METRO COP PLANTED DRUGS IN SUSPECT'S CAR

Sheriff Says Suspensions Will Suffice

There have long been rumors that police canine officers carry around
small quantities of contraband drugs which they can use to contaminate
a motorist's car, causing their dogs to "alert" on the vehicle and
thus justifying an otherwise illegal search of the interior and its
occupants.

Many have dismissed such stories as an urban legend.

But what would happen if a group of Las Vegas Metropolitan police
officers were actually found to have participated in such an activity?
Would all be forgiven with a wrist-slap, if they merely said it was "a
mistake"?

While officers were in the process of arresting local resident Mark
Lilly last July on suspicion of selling harmless legal substances and
claiming they were narcotics, an official police spokesman now admits,
canine officer David Newton placed real controlled drugs in Mr.
Lilly's vehicle. He has since contended he did so "as a training
exercise" for his dog.

It seems pointless to ask whether contaminating active crime scenes is
an accepted time, method, or location for a canine "training
exercise." A better question might be what Officer Newton was doing
carrying narcotics to an active crime scene in the first place. Has he
been charged with possession of those narcotics? Were they of a
quantity that would get anyone else automatically charged with
"possession with intent to sell"?

Police next expect us to believe officer Newton "forgot" he had placed
the drugs in the car, whereupon officers Kevin Collmar and David
Parker searched the car, found the planted drugs, and charged Mr.
Lilly with possession of actual controlled drugs without proper
licenses or prescriptions.

To his credit, canine officer Newton subsequently filled out a notice
to the prosecutor that he himself had possessed and planted the drugs,
and that the charge should be dropped.

But that notice somehow "never made it to the prosecutor," contends
Las Vegas Police Deputy Chief Mike Ault, who oversees internal
investigations.

Officers Parker and Collmar then proceeded to testify against Mr.
Lilly at his preliminary hearing, failing to mention to the prosecutor
(or the court, presumably) that the possession charge should have been
dropped since the drugs had been planted by police.

Mr. Lilly was ordered to stand trial in District Court. This generally
entails considerable expense and inconvenience. Charges were not
dropped until officer Jeffrey Huyer notified the prosecution.

Internal Affairs investigators concluded Parker and Collmar "neglected
their duty" -- an awfully polite way to put it.

On Feb. 17, the often toothless Las Vegas Police Citizen Review Board
found some backbone, recommending these officers be fired because they
had filed a false report and lied in court.

But apparently those aren't firing offenses in the department of
Sheriff Bill Young. Instead, Sheriff Young said Thursday he will
suspend these two officers without pay, since the drugs were not
placed in Mr. Lilly's vehicle "intentionally."

Is the sheriff now contending the drugs fell out of officer Newton's
pocket accidentally? That he was actually planning to distribute them
at a retirement party down at the precinct house later that night?
Then what was all that hoo-hah about "conducting a training exercise"?
And -- again -- what possible legitimate purpose could a canine
officer have for carrying his own narcotics to a live crime scene?

Did we just forget to take our "dumb" pills today?

Joining in this bizarre defense of such police behavior, Las Vegas
Police Protective Association President Dave Kallas opines "I am at
least glad that the department realized the Citizen Review Board
recommendation was extreme and certainly not reasonable."

Mr. Lilly, whose car was auctioned off after it was impounded, insists
"It was no mistake. They knew what they were doing. It was a setup."

Sheriff Young's wrist-slap punishment "raises serious questions about
the integrity of the entire criminal justice system in Southern
Nevada," says Gary Peck, executive director of the ACLU of Nevada.

That's an understatement.

How many other drug busts have officer Newton and his trained pooch
helped facilitate? How many have served time after one of these little
"training exercises"? How large a stash of contraband drugs does the
officer possess, where did he get it, and what's it for? How much will
taxpayers end up paying to settle the promised lawsuit from the
falsely accused Mr. Lilly?

Sheriff Young and his investigators apparently don't care. Case
closed.