COUNCIL PROBES 2 COP GROUPS

SAN MARCOS RESIDENTS VOICE COMPLAINTS

SAN MARCOS -- City police officials are facing tough questions from City
Council members concerned about the cost-effectiveness and oversight of two
special task forces. Residents have complained about the task forces to the
City Council, which asked their leaders to come back next month with status
reports on their operations, which target drug dealing and underage
drinking.

Complaints about the Hays County Narcotics Task Force focused on a
four-month undercover operation in Wimberley that ended in May.

Twenty-one people were arrested in the sweep, and one person died.

A San Marcos police officer shot and killed Wimberley resident Alex "Rusty"
Windle, 25, when he answered his door holding an assault rifle. The officer
later was cleared of wrongdoing.

"With blood now shed and life now taken, how much does this drug task force
really cost?" Southwest Texas State University professor Harvey Ginsburg
said.

Several residents told the council Monday that early morning raids to catch
non-violent, street level dealers or users are too risky. They said Windle
easily could have been picked up at work later in the day without incident.

The Texas Observer magazine also reported the task force rented a room at a
Wimberley resort for four months for a paid informant who threw parties
where teens as young as 14 were given alcohol and drugs.

"We have not heard any complaints from any minor or any parent," said Regis
DeArza, the task force commander.

"The informant must sign an agreement that he will not break the law, but we
certainly can not watch an informant 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The
people complaining about this are the defendants," he said.

Council member Louis Doiron Jr. said he has heard several complaints, but
none from people charged during the raids.

"I think there are a lot of people in our community who are very upset that
we have paid informants possibly doing very bad things," Doiron said.

"I think there is a sense in this community that we are not always concerned
about violent crime but we have been going after some domestic, peaceful
people."

The second task force, the Alcohol Enforcement Team, was formed in May after
two alcohol-related deaths of young people in Hays County.

The team, which operates Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, shuts down
parties. It also investigates underage drinking, alcohol sales to minors and
cases of adults providing alcohol to minors.

Council members said they had heard a half-dozen complaints about the task
force at meetings as well as others via the phone.

Mayor Billy Moore said most complaints were that officers allegedly harassed
legal drinkers and intimidated people.

Alcohol Task Force Commander Bill Glasgow said the team uses young uniformed
officers in plainclothes roles. But he said that before he was appointed
commander, the team had a different leader every night.

"It is clear to me the problem became no middle-management type to keep the
pulse of it," Glasgow said.

Glasgow said that between May and December of last year, the task force made
168 arrests and issued 1,218 citations, numbers that dwarf complaints from
the public.

"Even if every one of them is a valid compliant, it's a pretty low number,"
he said.

He acknowledged he just now is drafting a set of standard operating
procedures for the alcohol task force.

"You still do not have standard operating procedures. That bothers me
deeply," Councilman Ed Mihalkanin said.

The task force costs $5,000 a month, all in overtime pay, which Mihalkanin
also found questionable.

"That does not seem to me to be rational," he said.

San Marcos Police Chief Stephen Griffith said the alcohol enforcement team
has been a success.

"Loud party calls decreased from 313 between September and November 1998 to
187 during the same time this year," he said. "I think that is directly
related to the task force."

Some speakers, including community activist Joe Ptak, called for creation of
a citizens committee to provide oversight for the police.

"There is need for a civilian review over law enforcement," he said. "You
have a task force allowed to peek in windows, walk into backyards and walk
through open doors into homes, with no policy in place and no oversight for
six months."

The City Council received a report from the city manager's office Dec. 28
about how such committees operate in several other cities.

Moore said the city's Civil Service Commission now can hear complaints
against officers.

Councilman Earl Moseley Jr. said he wants to wait until the reports from the
two task force commanders come back next month before he decides how the
city should proceed. The reports will focus on cost and results.

Council members also asked that they be given copies of all citizen
complaints related to the alcohol task force.

"Right now we are creating standard operating procedures and creating a
dialog, and that's a start," Moseley said.