforcement agencies
across the nation.
"This agency has the pleasure of putting this
together and doing these posters," said department Deputy Keith
Bushey, who helped coordinate the ethics campaign. "Ethics is probably
the No. 1 priority of police officers and sheriff's deputies across
the nation.
In a conference room at sheriff's headquarters, makeup
artist Sabine Howard gave Deputy Corey Emon a bruised and bloodied eye,
using makeup instead of her fists.
Emon would later play the bad guy in a simulated struggle
with Sherman and Deputy Sarkis Ohannessian outside the station.
Emon lay in the dirt next to a tree handcuffed, while
Sherman kept Ohannessian from slamming his fist into Emon's face. Then,
Sherman had a chance to subdue bad guy Emon in a choke hold.
"I'm going to need a shower," said a sweaty,
dirty Emon following the photo shoot. "I've been in fights with
a few of my crooks, but never like this."
Sherman, a sheriff's reserve deputy for four years
and a reserve officer for the Los Angeles Police Department for 10 years,
got a kick out of it.
"It's comic relief, but it's a great campaign,"
he said, adding that similar scenarios, though maybe not as dramatic,
have played out from time to time in San Bernardino Superior Court,
his beat as a reserve deputy.
"But we don't get a second take," Sherman
said.
