Bolton: Procedures for police could cost $1 million a year
Posted on 03/20/2002 12:43:31 PM PST by MeekOneGOP
Bolton: Procedures for police could cost $1 million a year
03/21/2002
Police Chief Terrell Bolton fielded questions for more than three hours today during his first public briefing to the City Council on a series of questionable drug investigations that have resulted in a federal probe and dozens of dismissed cases.
While the chief repeatedly told council members that a pending lawsuit and on-going investigation prevented him from discussing how the faulty cases went unnoticed for more than a year, council members were told that steps taken to tighten those procedures will cost the department $1 million a year.
Because of the narcotics cases now under scrutiny, every drug case handled by Dallas police including small quantities that amount to misdemeanor charges are now immediately sent out for a thorough lab analysis. That process, which assures that seized substances are actually illegal drugs, costs about $280 for each test and will amount to about $1 million annually, the chief said.
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The funding source for those tests has not been determined.
Many on the council welcomed the briefing by the chief about the matter and questioned why he didn't act sooner.
"This briefing is long overdue," said council member John Loza. "It's something that should have happened a long time ago."
Council member Elba Garcia said those who were targeted in the arrests and spent months in jail deserve an apology.
"When I think about justice, it has to be color blind," she said. "I would like to apologize to all the citizens who were treated unfairly."
According to a timeline of the cases presented by Chief Bolton, police were first informed by Dallas County prosecutors in September that a lab analysis of a record-setting cocaine bust found that the substance was not illegal drugs but gypsum, the main ingredient in Sheetrock.
By November, prosecutors had identified nine questionable cases, prompting an internal investigation.
As a result of the investigation, two undercover police detectives are now on paid leave pending an FBI investigation, and more than 60 felony cases have been dismissed out of concern about the credibility of the department's informants and the officers involved.
Incredible! I guess once you get a government job you can't be fired for anything! Its a license to do pretty much what ever you want. As long as its job related you can do no wrong.
Actually If you mess up its even better. Then you get to go on a permanent paid vacation.
Do you really need a $280 test to tell you that what you thought was coke is actually product from Home Depot? And who's to say that it wasn't coke when they captured it, and then it suddenly turned into sheetrock after being locked up for a while?Oh, that may be a little high, but from my experience as a purchasing manager for the last 18 years, lab guys aren't too cheap...
That's the elephant in the room that everybody is eagerly ignoring.
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Coverage of the ongoing investigation