Pubdate: Sun, 08 Jun 2003
Source: Tampa Tribune (FL)
Copyright: 2003, The Tribune Co.
Contact: http://tampatrib.com/opinion/lettertotheeditor.htm
Website: http://www.tampatrib.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/446
Note: Limit LTEs to 150 words
Author: Elaine Silvestrini of the Tribune

WHILE PRISON CELL AWAITS, EX-OFFICER BLAMES BOSSES

Robert David Dixon says becoming a cop gave his life direction.

Now, after pleading guilty to corruption charges, he's headed to federal 
prison for actions he says his superiors sanctioned.

The former Plant City police officer cooperated with the U.S. attorney's 
office and received an eight-month prison sentence. His former partner, 
Armand Cotnoir, who also cooperated with prosecutors, was sentenced to 30 
months.

Both former officers pledged future cooperation in what the U.S. attorney's 
office says is an ongoing probe into corruption in the Plant City Police 
Department. Federal prosecutors wouldn't say when or whether more 
indictments are coming.

Dixon said his attorney, Daniel L. Castillo, recently was told by federal 
officials that Dixon should be prepared to testify at a moment's notice. 
Castillo, however, said the U.S. attorney's office merely was reminding 
Dixon of his obligations under his plea deal and not suggesting imminent 
arrests.

Castillo said he believes there will be more indictments, but he doesn't 
know when.

"I definitely think that a lot of people are worried in Plant City,'' he said.

'Cop To Con'

Dixon, 41, who is working at a car dealership, said he doesn't know when he 
will get a letter from the U.S. marshal's office telling him to report to 
prison.

The hardest part of his ordeal, he said, has been explaining his arrest to 
his two sons. The boys, ages 8 and 11, took it "about as well as can be 
expected,'' Dixon said. It's "kind of tough going from cop to con.''

Round-faced and diminutive, Dixon once worked as a corrections officer in 
Polk County. He invited a reporter to interview him at his new job on the 
condition that the business not be named and that his photograph not be 
published with this story for fear his job could be jeopardized.

Dixon said he's not particularly anxious about being on the other side of 
the bars.

Still, an eight-month prison term, he said, doesn't compare to wrestling 
around in the front seat of a car with an armed suspect or chasing a bank 
robber through the woods.

"I'm not looking forward to it,'' he said. "I'll just do my time and get 
out. ... I don't lose a lot of sleep over it.''

Dixon's attitude evinces bravado. Some would call it arrogance - the same 
brand of arrogance that seemed to infuse the antidrug unit in which Dixon 
and Cotnoir served. According to federal prosecutors and Dixon, the unit 
operated in a ``gray area'' of the law, using aggressive and often illegal 
tactics to catch suspected drug dealers.

They lied on police reports, fudged facts to support their arrests and 
searched homes without valid warrants.

"We talked about the gray area of the Constitution on a regular basis,'' 
Dixon said. Sometimes, he said, "You had to finesse the truth.''

"There's a fine line between being aggressive and stepping out over the 
edge,'' he said.

Bosses To Blame

Dixon maintains the practices were sanctioned by superiors. "We didn't go 
to the restroom without a supervisor telling us,'' he said. "Your boss 
tells you to do something a certain way, you may thumb your nose at him, 
but you won't be working'' there for long.

Dixon's bosses did not return a message seeking comment.

Attorney Ron Cacciatore, who represents them, said, "I do not believe 
there's any credible evidence to show that anyone's done anything wrong, 
other than those people who have pleaded guilty and have been sentenced. I 
think Mr. Dixon's credibility is very suspect. He obviously harbors a lot 
of ill will toward the Plant City Police Department.''

Cacciatore wouldn't discuss the specifics of Dixon's claims, saying, "The 
man is not telling the truth. That's our response. ... The guy got his butt 
in the wringer, so he's reaching out trying to trash other people because 
he is of no value talking about the things he has done.''

Dixon admitted he didn't have any pangs with the corruption when it was 
going on.

"We thought we were doing a great job,'' he said. "We'd gotten people that 
they had been working on for years ... The people were able to walk the 
streets a little safer, at the expense of the Constitution. We felt the 
ends justified the means.''

Revolving-Door JusticeDixon said they were frustrated by the vagaries of 
the legal system. "You get real tired of arresting drug dealers, only for 
them to get probation after probation, then house arrest, only to be told 
by the state attorney's office, 'You'll get 'em next time,' '' he said. "We 
hated hearing that.''

The overriding concern, he said, was to ``get the bad guys off the streets.''

Dixon said he "was happy with the freedom'' his bosses had bestowed upon him.

"They had taken the handcuffs off,'' he said.

Dixon says he now realizes that what he did was fundamentally wrong. "The 
Constitution,'' he said, "is what keeps us from being a police state.''

Dixon complained that the same superiors he says created the corrupt 
environment have been promoted since he left. But he had praise for many in 
the department.

"I was privileged to work with some very fine people,'' he said.

He said 95 percent of what the police did was above reproach. "No police 
officer wants every case he ever worked held up to the light and 
examined,'' he said.

When asked whether the actions and attitude he described in the department 
were evidence of a certain level of arrogance, Dixon replied: "You will 
find that [for] police officers, simply being in that line of work, showing 
fear is not acceptable,'' he said. "It takes a certain set of stones going 
to some of the places those guys go to.''

Porn Tapes, 'Overactive Libidos'

While most of the law-breaking Dixon admits to involved investigations, 
there was one area he conceded had nothing to do with law enforcement.

Stealing pornographic videotapes during searches was "a silly, stupid thing 
we did,'' Dixon said. The police were, he said, "a bunch of guys with 
overactive libidos.''

"We never took any drugs or money,'' he said. "We took a bunch of chintzy 
porn tapes.''

Dixon praised Cotnoir, his former partner, who initially cooperated with 
the corruption investigation and then demanded a trial after a falling out 
with the U.S. attorney's office. In the middle of the trial, at which Dixon 
testified for the prosecution, Cotnoir pleaded guilty and agreed to 
continue cooperating.

Dixon said he wanted to speak at Cotnoir's sentencing in defense of his 
former partner. "He is still a fine young man,'' Dixon said.

Both Cotnoir's attorney and an assistant U.S. attorney described Dixon as a 
mentor to Cotnoir. But Dixon denied that, saying the only influence came 
from above. Although Dixon had been in the police department seven years 
longer than Cotnoir, he said Cotnoir was the better officer.

Dixon said he wasn't one of those kids who always wanted to be a police 
officer. He got the idea, he said, when his best friend became a state 
trooper and benefited from the discipline.

"I needed direction and a structured lifestyle,'' Dixon said.

Becoming an officer "gave me the direction to start going to college.'' He 
earned his bachelor's degree before he left the department and recently 
completed graduate studies in organizational management, he said.

Although he has admitted embezzling $1,000 from a former employer, Dixon 
said that was minor. He said all it involved was him punching a time clock 
for a colleague in a meat-packing plant an hour before the other employee 
came to work and the colleague punching Dixon's time card an hour after he 
left.

Now, in addition to doing customer financing for a car dealership, he said 
he has rental homes and apartments.

Dixon says he doesn't regret his law-enforcement career.

"Even with everything that's happened,'' he said. "I loved the job.''
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MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens