IT'S TIME TO CHANGE THE RULES

At first, the members of the Amarillo Globe-News editorial board had no
problem with the Tulia drug sting. It wasn't their children being sent off
for 99 years on the word of Tom Coleman.

Besides, like all good citizens, the folks at the Globe-News trusted the
system. They trusted law enforcement. We're supposed to, right?

The paper published a glowing account of the July 23, 1999 bust, followed
by an adulatory interview with Coleman and an ironic piece about the high
cost Swisher County was paying for its war on drugs.

Then silence. Utter and ominous silence. None of the trials received a
single drop of ink. The Globe-News, with the rest of the journalistic
community, had moved on to bigger things.

So a handful of Tulia citizens was forced to tackle the issues alone. When
controversy erupted, we were chastised for needlessly dividing our
community. When the story grew too big to ignore, the regional media played
it down the middle, refusing to take a stand or wrestle with the underlying
issues.

On the positive side of the ledger, the Globe-News did a commendable job of
publishing letters and columns from those opposed to what went down in Tulia.

But there is no substitute for the kind of investigative reporting that
broke the Dallas Sheetrock scandal. The Dallas media didn't wait for the
victims of that atrocity to protest. At the first hint of trouble, a local
television station (WFAA) and reporters from the Dallas Morning News
started digging.

Now the Globe-News editorial staff says the state's narcotics task forces
should not be abolished. I wonder how much thought they have given the subject.

Narcotics task forces rarely go after the bigger fish in the food chain. It
costs too much money and takes too much time. Besides, a busted addict
fetches as many points as a kingpin when refunding time rolls around.

The plan to abolish narcotics task forces was introduced by State Rep.
Terry Keel, a Republican and former district attorney who speaks from
painful experience.

To their credit, Globe-News editorialists have come out in favor of the
Tulia Corroboration Bill. Undercover narcotics agents, they argue, should
be required to corroborate their buys.

But is the editorial board aware that the Tulia bill is being viciously
attacked by law enforcement? "What's the matter?" police lobbyists are
asking. "Don't you trust us?"

Yes, we trust you. We also trust police officers, district attorneys and
district judges. We trust the system. We're supposed to.

We trust you to act in your own self-interest. We trust you to cover for
men like Tom Coleman in Tulia and Mark Delapaz in Dallas. We trust you to
maintain a blissful ignorance of events transpiring under your very noses.
We trust you to withhold exculpatory evidence from defense counsel. We
trust you to wink at the Constitution if that's what it takes to make
cases. We trust you to cross your fingers as you swear a solemn oath to see
that, above all else, justice is done.

Yes, we understand the pressures and frustrations "system" folk live with.
We honor your courage and sympathize with your struggles. That's why
bleeding-heart liberals and tough-on-crime conservatives have been driven
to the same conclusion: For the sake of defendants and in the interest of
those who arrest and prosecute them, it's time to change the rules.

Alan Bean is director of Friends of Justice in Tulia.