POLICE MUST HAVE RIGHT INFORMATION BEFORE CONDUCTING DRUG RAIDS

Our Opinion: It's The Proposal That Deserves Criticism, Not The Men Involved.

The photo of Rick Jarosak on the front page of Wednesday's newspaper was
sobering. Police were silhouetted confronting Jarosak, who had his hands up.

It happened at 6:35 a.m. in Porter County's first major drug raid in almost
a decade. But Jarosak wasn't the man police were looking for. That person
had moved 17 months ago.

He was later arrested at another address in South Haven, which proves that
with a little extra effort, police could have gotten the right address and
not scared Jarosak and his family out of their wits.

While this isn't a common occurrence (thankfully), it has happened often
enough in Northwest Indiana in the past decade (an average of about once a
year), that police and prosecutors need to be reminded to double-check
their information before conducting raids.

In 1995, after three homes were incorrectly raided by police (two in Lake
County and one in Porter County) within three months, the Post-Tribune
offered this suggestion in an editorial:

"Before police marshal their forces, there should be one last check to make
sure the information they have is current. The lament is drug dealers and
users are transient, but that only underscores the need for double-checking
information. Knowing that the bad guys don't set down roots ought to make
police more careful in making sure the person they're after is actually
living at the address on their warrant."

Those words are as applicable today as they were 51/2 years ago.

The effort of the 80 police officers from across Porter County was
necessary and sent a strong signal to drug dealers and users. The raid took
26 people off the street and the impact that will have on the availability
of marijuana, cocaine, LSD, methamphetamine, Ecstacy, PCP and heroin cannot
be underestimated.

However, Jarosak was left with a question that deserves an answer: "Why
didn't they check property tax records before rousting us?"

No doubt there will be more raids on drug dealers in Porter County in the
future. Before knocking on someone's door and needlessly scaring an
innocent family, authorities must find out for sure who lives there. And
using information that's 17 months old isn't good enough.