JUDGE STRONGLY CRITICIZED POLICE AND PROSECUTORS

PORTSMOUTH, Va. (AP) -- A judge strongly criticized police and
prosecutors for targeting petty drug users rather than going after
major suppliers in their efforts to stem the city's illegal drug flow.

Circuit Judge James A. Cales Jr. -- in a stern courtroom lecture --
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.

"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. 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.

Ms. 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.

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{ 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. Ms. Wright allegedly
had 0.10 gram of heroin, police said.