COURT HOLDS OFFICERS TO HIGH STANDARD.

Byline: Associated Press 

A police officer who commits the same crime as a civilian can be charged more harshly, since police are supposed to uphold the law, a state appeals court has ruled.

The 2nd District Court of Appeal rejected a Los Angeles policeman's challenge to a felony charge of operating a pyramid scheme. Civilians involved in the same conduct were charged with misdemeanors or were not prosecuted.

The officer, Amby Gary Owens, already belonged to a pyramid or ``endless chain'' scheme when he attended a recruiting meeting with about 70 other people in July 1995, the court said. After the meeting, he accepted two envelopes from a new member, each containing $2,000. Owens was the only person at the meeting who was prosecuted.

After another meeting for the same pyramid scheme, two Simi Valley police officers and five civilians were charged, the court said. The district attorney offered misdemeanor guilty pleas to the civilians but would accept only felony pleas from the officers.

After his claim of discriminatory prosecution was denied by Ventura County Superior Court Judge Steven Perren, Owens pleaded no contest to the felony charge and Perren reduced it to a misdemeanor. Owens then took the discrimination claim to the appeals court and sought dismissal of the case.

But the court said Wednesday that a police officer who breaks the law is ``morally culpable to a greater extent than the civilian participants'' and can be charged more severely.

``Unlike civilians, (police) are also expected to prevent others from committing crimes, to assist in the investigation of crime, and to use their law enforcement authority to maintain the trust of the public in its criminal justice system,'' said Justice Kenneth Yegan in the 3-0 ruling.