POLICE SCAN DRUG RAID TACTICS

Review of weapons handling, training follows fatal shooting

Six years ago, Rochester police stormed a suspected drug house on Hudson
Avenue.

On the way inside the door, Officer James Holloway shot an unarmed Lonnie
Mikel in the arm. Holloway said then that he slipped on ice and the gun went
off.

The case was settled out of court this month, with the city paying Mikel
$60,000.

It was remarkably similar to the fatal shooting of Vernard "Vandy" Davis
during a raid on Joseph Avenue this month. Officer David Gebhardt said he
stumbled and his weapon discharged, striking Davis in the chest.

Matt Fusco, a lawyer who represented Mikel, argued in the lawsuit that the
police department's drug raid policy is flawed. He said that officers
keeping their weapons' safeties off during raids is dangerous -- and some
weapons-training experts agreed.

"That's one of the lessons that should have been learned with Lonnie Mikel,
when the injury was just an arm," said Fusco, who also represented United
Church Ministries in a lawsuit when Officer Gary M. Smith fatally shot
Calvin Green, an unarmed man hiding in a crawl space, in 1988. "When you
talk about lessons, that's the easiest one to learn."

Holloway refused to comment on the issue.

Rochester Police Department policy calls for officers to keep their weapons'
safeties in the "off" position during drug raids, and their fingers off the
triggers unless they intend to shoot.

Because of Davis' death, Rochester police are reviewing all aspects of their
drug raids: the policy, the equipment and the training procedures.

One possible change involves the type of shotgun officers carry on drug
raids. Police are considering switching from the Remington 870 -- the most
popular police shotgun, which has a trigger that is easy to fire -- to the
Mossberg 590, whose trigger travels farther than the Remington's and
requires more pressure to fire. The Mossberg's safety is on the receiver,
away from the trigger, while the Remington's safety is right behind the
trigger guard.

Whether the department will change the "safety off" policy remains to be
seen.

"Our biggest concern is, what are we going to encounter, what is behind that
door?" said Sgt. Carlos Garcia, the department spokesman. "With the safety
off, the officer can engage the target very quickly. We don't know if
there's going to be a pit bull behind the door or a weapon."

The bottom line is, the public wants police to continue the war on drugs,
and police need to protect themselves in that war, said Ron Evangelista,
president of the Rochester police union.

"Don't clamor for drug enforcement if you can't take the possible
consequences," he said.

Police and weapons-training officials are split on whether to keep the
safety on or off.

Hubert Williams, executive director of the Police Foundation in Washington,
D.C., said officers need every advantage they can get in drug house raids.

"If there's someone with an AK-47, by the time you get the safety off, you'd
be shot," Williams said.

Others disagree.

"It's essential that the safety be left on until the decision to fire is
made," said Emanuel Kapelsohn of Bowers, Pa., president of Peregrine Corp.,
a firearms training school.

"With the safety on, you can disengage and fire it in half a second. There
is no significant tactical disadvantage to having the safety on.

"If the safety is off, inevitably there will be situations such as an
officer being jostled or losing his balance, and that will unavoidably lead
to the accidental firing of the shotgun."

Said Chuck Klein, a National Rifle Association-certified firearms instructor
in the Cincinnati area: "I can't imagine going into a situation like that
with the safety off. It just isn't good practice. You could shoot a fellow
officer."

David Miller, a criminal investigator for the state of Florida, said the key
component is officer training.

"In virtually every accidental firearm discharge, there was some basic
safety rule violated," Miller said.

"The Remington 870 . . . is nearly impossible to fire without pulling the
trigger even with the safety off. People who are trained properly know not
to put their finger on the trigger until they are ready to fire."

Garcia would not discuss the specifics of Rochester police officers'
training, saying only that it is "extensive."

Each police department sets its own policy regarding its officers' training
and weapons. There are no universally accepted policies -- and no available
statistics about how many people are killed nationwide during drug raids.

The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 was intended to
fill that gap, by directing the attorney general to collect information on
excessive police use of force.

The Justice Department provided money to the International Association of
Chiefs of Police to develop a National Police Use of Force Database. Federal
funding ended in 1997, but the IACP has continued the project. However,
departments that send data to IACP do so anonymously and voluntarily.

From 1996 to 1999 -- the last year for which statistics were available --
only 319 of 2,500 law enforcement agencies nationwide sent data about police
shootings to IACP.

That data showed that police used force fewer than 3.5 times per 10,000
calls for service, but it did not measure how many times people are shot
during drug raids.

The IACP report apparently is obscure. Mike Giglia, the agent in charge of
the Rochester FBI office, said he had never heard of it.

Rochester police do not submit data to the project. However, Garcia said
Rochester police on drug raids have shot far more dogs -- particularly pit
bulls -- than people.