COPS SHOULDN'T LOOK LIKE ROBBERS

Police chief Fred Lau acts to prevent further tragedies such as the
shooting death of 17-year-old Sheila Detoy

POLICE CHIEF Fred Lau has wisely begun a revision of methods to be used by
plainclothes officers in confrontations with criminal suspects, focusing on
the need for cops to identify themselves clearly.

The decision to lay down new rules is prompted by the tragic outcome of a
stakeout May 13, when a San Francisco police bullet killed a 17-year-old
girl riding in a car with a drug fugitive and another young man. The driver
of the fleeing car reportedly thought the plainclothes cops, trying to
serve an arrest warrant, were would-be robbers.

Controversy has swirled around the death of Sheila Detoy in the three
months since that fatal encounter. Officer Gregory Breslin, who fired at
driver Michael Negron, 24, and instead hit Detoy, said he did so in
self-defense as the car sped down a Lake Merced driveway despite a police
effort to block it. Officer Michael Moran, hearing shots and believing
Breslin was in danger, then fired at the rear of the car, shattering the
back window.

The fleeing auto got away with the sought-after fugitive, Raymondo Cox, 21,
in the back seat. He was arrested a few days later, and Negron turned
himself in on July 13. Negron now is charged with murder - he is accused of
having caused the death of his friend Sheila. But the Negron family's
lawyer and other critics of San Francisco police blame the officers and
dispute the self-defense claim.

Police officials so far have upheld the officers' account and District
Attorney Terence Hallinan agrees with that judgment, though he says he is
keeping the matter open pending Negron's preliminary hearing in October.

So the policemen's actions are likely to be scrutinized in court as well as
by the Police Department and district attorney. We don't know what the
result will be when all the testimony is recorded, but we're certain
there's a better way to enforce the law than by killing 17-year-old girls.

Negron's defense presumably will be that he did not know he was being
stopped by cops and that Breslin was at fault for shooting. The issue of
who is to blame could also be adjudicated in an expected lawsuit by Sheila
Detoy's family.

Fortunately, Lau is not waiting for the long judicial process to play out
before moving to prevent repeats of the Lake Merced tragedy. If mistaken
identity involving non-uniformed police was a factor in the unintended
killing of the teenage girl, it will not be the first time a failure by
cops to make their purpose known has caused injury or death to innocent
people - especially in drug busts where violence is a danger on all sides.

Police should announce their presence unmistakably when the moment to
pounce has arrived. Give the undercover guys bigger badges, unique jackets
proclaiming "POLICE" at the proper time or some other means of making
themselves known to their quarry. Don't let the cops be taken for robbers.

1998 San Francisco Examiner Page A 14

Checked-by: (Joel W. Johnson)