Santa Ana Political Chismes: Pulido regains control

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• Any explanation why Pulido or Walter will not take action on the problems Commander Ken Gominsky and Detective Michael Gibbon addressed?

• check your email for original

  Chief Paul M. Walters
  Santa Ana Police Make Crack to Use in Busts
  November 1994

  The Santa Ana, California Police Department is defending its practice of manufacturing crack cocaine in police labs for use in drug sting operations, a practice that until recently has been kept a secret (Lee Romney and Kevin Johnson, "Police Crime Lab Making Cocaine for Drug Busts," Los Angeles Times, Oct. 21, 1994, p. 1).

  Defense attorneys in Orange County are attempting to stop these operations, which they and other law enforcement experts say are dangerous. Police are using the manufactured crack in "reverse sting" operations in which officers pose as drug dealers and arrest those that purchase drugs from them. The display of drugs by undercover police officers is a common tactic in reverse stings. However, departments rarely manufacture the drugs and introduce them into communities. Reverse stings typically use drugs seized in raids.

  A similar operation was halted in Broward County, Florida after the state Supreme Court upheld a ruling that found the reverse stings there illegal. Hundreds of cases were reversed. "It is incredible that law enforcement's manufacture of an inherently dangerous controlled substance, like crack cocaine, can ever be for the public's safety," the court said.

  Santa Ana police take cocaine that has been seized in busts and cook it into crack cocaine. Lab technicians add a coating that rubs off on the skin of any person who touches the drug. That coating shows up only under a black light and helps police nab suspects who drop or swallow the drug.

  Over the course of the operation, police have arrested about 350 people, a large portion of those within a few blocks of Willard Intermediate School in Santa Ana. "We're not playing games here," Police Chief Paul M. Walters said. "We're trying to give the streets back to the residents and we're making progress."

  Public Defender Dean Allen said that he knows of two juveniles who were arrested in the stings. "If they want to keep kinds away from drugs, I think there are probably a lot of better ways to do it than just to sell them the drugs," he said.

  Some police officials agree, and warn that the practice can be dangerous. "I'd hate to be the department that permits this to happen, and it turns out that somebody overdoses or has a heart attack," said Gerald Arenberg, executive director of the National Association of Chiefs of Police in Washington, DC.

  According to Santa Ana police officials, no one has been injured in the sting operations, but some buyers have taken the drugs before they were arrested.

  NDSN's newsletter NewsBriefs is no longer in print. However, hard copies of past issues of NewsBriefs are available by contacting the Criminal Justice Policy Foundation, which oversees NDSN.

  Also, please contact the Criminal Justice Policy Foundation for information about drug control policies.

  Criminal Justice Policy Foundation
  1225 Eye Street NW, Suite 500
  Washington, DC 20005-3914

  ndsn@ndsn.org

  Tel: (202) 312-2015
  Fax: (202) 842-2620

• I remember that,

• Good Cook,

  Apparently your tricycle concussion was not too serious and you are back to normal.

  Even able to recover your long term memory.

  On the other hand Zorro is in deep comatose state.

  Coma can be comfortable.

• Jerry Brown and Miguel Pulido are no longer friends. The governor had distanced himself from Pulido when he was given a three inch binder filled with Pulido alleged wrongdoings.

  I'm afraid our Mayor has become a joke.

• I am glad to hear the Latina Lawyer is still being considered for the City Attorney job.

  If Claudia Alvarez goes to the Mainplace/Westfields Mall she can kill two birds with one stone. Get a makeover at the MAC counter and shop for shoes at Nordstroms.