Devin Brosnan won’t break ‘blue wall of silence’ to testify against Garrett Rolfe. Here’s why police stick together.

When Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard Jr. said Atlanta police officer Devin Brosnan would be a witness against Garrett Rolfe – the former officer charged with felony murder in the shooting death of Rayshard Brooks – he added he was “shocked.”

Legal experts who spoke with USA TODAY on Wednesday were shocked, too. It’s rare enough for an officer to be charged, one said. It’s rarer still for an officer to break through “the blue wall of silence” and testify, another said.

The revelation didn’t stick, however, as Brosnan’s lawyers quickly refuted Howard’s claim. Brosnan, who is facing three lesser charges, would cooperate with investigators, but “there is no agreement between Mr. Brosnan and the DA’s office for Mr. Brosnan to be a ‘state’s witness,’” attorney Amanda R. Clark Palmer told USA TODAY in an email. 

Brooks died after he was shot by an  officer: What happens now?

USA TODAY has reached out multiple times to the Fulton County District Attorney’s office for comment on the status of this case but has not heard back.

Getting an officer to testify against another is a daunting task: Howard’s office has prosecuted “about 40 of these cases,” he said Wednesday, and he couldn’t remember a time when an officer agreed to cooperate with the state. 

There are myriad reasons why. 

A tendency to ‘circle the wagons’

Police officers have long operated with impunity, according Dan Simon, a professor of law and psychology at Gould School of Law at the University of Southern California. Widespread video camera use has brought more eyes and transparency to their work and the world is realizing “how much misconduct was hiding beneath the opacity,” he said. 

“It’s a fundamental tenet of group behavior that there are strong norms of cohesion within the group,” Simon said. “This is particularly so within a group that sees itself to be threatened or besieged by any sort of environmental situation. Cops feel like that. They very much trust their partners. They very much rely on their partners. Together, they perceive themselves doing a task they often feel is underappreciated, overburdened.”

Rayshard Brooks was kicked, denied care: The stunning allegations against ex-Atlanta police officer Garrett Rolfe

That cohesion contributes to officers’ unwillingness to testify against each other, he said. Police officers – who work in stressful and life-threatening situations – also feel “righteous” about their work, which leads to its own problems, Simon added. 

“There’s this phenomenon called ‘noble cause corruption,'” Simon said. “When you feel you’re noble, you also feel that it’s permitted to cut corners, twists and bend facts, all for the noble cause.

“That’s how they perceive it. Once cops are acculturated into these ways of thinking, it’s very hard to change these deep cultural beliefs, especially since they currently feel that they’re being put under the magnifying glass and also run through the ringer of social protests. Their natural tendency is to circle the wagons.”

A shift in police culture? 

David Sklansky, a professor of law at Stanford University and faculty co-director at the Stanford Criminal Justice Center, said one officer testifying against another used to be “almost unheard of.” 

Over the past few decades, things have become marginally better, according to Sklansky. There are more officers in 2020 than there were 50 years ago who see the flaws in the system and who are “horrified” by abuses of power, he said. 

“Police departments have been changing and the surrounding culture have been changing,” Sklanksy said.

What happens now? Rayshard Brooks died after he was shot by Atlanta police officer Garrett Rolfe

He added officers testifying against each other is “is still rarer than it should be.”

“The blue wall of silence still can lead officers to be reluctant to testify against their fellow officers, but more and more officers, I think, understand that the wrongful use of force, particularly deadly force, is a significant problem,” he said. 

Reform won’t be “pretty or easy,” Simon said, but it is necessary. For weeks, protesters across the nation have taken to the streets, calling for change in the aftermath of the deaths of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and Brooks, all at the hands of police.

“This is really unfolding in front of our eyes and I think it’s going to cause a paradigm shift,” Simon said. “It has to. Progress is not going to come easy because these officers, many of whom joined the force with the best of intentions, and many of whom continue to perform their jobs with the best of intentions, they are socialized into a system that implicitly condones dishonesty.”

Overcoming a significant obstacle 

It’s rare enough for a police officer to be charged with a crime for actions in the line of duty, said Mary Fan, a professor at the University of Washington School of Law. 

Getting an officer to testify against a colleague is “two levels of rare,” she said. 

“I think what we’re seeing playing out in our nation are increasingly viralized calls for prosecution and intense pressure on police leaders and prosecutors to bring charges in these cases,” Fan said. “We’re in a historical moment of a real crisis in trust and deference to the police.”

‘Lawful but awful’: Atlanta police had better options than lethal force in Rayshard Brooks shooting, experts say

Speaking in general terms, Sklansky said a significant obstacle prosecutors typically face in cases against officers is the “reluctance of fellow officers to testify against each other.” 

Getting officers to testify against each other when charges are filed is just one piece of the puzzle, according to Simon. He called for a systemic overhaul. 

“The problem is, actually, how do we transform the criminal justice system into a much more transparent, honest and self-reflective social system?” he asked. 

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