POLICE DRUG BOARD LIMITED

Review Of Procedures Involves Mostly Officers; DA's Office Has Conflict

Conflicts of interest because of an ongoing federal investigation into a
series of questionable drug busts have limited membership on a panel
charged with reviewing Dallas police narcotics procedures to mostly police
officials.

Group members and law enforcement experts say the panel should broaden its
membership to be effective.

The review board was established to include members from the Drug
Enforcement Administration, the U.S. attorney's office and the district
attorney's office, as well as police officials and a citizen chairman.

Creating the panel was one of several recommendations made following a DEA
review of the narcotics division. Police Chief Terrell Bolton requested the
review in January after the disclosure that a series of large narcotics
arrests made with the help of paid confidential informants later turned out
to be bogus.

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At its first meeting in July, eight of the 10 people present were Dallas
police officials, according to information obtained through a freedom of
information request. The only nonpolice members present were DEA Special
Agent in Charge Sherri Strange and the committee chairman, Todd Meier, a
Dallas businessman and former Dallas County prosecutor.

Three police lieutenants and one captain who were present were recent
transfers and had been in the narcotics division less than a week before
attending the meeting.

Chief Bolton agreed that the panel needs to have a full membership as
intended, but he said he understands that possible conflicts could keep
membership limited until the investigation concludes.

"That's the spirit of it, and I think everybody wanted to be there," he said.

Mike Carnes, first assistant district attorney, said officials determined
that the district attorney's office should not be a part of the committee
while a federal investigation continues into the arrests and prosecutions
of those involved in the bogus drug deals. Once the investigation wraps up,
Mr. Carnes said, the district attorney's office will participate.

At the U.S. attorney's office, spokeswoman Kathy Colvin said no one told
the agency about the July meeting.

Agent Strange said the attendance at the first meeting led to a discussion
that was limited mostly to introductions.

"It's basically an ongoing investigation, and there's a conflict of
interest," she said. "That's also why the meeting was somewhat abbreviated
- - it was only partial membership. After the investigation all the members
will join and participate freely."

Mr. Meier said the July meeting was "candid and open" despite the lack of
attendance from the U.S. attorney's and the district attorney's offices.

"It's effective, but it would be a lot more effective with everyone
participating," he said.

Although the next meeting has not been scheduled, Mr. Meier said he won't
necessarily wait for the federal investigation to conclude before calling
another meeting. The committee is charged with meeting approximately every
three months, and he said he's considering holding the next meeting
sometime in October.

"I can't base it on their schedule because I don't know when they're going
to finish," he said.

Sam Walker, a criminal justice professor at the University of Nebraska,
said the committee in its current formation may have trouble objectively
reviewing police policies. More important, the perception of independence
is lacking in the board's current makeup, said Mr. Walker, who specializes
in police oversight and police misconduct.

"It's not just independence - it's the appearance of independence, and this
committee clearly doesn't meet that," he said.

Two police detectives, Senior Cpl. Mark Delapaz and Officer Eddie Herrera,
remain on administrative leave while the FBI investigates the questionable
narcotics arrests that the two officers made while working with paid
confidential informants.

In court papers, the two officers have denied criminal wrongdoing.

In dozens of cases, Mexican immigrants were arrested and jailed for
possessing large amounts of cocaine or methamphetamine. Although some
professed innocence and no knowledge of the crimes they were arrested for,
they spent months in jail before tests of the powdery substances found them
to be almost entirely crushed gypsum - the main ingredient in Sheetrock and
pool chalk.

Federal prosecutors have reached plea bargains with three paid confidential
police informants who worked on the fraudulent drug cases in exchange for
their testimony involving how the arrests were orchestrated.

Prosecutors have since thrown out more than 80 drug cases linked to the
officers or informants because of credibility questions raised in the
investigation.