BINI SHOULD BE FIRED

Jan. 17, 2001 - We deplore the decision to allow Officer Joseph Bini to
return to work with the Denver Police Department after providing the wrong
address on a no-knock search warrant that led to the 1999 shooting death of
Mexican immigrant Ismael Mena.

Bini should have been fired. His was no mere paperwork error - it was a
major blunder that cost the life of an innocent human being.

Denver Manager of Safety Ari Zavaras and Police Chief Gerry Whitman made
that call Monday, citing as the principal reason Bini would keep his job a
lack of oversight that lies more with DPD than with the officer. Zavaras
said that, "as an agency, we have to stand up and take responsibility,"
adding that he didn't want to make a scapegoat of Bini. On one level, that
may seem even-handed and rational.

But what of the victim of this dreadful episode? Mena, who was in this
country legally, was the father of nine children. He was gunned down Sept.
29, 1999, when a SWAT team burst into his darkened bedroom at 3738 High St.
Officers said Mena pulled a .22-caliber revolver and fired at them. The
city later settled a wrongful death suit with the Mena family for $400,000.

Bini, who will be reassigned to other duties, has been suspended since he
was charged with three felonies in December 1999. He was allowed to enter
an "Alford plea" to first-degree official misconduct last October,
permitting him to sidestep responsibility for the Mena killing - and keep
his job. An Alford plea meant Bini didn't admit guilt but feared conviction
at trial.

Bini's administrative punishment was a 90-day unpaid suspension, an un duly
mild rebuke, in our view. Because he already has been on suspension for a
year, Bini will be able to return to work almost immediately. He will be
reimbursed for the remaining nine months he was on suspension. But the fact
remains that a man is dead because of Bini's incompetence. Bini, relying on
an informant who identified the wrong house as the scene of a drug buy,
provided false and erroneous information to obtain the no-knock warrant.
The officer failed to ascertain that the drug buy took place where the
informant said it had. In fact, the deal allegedly had occurred at 3742
High St. No drugs were found in Mena's house but were at 3742 High St.,
which was raided later.

The Post believes Bini's punishment doesn't fit the severity of his
mistake. For example, if an ordinary citizen runs a stop sign while driving
but causes no injury, a fine and point assessment are appropriate. However,
if somebody is killed, the driver could face vehicular homicide charges.

Since the Mena killing, the DPD has adopted stricter standards and
supervision for no-knock search warrant applications, and the number of
raids dropped by two-thirds, from 129 in 1999 to 42 last year. Whitman and
Zavaras hope the more stringent policies will preclude another tragedy like
the Mena killing. So do we.

A police union official's statement that Mena wouldn't be dead if he hadn't
pulled a gun strikes us as an unfeeling attempt to blame the victim.

What we haven't heard is a formal, public apology to the Mena family.

Bini, we are told, is extremely remorseful, as well he might be. But he
should not be employed in a position of public trust.