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Bolton: Procedures for police could cost $1 million....Remedies for "Fake" Drug Cases Dismissed
The Dallas Morning News ^ | March 20, 2002 | By ROBERT THARP / The Dallas Morning News

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

By ROBERT THARP / The Dallas Morning News

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.

Background
Coverage of the ongoing investigation from The Dallas Morning News and WFAA.

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.


Online at: http://www.dallasnews.com/latestnews/stories/032002dnmetdrugbust.c675b.html


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Extended News; Front Page News; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: 60casesdismissed; bigscandal; donutwatch; fakedrugs; getsignored; govwatch; overandoveragain; pdinformntdeported; wodlist
Link to Coverage of
the ongoing investigation

http://www.dallasnews.com/specialreports/2002/dpdbackground.html
1 posted on 03/20/2002 12:43:31 PM PST by MeekOneGOP
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To: Free the USA
fyi
2 posted on 03/20/2002 12:51:43 PM PST by MeekOneGOP
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To: MeeknMing
"As a result of the investigation, two undercover police detectives are now on paid leave pending an FBI investigation"

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.

3 posted on 03/20/2002 12:59:54 PM PST by monday
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To: monday
Actually, just about the only thing that can get a government agent fired these days is sexual harrassment. For some reason, those cases seem to go to the front of the line. Everybody else is fair game.
4 posted on 03/20/2002 1:42:25 PM PST by al-andalus
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To: *WOD_list;*Donut Watch;*Gov_Watch
index bump
5 posted on 03/20/2002 1:55:26 PM PST by Fish out of Water
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To: MeeknMing
Thanks for the flag
6 posted on 03/20/2002 2:22:10 PM PST by Free the USA
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To: Free the USA
You're welcomed. I saw you had indexed the article from yesterday and so..........
7 posted on 03/20/2002 2:48:56 PM PST by MeekOneGOP
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To: MeeknMing
cocaine bust found that the substance was not illegal drugs but gypsum
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?
8 posted on 03/20/2002 2:52:24 PM PST by lelio
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To: MeeknMing
I have been following this for a while, Fish seems to have beaten me to the index.
9 posted on 03/20/2002 2:57:55 PM PST by Free the USA
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To: lelio
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...
but yeah, I think so.....
your comments about the transfer difficulties are probably right on, imho..................
10 posted on 03/20/2002 5:30:00 PM PST by MeekOneGOP
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To: Free the USA
Looks like.......but now it's there, anyway.
11 posted on 03/20/2002 5:32:03 PM PST by MeekOneGOP
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To: lelio
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?

That's the elephant in the room that everybody is eagerly ignoring.

12 posted on 03/21/2002 3:30:26 AM PST by Wolfie
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Comment #13 Removed by Moderator

To: one_particular_harbour
At least the cops are demonstrating a capacity for adaptive learning. Used to be, the stuff just up and disappeared. Then some Einstein figured out to replace the stuff with gypsum to keep the scam going.
14 posted on 03/21/2002 4:13:26 AM PST by Wolfie
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