COPS PASS TEST FOR ILLEGAL DRUG USE

Vice Squad Examined As Part Of Case After Cocaine Went Missing

SCHENECTADY -- Vice squad investigators have passed drug tests given
after 85 pieces of crack cocaine vanished from an evidence storage
lock-up, officials say.

Urine samples were taken from the unit's investigators shortly after
the department discovered two weeks ago that the crack was missing
from a pending case. A subsequent audit revealed the drug was missing
from the evidence in three other cases.

Sources briefed on the investigation say each vice squad investigator
tested provided a clean urine sample.

Last week, Police Chief Michael Geraci and Schenectady County
District Attorney Robert M. Carney announced they were turning over
the investigation to the State Police. It is the second time in a
decade that an outside agency has been asked to investigate the
Schenectady Police Department.

Earlier this week, State Police investigators and auditors began an
audit of all of the seized drugs and other evidence the vice squad
compiled during years of narcotics investigations. It is expected to
take months to sort through the evidence and conduct interviews as
the state authorities try to determine how the cocaine disappeared.

No officers have been disciplined or suspended in connection with the probe.

Sources familiar with the investigation said the vice squad's
evidence storage system was antiquated and record keeping sloppy,
making it potentially difficult to determine who may have had access
to the cocaine.

"It just doesn't get up and walk away," one law enforcement official
said Wednesday. "You just don't lose stuff."

In 1999, the FBI launched its own investigation of the police
department after two patrol officers were caught stealing drugs from
a vice squad informant. That investigation led to the conviction and
imprisonment of four officers for drug-related offenses.