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.