BERKELEY COUNCIL TO REVIEW POLICE DRUG PROCEDURE REPORT

Evidence Of Theft By Cop Prompts Commission Suggestions For Handling
Substances

BERKELEY -- Two years after police discovered the biggest drug
scandal in the department's history, the City Council on Tuesday will
consider adopting more than a dozen recommendations for storing,
handling and auditing seized drugs and money.

Last October, the city's Police Review Commission found that systems
for tracking drug evidence were inadequate to prevent or catch the
theft of narcotics from the police department's evidence locker,
according to a detailed and lengthy report.

The report also found that the department's probe into a former
sergeant's drug thefts was insufficient.

Since then, Berkeley police Chief Douglas Hambleton has responded to
the PRC's seven main findings and the 27 recommendations, concurring
with 25 of the recommendations. Some of the recommendations have been
implemented while others are slated to be in place by June,
Hambleton said.

In January 2006, police discovered that then-Sgt. Cary Kent had
tampered with and stolen drugs from 286 evidence envelopes.

Police and the Alameda County District Attorney's Office conducted a
joint investigation and in April 2006, Kent pleaded guilty to one
count of grand theft by embezzlement and one count each of possessing
heroin and methamphetamine.

He was sentenced to spend a year in an electronic home detention
program and sent to a drug treatment program. Kent, who had retired a
month before, also was sentenced to five years probation.

In its report, the PRC asked that the department disclose the exact
amount of drugs that was stolen by Kent to prevent such theft in the
future.

Hambleton said the 286 envelopes that Kent tampered with
contained:

- -Methamphetamine (powder and crystal): 1.6 pounds

- -Cocaine (rock and powder): 1.5 ounces

- -Heroin (tar, powder and liquid) 9 ounces, plus 700 cc of liquid --
about seven full syringes)

- -Marijuana: 5 pounds

- -Hashish: 1 ounce

- -Pills: 235 Vicodin, Ecstasy, Oxycontin, Tylenol/Codeine and Fentanyl.

Hambleton, however, said in a memo he doesn't believe Kent stole all
those drugs.

But, except for the marijuana, there was a consensus among police
informants, outside narcotic investigators and a medical drug
treatment expert that the amounts are consistent with what a light to
moderate user would consume within a one year period, Hambleton said
in the memo.

He also said that due to the costs and limited resources at the crime
lab a "relatively small number of envelopes" were tested in order to
secure sufficient evidence for prosecution.

"Police staff does not believe that the contents were removed from
all of the suspicious envelopes. Since the contents of the envelopes
could have been tampered with and cut or mixed with other substances,
even a lab analysis at this time could not establish the exact
amount of drugs that (were) missing," he said in a report that will
be considered by the council on Tuesday.

Hambleton said reopening the probe and using a crime lab to conduct
further tests could cost as much as $20,000.

It is not known for how long Kent was stealing drugs. Problems were
noticed by others in the department as early as January 2005.

Leading up to the council's consideration of the report, Berkeley
Copwatch is holding a rally today from noon to 2 p.m. at 1730 Oregon
Street to boost community awareness about the drug thefts, the
report's findings and the department's response.

The event will include speeches from Berkeley City Councilmember
Kriss Worthington, former Police Review Commissioners Osha Neumann
and James Chanin, Copwatch member Andrea Prichett and others. It is
co-sponsored by Copwatch and Disabled People Outside Project.