NARCOTICS AUDIT

The Louisville-Jefferson County Metro Narcotics Unit is going to get
exactly what it needs: a thorough inspection by an independent group
of law enforcement experts.

Jefferson County Police Chief William Carcara's decision to seek an
outside audit of the unit's operations and Jefferson Fiscal Court's
agreement to spend $60,000 for it are the right responses to the
scandal now roiling the unit's credibility.

The investigation into that scandal isn't complete, but the two
detectives involved already have been charged with more than 450
crimes each, prosecutors have had to dismiss more than 30 cases and
free four convicts, and the first of what promise to be many suits
are being filed.

The detectives are alleged to have found one way after another over
an extended period to violate procedures, scam the system and abridge
suspects' rights -- forging warrants, creating fictious cases,
falsifying records and pocketing money intended for informants.

It may not add up to corruption on the level of ''Training Day,'' but
the frequency, duration and variety of the wrongdoing are disturbing
and demand a rigorous review of the unit's procedures and management.

Narcotics work is notoriously hard on police, with great temptations
and pressures pulling in opposite directions -- either to go over the
line to make cases against some awful people or to get in on some of
the cash washing around. Just this spring, drug corruption has been
implicated in the killings of two Eastern Kentucky sheriff
candidates, and, over the years, it has spawned sensational scandals
that have rocked major police departments.

Narcotics units must always be on guard; every aspect of their
operations, from the making of assignments to checking in evidence,
must be governed by strict policies and exposed to close scrutiny and
constant reevalution.

It's possible that the audit will find everything largely as it
should be in the local unit and that these two detectives were just
extraordinarily determined cheats. But it's imperative to find out,
both to repair the damage that's been done and to prevent any more.