SURREAL CASE ILLUSTRATES EXCESSES OF DRUG WAR

`HOME Improvement" met "America's Most Wanted" at the Tacoma residence of
George Joseph Phillips when he tried to get a new gas hot water heater and
furnace installed more than two years ago.

Phillips got heat, but from an unexpected source: the Tacoma Police
Department. News reports and public records available through the Attorney
General's Office reveal a surreal case that illuminates the ugly excesses of
law enforcement's war on drugs.

Based on a dubious tip from nosy furnace-installation workers employed by
Seattle-based Washington Energy Services, the police raided Phillips' home
during a four-and-a-half-hour search for suspected
methamphetamine-manufacturing chemicals. Phillips and his girlfriend were
handcuffed in separate cars during the humiliating public ordeal; their kids
were locked in the back seat of one of the vehicles.

Meanwhile, according to a police report, officers suited up in protective
"suits, gloves and cartridge respirators" and headed straight for Phillips'
laundry room. The stash included: several chemicals - one labeled "Kodak" -
developing paper and film-drying racks.

A meth lab? No, merely a photo lab. As Phillips said in a consumer complaint
filed with the Attorney General's Office, all the chemicals were clearly
labeled as photo-developing materials except for a container of sodium
sulfite used to preserve salmon eggs for fishing.

Phillips is suing the utility, its parent company and the Tacoma Police
Department. He has a compelling case. Employees of Washington Energy
Services acted as undercover agents and, at the suggestion of police,
rummaged through cabinets and drawers nowhere near their in-home work site.

Washington Energy Services admitted in a letter to the Attorney General last
year, that the snooping installation crew was made up of "lay persons . .
basing their assumptions on generic media statements" about what a meth lab
might look like. Why were Tacoma police granted a search warrant on such
flimsy reports?

And what's next: Water-cooler Columbos? Maytag repairmen-detectives?
Chimney-sweeper vice squads?

A serious breach of constitutional rights took place at the Phillips' home
in the name of anti-drug enforcement. At the very least, a remedial course
in the Bill of Rights is in order for those responsible.

Copyright © 1998 The Seattle Times Company