JUDGE SCOLDS PORTSMOUTH POLICE, PROSECUTORS ON ANTI-DRUG TACTICS

(Portsmouth) -- A judge lashed out last week at police and prosecutors
for their seemingly ``lazy'' effort to clean up the city's illegal
drug flow by targeting petty users rather than going after major suppliers.

Circuit Judge James A. Cales Jr. -- in a stern courtroom lecture that
spread quickly beyond courthouse walls -- said drug enforcement in
Portsmouth is like a ``puppy chasing its tail'' and going nowhere.

``I don't know whether it's laziness, whether it's ignorance. I really
don't know what it is, but I am sick and tired of somebody coming in
here with a sale of cocaine and a conspiracy to sell cocaine on some
mess like this,'' Cales said, referring to cases in which the
defendants were caught with minute amounts of cocaine or heroin.
``I've got better things to do with my life and I would think you
would have better things to do with yours, and I would think the
Police Department would have more crimes to investigate that were real.''

Cales then threw out several drug cases.

His blistering comments came Aug. 13, when police and prosecutors
sought convictions against alleged drug dealers who were rounded up
during an undercover investigation.

Cales said police and prosecutors are spending their time and ``tons
of money'' catching and prosecuting ``junkies'' and petty street
dealers. In the meantime, the people who are ``getting rich'' from
Portsmouth's drug market and the bigger cases that can make a dent in
the city's drug trade go untouched, he said.

Commonwealth's Attorney Martin Bullock did not return calls to his
office.

In last week's cases, the defendants were caught with amounts of
cocaine or heroin so small that they were measured in fractions of a
gram. A gram is roughly the weight of a paper clip.

``If you don't have better things to do to enforce the laws of this
city than to bring me a case like this, then I suggest you get a
life,'' Cales told prosecutors and police while hearing the case of
Nathaniel Arthur Gray.

Gray, 50, of Portsmouth, was one of nearly 50 people indicted during
``Operation Shutdown,'' the undercover drug investigation that began
last September. Police have called it a success.

According to the court transcript, Gray passed to an undercover agent
0.10 gram of cocaine from a dealer. He was charged with selling
cocaine and conspiracy to sell cocaine on Jan. 19.

Portsmouth police presented 15 of the drug cases to the court last
week.

Thirteen were dismissed, police said. Two people were convicted. It is
unclear how many of those cases Cales handled.

Portsmouth police said they will continue their drug-fighting efforts,
despite the judge's harsh remarks.

``The judge's comments will not change the way the Police Department
does business,'' said Sgt. Elizabeth Romero, a police
spokeswoman.

According to statistics compiled by the department, 229 people have
been arrested this year by the special investigations unit, with a
total of 339 narcotics charges.

Romero said the Police Department was responding to public concerns
when it launched Operation Shutdown and targeted certain areas of the
city. ``The public has asked us to clean up their neighborhoods,'' she
said.

The cases prosecuted in Portsmouth Circuit Court were solid, Romero
said.

``Any time we bring a case forward, we feel it's a strong case,'' she
said. ``We will continue to bring our cases forward in the manner that
we have done so in the past.''

The federal Drug Enforcement Administration played a small role in the
operation by collaring two alleged drug dealers, a DEA spokesman said.
Those two cases will be prosecuted in federal court.

Cales, who was Portsmouth commonwealth's attorney from 1971 until he
was named a General District Court judge in 1982, said he has not seen
a significant drug case in 12 1/2 years.

``I haven't seen a big drug case in this city since I've been here . .
We're doing nothing but spending tons of money, getting tons of
cases, clogging up the docket, not investigating God knows what is
going on in this city, and you give me stuff like this,'' he said.

After dismissing the case against Gray, Cales dismissed the next case,
against 38-year-old Elaine Wright of Portsmouth. Wright allegedly had
0.10 gram of heroin, police said.

Other cases on the court docket that day also were
dismissed.

Shelton Lee Coley Jr., 24, of Portsmouth was arrested and indicted for
selling cocaine and conspiracy to sell. He was caught with 0.15 gram
of cocaine, police said. His case was dismissed.

William Robinson, 34, of Portsmouth allegedly was caught with 0.12
gram of heroin. His case also was dismissed. Frederick Robinson, 41,
of Portsmouth allegedly had 0.15 gram of heroin, police said. His case
also was dismissed.

Cales spoke about the policy decisions of police and prosecutors over
a period of time. He sent a message that it will take ``hard work''
and a ``dedication to getting the people that really matter.''

``I think the great tragedy is that we do have a drug problem and we
do have people shooting this crap into their arms and we do have
people dying and we're doing virtually nothing about it.''
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Reach John Hopkins at 446-2793 or at JHopkins@pilotonline.com