CASUALTIES OF "WAR"

ANNETTE GREEN was a casualty of the nation's "war" on drugs -- and her own
bad judgment in getting involved with them.

When a nation fights a war on its streets and sends a small platoon of
heavily armed and armored officers into people's homes, there are going to
be casualties. In this week's shooting in Wellston, the casualty was
"Nette" Green, the 37-year-old mother of six boys.

Civil rights leaders fault the officer who shot Ms. Green because she was
not carrying a weapon. They say she had a phone in her hand. Or she may
have been carrying a carriage bolt. Still, from the officer's vantage
point, a split-second hesitation can be fatal. Judgment calls are part of
the job. In a dimly lit staircase, he thought he saw a gun or a knife and
fired four shots in self-defense. As tragic as the result is, the officer
may have been justified in his use of force.

Critics point out that the Secret Service only fired to wound Robert
Pickett, even though he was waving a gun around the White House on
Wednesday. Why couldn't the officers in Wellston have done the same? James
Fyfe, an expert on deadly force at Temple University, calls this wishful
thinking. An officer who thinks he is threatened is firing to stop the
suspect and that requires firing at the torso, he says.

But Mr. Fyfe, who was a New York police officer, says he is disturbed by a
growing number of incidents like the one in Wellston -- incidents where
heavily armed drug agents, their adrenaline flowing, mistakenly fire at
people in homes they are searching. In one case from Mansfield, Ohio, for
example, officers shot a 15-year-old girl who had a shoe in her hand.

St. Louis County police point out that they execute about 200 search
warrants a year and that Ms. Green is the first person ever to die. They
also argue that the use of overwhelming force -- about a dozen officers
were involved in the Wellston search -- is one reason the number of people
hurt is so low.

But the way St. Louis County police investigate incidents like this one and
last year's Jack-in-the Box shooting, heightens suspicions in the
community. In both cases, the police department immediately said the
officers had acted properly and then began an investigation. This looks
like prejudging the case. The department refuses to release the names of
the officers who fired their weapons. That makes it impossible to check on
the officers' records to see if a pattern of using excessive force exists.
The use of deadly force is an awesome responsibility; it should not be
wielded anonymously.

Drugs are a serious problem in this country. They ruin lives and rob people
of their potential. But the literal mindset of "war" on drugs is dangerous
to both sides. Tuesday, a mother paid for her bad judgment with her life.
Police found a small amount of marijuana and crack, as well as a number of
weapons in her apartment. The question we have to ask as a nation is
whether it is worth it to use the tactics of war to fight our own people.