LOUISVILLE NARCOTICS UNIT WILL GET OUTSIDE REVIEW

LOUISVILLE (AP)- An outside group of law-enforcement experts will review
the Louisville-Jefferson County Metro Narcotics Unit after the indictments
against two county police detectives.

The team from the Police Executive Research Forum, or PERF, will be in
Louisville this week to conduct interviews, collect data and observe
operations of Metro Narcotics, said Lt. Col. Mike Simpson, deputy county
police chief.

"We hope to get a completely objective review," Simpson said. The auditors
will take a close look at every operating procedure "and see how it stacks
up to national standards."

Craig Fraser, PERF's director of management services, said the audit will
evaluate operations to see what improvements can be made rather than
focusing on issues surrounding the criminal investigation of former
detectives Mark Watson and Christie Richardson. Each have been charged with
more than 450 counts.

PERF, based in Washington, D.C., is a non-profit organization whose mission
is to improve policing. The $60,000 audit is expected to be completed by
the end of the summer.

Watson and Richardson, partners in the unit, are accused of fabricating
information to obtain search warrants, tampering with drug evidence,
pocketing money meant to pay informants and forging judges' signatures.
They have both pleaded not guilty and resigned from the force.

The study will review everything from recruiting and certifying informants
to procedures used to collect, process and store evidence, according to the
contract between county police and PERF.

"There's a willingness there to bring in a team of outsiders and say, 'We
want another view,'" Fraser said, adding that agencies often conduct their
own audits, which may or may not be as comprehensive.