REEFER MADNESS: TRASH SEARCH LED TO DEADLY POLICE RAID

What prompted Pembroke Pines police to conduct a dawn paramilitary
raid that ended with the June 12 shooting death of homeowner Vincent Hodgkiss?

In its application for a narcotics search warrant, police cited an
anonymous complaint of drug dealing, surveillance of high-turnover
visitors and two searches of Hodgkiss' trash by detectives, who found
scraps of paper with handwritten numbers and trace amounts of "green,
leafy substance" that tested positive for marijuana.

Police conducted the raid with its Special Response Team (similar to
SWAT) two days after Broward Circuit Judge Dale Cohen approved the
search warrant.

As a result of the investigation, police recovered about an ounce and
a half of pot -- and a 46-year-old father ended up dead.

Is this what America really wants from its War on Drugs?

"None of this makes sense," said Roger Scott, an Orlando defense
attorney who heads the Florida chapter of NORML, which advocates the
legalization of marijuana. "Do you realize that right now prisons are
releasing violent criminals early to make room for drug offenders?"

Instead of relaxing marijuana laws, the Florida Legislature keeps
getting tougher. This year, it approved a new law increasing
penalties for marijuana growhouses. Those possessing more than 25
plants would get mandatory prison time, up to 30 years if children
live at the house.

Scott was upset to hear about Hodgkiss' death, and he called the
ongoing drug war "a fiasco."

Police say they also found weapons, $1,600 in cash, prescription
drugs, a digital scale and smoking paraphernalia in Hodgkiss' home.
Hodgkiss had a valid concealed weapons permit, and friends and family
said he took several medications for a serious illness they declined
to specify.

In the search warrant affidavit released last week, Pembroke Pines
Detective Bryan Dietrich wrote that he saw many cars stop at the home
in May and early June, "with very few staying for more than 10
minutes." He and partners twice searched trash that had been taken
out for pickup, each time finding traces of pot inside.

The totality of the evidence could add up to a small-time pot dealer.
Was an early morning raid with a mini-battalion really the best way
to go about serving the warrant?

The increasing use of SWAT teams for basic police functions troubles
Jack Cole, a former New Jersey narcotics and fugitive detective. He
now heads Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, a group of retired
police, judges and prosecutors who advocate drug-law reform.

Cole said SWAT was developed to handle barricaded suspects holding
hostages. Agencies invested heavily in SWAT training and equipment,
and soon began using these teams on an expanding range of missions,
including drug, pornography and gambling raids. Pembroke Pines police
uses its SRT unit to serve all drug warrants. It might be time for
agencies to reconsider blanket policies and assess each case individually.

This wasn't some violent gang that moved into the neighborhood three
months ago. Hodgkiss spent 14 years in the house, raising his family
there. He had no previous felonies or history of violence. I bet two
detectives approaching him when he made a trip to the corner store
might have been more effective, and certainly less confrontational.

The attorney for Officer Javier Diaz, who fatally wounded Hodgkiss,
said Diaz shot Hodgkiss twice after Hodgkiss pumped his loaded
shotgun and carried it into his bathroom. The attorney said Diaz
fired in "justified self-defense."

I'm not saying the shooting was unjustified. I'm sure Diaz felt
threatened and compelled to shoot. The bigger point: Tragic outcomes
like these are inevitable given our nation's drug policies and police
procedures.

For the sake of both Hodgkiss' family and Officer Diaz (these
tragedies are traumatic for the shooter, too), maybe it's time for a
more measured and rational approach.