STAY THE COURSE ON DRUG STINGS

Norfolk police officials would play into the hands of drug dealers if,
in response to the shootout last week at Military Circle mall, they
made shopping centers off limits for sting operations.

The June 11 mayhem was a rarity, an anomaly that raised legitimate
public anxieties about getting caught in a cross-fire. But to tie the
hands of narcotics officers would turn places where people gather into
drug bazaars. Just look at the statistics: More than 100 times over
the past four years, undercover officers have conducted drug and vice
stings in public places around Norfolk. In many of those cases, police
recovered cash - sometimes thousands of dollars. The stings occurred
in supermarket parking lots and by gas station pumps, outside of
motels and even near a church. Norfolk's citizens are far safer
because the cops snared 201 people in the drug trade over that period.

None of those incidents bore any resemblance to the skirmish in the
parking lot outside the mall, in which two officers and two suspects
were shot. Fortunately, no innocent bystanders were injured in the
exchange of gunfire. The risk to the public can be minimized by
prudence and training, but never totally eliminated.

Norfolk City Councilman Paul Riddick has raised questions about the
bust and the appropriateness of the location near the mall, which
attracted many shoppers and moviegoers on a Friday night. It's fair
for the councilman to raise the questions; after all, that's part of
his job. But he's wrong to suggest the need for changing policy based
on this one episode. The history of these incidents, however, suggests
the shoot-out was far worse than what usually happens. The public
would be a lot less safe if the thugs learned that they could do all
the business they wanted in parking lots because narcotics officers
had been called off. Police have to go where the activity is, says
Brian K. Payne, chair of the sociology and criminal justice department
at Old Dominion University. "If they don't do anything, people will
ask why," Payne notes. Drug dealers don't deserve a free pass.
Citizens want and deserve aggressive narcotics enforcement. Yes,
police must safeguard the public. But in last Friday night's
shoot-out, the officers placed themselves in greater risk by trying to
block the suspects' car from fleeing the scene and by coming into
close quarters with them.

The department, by necessity, must evaluate what went wrong and
whether it could have been avoided.

For now, though, its overall record for drug stings deserves the
appreciation of the community.