OFFICER WON'T BE CHARGED FOR DRUGS IN BACKPACK

July 28, 2000 - No charges will be filed against a Denver police officer
whose forgotten backpack turned up with drugs inside, Boulder police said
Thursday.

"Numerous people had access to this backpack, and there's no way to
identify who owns the drugs," said Boulder police spokeswoman Jennifer
Bray.

The Denver officer, who hasn't been publicly identified, was reassigned to
a desk job and an internal investigation was launched after Boulder police
found 4.6 grams of crystal meth - known as crank on the street - in his
backpack.

It wasn't clear Thursday night what effect the decision by Boulder
authorities will have on Denver's internal investigation.

Authorities say the incident started on a Saturday in mid-June when the
officer attended an open-air religious gathering in Boulder and forgot his
backpack.

When he returned to his Denver home and discovered that he had left his
backpack, he asked a friend in Nederland to pick it up, said Boulder Sgt.
Bob Whitson.

"The friend goes and gets it but not until Monday," Whitson said. "The pack
was sitting out in the open for two days."

The friend was leaving on a trip and took the backpack with him, Whitson
said.

When the friend returned a week later, the two agreed he would leave the
backpack at the lost and found at the RTD bus station in Boulder for the
officer to pick up. The friend affixed the officer's name to the backpack.

When the officer tried to pick up the backpack on a weekend, the lost and
found was closed.

"It actually sits there for about three weeks," Whitson said.

Then, on July 17, police were called to the station because a backpack
found aboard a bus contained marijuana, Whitson said. Workers asked police
to take the officer's backpack too because it had been there so long.

That's when Boulder authorities discovered the crystal meth.

"Who knows who had access to the backpack?" Whitson said. "There's no way
you can show he had possession."