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Cleveland police officers have their own code, which demands they stand by one another. Their refusal to testify during the manslaughter trial of police officer Michael Brelo frustrated Cuyahoga County prosecutors. Brelo is charged with two counts of voluntary manslaughter in the deaths of Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams following 2012 chase and shooting that involved 62 cars and more than 100 officers and supervisors. In this 2012 photo, Cleveland police officers listen to then-union president Jeffery Follmer talk to the media about the police chase and shooting.

(Marvin Fong/The Plain Dealer)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Snitches get stitches. That's the street code that inhibits witnesses to crimes from talking to police out of fear of retribution from the neighborhood.

Cops frequently decry this no-snitch culture as hindering their ability to put bad guys behind bars. But the trial of Cleveland police officer Michael Brelo has highlighted the hypocrisy of their message.

Brelo is charged with two counts of voluntary manslaughter in the deaths of Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams following a Nov. 29, 2012, police chase and shooting that involved 62 cars and more than 100 officers and supervisors.

But few of these officers and supervisors - who are witnesses to the chase and shooting -- are talking.

The reason: Cops have their own no-snitch rule.

Why else would numerous cops refuse to testify when Cuyahoga County prosecutors called them before the grand jury prior to Brelo's indictment? Seven of Brelo's colleagues did the same during trial, which concluded Tuesday. They all invoked their Fifth Amendment right, which allows any of us to refuse to offer testimony that could incriminate ourselves.

Count Prosecutor Timothy J. McGinty said these cops were under no threat of prosecution. He refused to offer them immunity in exchange for their testimony, he said, because cops have a sworn duty to testify to what they see. (He ultimately granted two officers immunity during the trial, though only one was called to the stand.) McGinty also told the court that police officers had refused to come forward with important information. And he strongly suggested they were following their no-snitch code.

Prosecutors presented during the trial a text message from an officer involved in the police chase.

"I was told to keep my mouth shut by the union," the officer wrote in a text message to a police dispatcher with whom he was discussing the chase.

I want to be clear on this point: The cops' refusal to testify is not evidence of Brelo's guilt or innocence. But it's overwhelming evidence of the cops' no-snitch code.

While Brelo's case is the latest example of the code, it's not the most outrageous. That can be found in the case of Edward Henderson.

On New Year's Day 2011, cops viciously beat Henderson after he led them on a high-speed chase that ended in a crash near downtown Cleveland. Henderson said he had surrendered at the scene and laid on the ground but was nonetheless attacked.

Though Henderson had to be taken to the hospital for a broken bone in his face and other cuts and bruises, Cleveland's police officers never said a word about the use of force.

All of the approximately 10 officers who participated in or witnessed the beating of Henderson failed to file required written use-of-force reports or to otherwise document that they had used or witnessed any force against Henderson. Documenting the incident would have required an honest officer to identify those who hit Henderson.

But the Cleveland prosecutor charged four officers with felonious assault and obstructing official business after obtaining an infrared video from a helicopter that shows four figures kicking and punching Henderson on the ground.

The case was taken over by the U.S. Justice Department, which planned to pursue criminal charges against the officers for violating Henderson's civil rights.

But the Justice Department was stymied by the no-snitch rule.

The four accused officers -- Patrolmen Paul Crawford, Martin Lentz, Christopher Randolph and Kevin Smith -- repeatedly denied wrongdoing.

Their fellow officers refused to provide eyewitness accounts of the incident by invoking their Fifth Amendment rights, according to the U.S. Justice Department's investigation, rendering the government powerless to indict anyone.

"To date, no officers have identified any of the officers who used force in this incident, and no officers have been disciplined for failing to report this incident," the Justice Department's investigation says.

Henderson, meanwhile, pleaded guilty to assaulting a police officer (before the chase began) and served prison time. He also won a six-figure settlement in a use-of-force lawsuit against the city.

The rank-and-file and Hollywood often portray the cop's version of the no-snitch rule - which is about having a partner's back -- as more honorable than the code that protects criminals. I don't see the difference.

If the cops want witnesses to step forward, they should lead by example. Until they do, they are equally guilty of subverting justice.