A FIX FOR FAKE DRUGS:

CITY PROBE MUST BE FEARLESS, THOROUGH

The city panel investigating the fake-drug scandal is preparing to present
its findings to the City Council next month. Hearing this, we would
describe our mood as hopeful but also a bit concerned.

Think of the probe as an internal audit - one that is long overdue. Nearly
three years have gone by since authorities acknowledged that more than two
dozen defendants had been falsely arrested and held in jail for possessing
not cocaine but ground-up pool chalk. The scandal wrecked countless lives,
including those of the defendants and their families - most of them Mexican
immigrants.

We're counting on the city's investigative body - which is made up of two
private lawyers and a team from the Dallas Police Department - to produce a
clear, detailed and thorough report that spells out the role that the
department's personnel and procedures played in the scandal.

Already it is clear that accounting controls and oversight of the narcotics
unit were nowhere near adequate. We expect city officials to acknowledge
and correct the flaws, regardless of how sweeping the needed reforms may be.

This kind of travesty must never be allowed to happen again.

There have been reports of tension among investigators about how far the
probe should go. We urge them to be bold and thorough.

The panel's task also has been complicated by its desire to help rather
than hinder the criminal investigation by special prosecutor Dan Hagood.
Cooperation is a good thing.

Nevertheless, we remind the city's investigators that their charge is
separate and vital. Punishing wrong conduct in the past is one thing, an
important thing. Uncovering the systemic roots of the problem and seeing
that it does not repeat itself is equally important. The city panel is much
more than an investigative arm of the special prosecutor.

Once again, we should all be after the same thing. We need to get to the
bottom of what happened, and the city has every right to dig and dig until
it hits the floor - no matter how much dust is kicked up in the process.