DRUG COP IS CLEARED OF UTTERING RACE SLURS

A commander of a countywide drug enforcement
unit who was accused of using racial slurs and referring
to African-Americans as lazy was cleared of wrongdoing
by a civilian oversight committee, sheriff's officials said Tuesday.

Allegations against Andy Dourvris, a Cook County sheriff's deputy who
was former deputy director of the Metropolitan Enforcement Group, were
dropped recently due to insufficient evidence, said spokeswoman Sally
Daly.

The case was reviewed by the civilian Merit Board, which weighs
disciplinary action against deputies.

But Daley said Dourvris, who had been assigned to desk duty under his
old rank of sergeant after charges were filed, will return to duty as
a sergeant.

Dourvris could not be reached for comment, but his attorney, Paul
Geiger, said he would seek back pay for time Dourvris lost while
awaiting his hearing.

"He was demoted because of this," Geiger said. "He was making way
less. So they have to pay."

Another former MEG supervisor, Fred Guerra, was suspended for 180 days
for "conduct unbecoming an officer" last month after he admitted using
racist and sexist slurs, officials said.

Guerra also admitted that he occasionally wore a black "Sambo" mask
around the office, which he claimed had also been used sometimes by
white agents during undercover assignments.

Guerra will begin his suspension on May 1. He also had been assigned
to desk duty while waiting for a Merit Board hearing.

The allegations against the two supervisors were made by several
African-American officers, including Yorli Huff, a black woman who was
hired by the sheriff's police in 1992 and assigned to the Metropolitan
Enforcement Group unit to make undercover buys.

Huff claimed she was derided as inept and called offensive names. She
maintains that her career was damaged by the mistreatment.

The MEG unit is made up of officers from the sheriff's office, the
state police and suburban police departments. It was created 27 years
ago to combat low-level drug dealing.

The sheriff's police started an investigation into racism in the unit
after Huff filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission in 1997.

Huff also filed a pending civil suit against the MEG unit, Dourvris
and Guerra.