DRUG SQUAD DISSOLVES

Detectives Reassigned In Year After Revelation Of Fake-Narcotics Arrests

While two Dallas police officers remain on paid leave as a federal inquiry
continues into a series of fraudulent narcotics arrests, the officers'
squad has effectively disbanded in the year since the allegations came to
light.

After some of the drugs seized with the help of paid informants were
revealed to be mostly ground gypsum, or pool chalk, Senior Cpl. Mark
Delapaz and Officer Eddie Herrera were placed on administrative leave with
pay. The sergeant who supervised the "street squad" narcotics unit that
included the two officers was reassigned to focus solely on training within
the narcotics division, police officials said.

Two detectives remained in the six-person squad when the allegations
surfaced last January. Since then, one has left the department for a job as
a federal air marshal and the other was assigned to administrative work and
training while the investigation is under way. One position within the
squad already was vacant.

Deputy Chief John Martinez, who oversees the division, said moving the
sergeant and detective out of investigations was a necessity because the
small squad couldn't function with the loss of the other detectives.

In practice, street squad detectives are assigned to target smaller
street-level drug activity. Detectives conduct their own investigations but
receive help from other officers to make a bust.

"I'm not going to send them out on cases alone; that's the worst thing I
could do," Chief Martinez said, adding that the reassignments do not imply
that the officer and sergeant are under investigation.

Chief Martinez said he's hoping to transfer the remaining detective into
one of the narcotics division's two other street squads.

The effect of the loss of the street squads could not be determined because
police are still compiling statistics on drug arrests made in 2002.

Sam Walker, a criminal justice professor at the University of Nebraska who
specializes in police corruption issues, said there's no set procedure for
how to deal with allegations associated with officers who are part of a
small team.

Officers Delapaz and Herrera were placed on leave in January, more than a
month after police officials said they opened an internal investigation
into a series of large drug busts that later turned out to be fake. At the
request of District Attorney Bill Hill, the FBI took over the
investigation, which is continuing.

Officers in the narcotics division have declined to comment publicly
because all officers in the division have been required to sign a pledge
not to discuss the investigation.

Mr. Walker said it's prudent to take officers out of investigations while
an inquiry into their group is under way. He did question why the squad's
supervisor would be assigned to training.

"It's one thing to put them on desk duty," he said. "It's another thing to
put them in training."

In the meantime, prosecutors have thrown out more than 80 felony drug
cases. In dozens of those cases, large quantities of cocaine and
methamphetamine seized by police with the help of paid confidential
informants later were found to be finely ground gypsum.

Many of those arrested were undocumented Mexican immigrants who proclaimed
their innocence but spent months in jail before their cases were dropped or
suspended.

Three former police informants, themselves undocumented immigrants, have
pleaded guilty to federal civil rights charges and are cooperating with
federal investigators.