EXPERTS SET TO REVIEW METRO NARCOTICS UNIT IN WAKE OF SCANDAL

A team of law-enforcement experts is to arrive today to audit the
Louisville-Jefferson County Metro Narcotics Unit in the wake of a scandal
that led to indictments against two county police detectives.

The team from the Police Executive Research Forum, or PERF, will be in
Louisville all week to conduct interviews, collect data and observe
operations of Metro Narcotics, said Lt. Col. Mike Simpson, deputy county
police chief.

''We hope to get a completely objective review,'' Simpson said. The
auditors will take a close look at every operating procedure ''and see how
it stacks up to national standards.''

Craig Fraser, PERF's director of management services who will direct the
project, said the audit will assess current operations to see what
improvements can be made rather than focusing on issues surrounding the
criminal investigation of the two detectives.

A $60,000 contract between the county police and PERF was approved in April
by Fiscal Court.

Metro Narcotics, staffed by both county and Louisville police officers, is
currently under county jurisdiction. Under the system of rotating
leadership, city police will take command of the unit in January.

PERF, based in Washington, D.C., is a nonprofit organization whose mission
is to improve policing.

After the March indictments of former detectives Mark Watson and Christie
Richardson -- each charged with more than 450 counts -- county police Chief
William Carcara said the department would take a critical look at Metro
Narcotics' operations.

Watson and Richardson, partners in the unit, are accused of fabricating
information to obtain search warrants, tampering with drug evidence,
pocketing money meant to pay informants and forging judges' signatures.
They have both pleaded innocent and resigned from the force.

PERF's Fraser, who has conducted several police agency management studies
and performance audits, said the goal is to complete the audit by the end
of summer.

The study will review everything from recruiting and certifying informants
to procedures used to collect, process and store evidence, according to the
contract between county police and PERF.

''There's a willingness there to bring in a team of outsiders and say, 'We
want another view,' '' Fraser said, adding that agencies often conduct
their own audits, which may or may not be as comprehensive.

PERF auditors will conduct interviews, observe work routines and may even
ride along with Metro Narcotics detectives, Fraser said.

The data will be compiled in a report that will be reviewed by national
experts including Michael D. Schrunk, district attorney of Multnomah
County, Ore., chairman of a regional organized crime narcotics task force;
Ronald Goldstock, the longtime head of the New York State Organized Crime
Task Force; Drew Diamond, PERF deputy director and community policing
expert; and Clifford Karchmer, PERF director of program development, Fraser
said.

The on-site team members also have extensive law-enforcement backgrounds,
including experience in managing or working in narcotics units, he said.