NARCOTICS UNIT HAS TROUBLED PAST

Experts Say Problems Highlight Need To Closely Supervise Officers

When two Dallas police narcotics officers were killed by friendly fire in
1991 and 1992, police officials revised department rules for officers
assigned to risky undercover work.

After $50,000 disappeared from a narcotics division safe in 1996,
supervisors changed the procedures for handling drug money.

Scrutiny has again focused on practices of the Police Department's
narcotics division, this time with a federal investigation into dozens of
questionable drug busts by undercover detectives.

Officers working to fight the illegal drug trade in Dallas have been at the
center of some of the biggest department inquiries in the last decade, in
part because of the risky nature of the work, unconventional assignments
and the temptations they face on the job, experts say.

Derailed careers and prison terms for officers have been the result. Bureau
reorganizations and training changes followed some of the cases, although
investigators wrapped up one exhaustive criminal investigation without
reaching any conclusions.

The periodic problems - at least seven serious incidents in the last 10
years - underscore the need for close supervision of narcotics officers and
other officers who make narcotics arrests or handle drugs, experts say.

The FBI is examining whether drugs seized in at least 24 large drug busts
in Dallas were authentic and allegations that police framed innocent
people. Prosecutors are working to dismiss 74 pending and adjudicated cases
linked to the problems. Dallas County prosecutors are also reviewing busts
made by other detectives in the division.

The procedures that guide undercover narcotics work are painstaking but
necessary, current and former narcotics division supervisors say. When
problems arise, it's usually a result of not following procedures.

"When you start taking someone's freedom, you got to make sure your stuff
is right," said one current Dallas division supervisor, who spoke on
condition of anonymity. Officers in the narcotics division have been
required to sign agreements not to discuss the investigation at the risk of
losing their jobs.

The last major investigation involving officers and illegal narcotics
wrapped up in 2000, when two patrol officers were convicted of stealing
money from drug dealers and undocumented immigrants in 1997 and 1998.
Quentis Roper received a 17-year prison sentence, and Daniel Maples was
sentenced to two years in prison.

The FBI investigated the narcotics division in 1996 at the request of
former Chief Ben Click following the disappearance of $50,000 from a
narcotics bureau safe inside a locked office.

More than 120 officers took polygraph tests and submitted to questioning,
but no suspects were ever caught. Following the investigation, department
commanders revised the division's procedures, tightening access to money in
the safe.

Despite the new efforts to keep track of money, a veteran narcotics officer
reported in July 2000 that $15,000 in cash was stolen from a briefcase
inside his unmarked car. The officer told investigators that he had
forgotten that the briefcase was in his vehicle parked in his driveway over
the weekend. The money was to be used to pay phone bills and other expenses
of undercover officers.

In 1994, two patrol officers were fired and two were reprimanded for
breaking department rules during crackdowns on drug dealers in South
Dallas. Investigators found that the officers had searched apartments and
vehicles without warrants and later lied to internal investigators about
their actions. One of the fired officers was later reinstated.

In 1993, two former officers received 30-year federal prison sentences for
extorting more than $50,000, as well as guns and drugs, from crack dealers
in the Oak Cliff neighborhood they patrolled in 1990. At the time, police
officials described the case as the most serious incident of corruption in
department history.

The two officers - known on the streets they patrolled as "Cruiser" and
"Bruiser" - were convicted of extorting money from drug-house operators,
receiving payments of $1,000 to $2,000 per week to keep police from raiding
their businesses. The two also kidnapped two drug dealers and threatened to
take them to jail unless their bosses paid $5,000, witnesses in their
trials testified.

Two separate friendly fire shooting deaths of narcotics officers in 1991
and 1992 led to changes in buy-bust procedures and other guidelines for
undercover detectives.

In January 1992, Officer Harold Hammons was fatally wounded when another
officer's shotgun accidentally discharged while they were executing a
search warrant.

In December 1991, Detective Larry Bromley died when three backup officers
fired into a car where he was conducting a drug sting. The officers
mistakenly thought that Detective Bromley was in the front seat of the car,
and they fired into the rear seat when shooting erupted inside the car.

A review of the narcotics division following the friendly-fire shootings
noted that the division had expanded threefold while the training budget
was slashed by 85 percent. The outside reviewers also recommended that
officers in the unit felt pressure to make arrests at the expense of their
safety, and that detectives relied too much on informants to make arrests.

Phoenix police Lt. Ron Hergert, who spent two weeks studying Dallas police
procedures following the friendly-fire shootings and helped draft the
policy changes, said last week that supervision is the key to reducing risk
to officers and making sure investigations are sound.

"People who are attracted to the job of being a narc tend to be thrill
seekers, guys who are willing to do things that other people wouldn't do,"
Lt. Hergert said. "It's your job not to let these guys who work for you
take stupid risks."

Commanders also need to be wary of the temptations that go along with the
unconventional assignments, he said.

"Management needs to be very wary that there are temptations," Lt. Hergert
said. "Officers are human, and they are faced with temptations. It's an
ever-present concern for management."

(SIDEBAR)

Timeline

2000: Dallas police Officer Quentis Roper is sentenced to 17 years in
prison and Officer Daniel Maples is sentenced to two years in prison for
stealing money from drug dealers in 1997 and 1998.

2000: $15,000 is stolen from a briefcase inside an unmarked police car
parked in a narcotics officer's driveway.

1996: An FBI investigation into the disappearance of $50,000 cash from a
narcotics division safe fails to identify any suspects. The investigation
leads to changes in the procedures for handling drug money.

1994: Two officers are fired and two are reprimanded for conducting illegal
searches of drug dealers and later lying about it to internal investigators.

1993: Two former officers are sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for
extorting more than $50,000, as well as guns and drugs, from crack dealers.

1991 and 1992: Two separate shooting deaths of narcotics officers by fellow
officers lead to changes in buy-bust procedures and other guidelines for
undercover detectives.