AFTER CRASH, POLICE INFORMANT USE RE-EVALUATED

IN THE wake of a Sunday night crash that left a Berkeley woman maimed and an
informant for the state police charged with drunken driving and aggravated
assault, the state attorney general now is considering setting guidelines
for police use of civilian sources.

The jailed driver, whose extensive record includes numerous motor vehicle
violations, had been freed from a cell only two days earlier so he could
assist in a police investigation.

"Law enforcement does, in fact, rely on the assistance of informants to
pursue investigations and to bring others to justice," said Attorney General
Peter G. Verniero.

"Informants are not always model citizens. That's a fact of life we have to
deal with," he said. "I'm open to the possibility of considering whether we
need to set uniform standards regarding adult informants, particularly those
used by the state police.

"But the system depends in some measure on informants. That is a reality."

For Lillian Britton, the police practice of using criminals to help catch
other criminals resulted in a crash that crushed her left hand and caused
the loss of her left index finger.

On Jan. 8, at the request of the state police, Superior Court Judge Edward
J. Turnbach released Joseph M. Everett from the Ocean County Jail. He was to
help in a criminal investigation, details of which haven't been made public.

Everett had been in jail since December because he had failed to make
required court appearances stemming from guilty pleas he entered last
October to charges of eluding, theft and escape. There were also several
outstanding bench warrants for his arrest issued in Barnegat, Stafford and
Jersey City, for failing to appear in municipal court on motor vehicle
charges, police said.

Less than 48 hours after his release, Everett's long criminal record grew
longer.

Police said that around 9:30 p.m. last Sunday, he was drunk and driving in
excess of 85 mph on Route 9 in Lacey when his car slammed into Britton's
vehicle, sending it about 250 feet through the air and into a utility pole.

The day after the crash, Turnbach revoked Everett's bail and issued another
bench warrant for his arrest. Everett is once again behind bars in the Ocean
County jail.

State police yesterday refused to comment on the decision to seek Everett's
release from jail. A state police spokesman said Thursday that authorities
weigh the risk of releasing a prisoner, but in this case, "the risk was
greater than anticipated."

Requests to free prisoners so that they can help police are left to a
judge's discretion. There are no state guidelines or court rules for the
judge to follow, according to a spokesman for the state Administrative
Office of the Courts.

Turnbach has declined to speak to a reporter about the decision. Everett's
lawyer, Robert P. Ward, could not be reached for comment.

Verniero would not speak specifically about the Everett case. He explained,
generally, how informants are used and how that might change.

In both state and federal cases, requests for release from incarceration are
usually made by "mid-level" managers in the law enforcement agencies, not
the top brass, Verniero said.

Investigators working on individual cases have considerable leeway in
determining what they need to pursue their case, and rightly so, he said.
But the requests are reviewed by a judge, so there are safeguards, he said.

"The question . . . is should there be uniform standards from the
prosecutor's or law enforcement's point of view?

Verniero is wary of regulations that would make use of informants too
"cumbersome," noting that police often have to make swift decisions during
investigations.

In August 1997, Verniero issued guidelines for police considering the use of
juveniles as informants, designed to protect young people. These were the
result of lengthy discussion with prosecutors and police throughout the
state, Verniero said.

The attorney general said he would use the same process to determine if
police think adult informant guidelines are needed. If so, Verniero said he
would put together a task force to start preparing them.