Pubdate: Sun, 15 Oct 2000 Source: Baltimore Sun (MD) Copyright: 2000 The Baltimore Sun, a Times Mirror Newspaper. Contact: 501 N. Calvert Street P.0. Box 1377 Baltimore, MD 21278 Fax: (410) 315-8912 Website: http://www.sunspot.net/ Forum: http://www.sunspot.net/cgi-bin/ultbb/Ultimate.cgi?action=intro Author: Caitlin Francke and Peter Hermann Related: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1480/a10.html SEWELL ARREST COMPLICATES CITY'S FIGHT AGAINST DRUGS Police Testimony Often Sole Evidence This is a typical drug case in Baltimore: A police officer is camped out watching a street corner. The officer sees a drug sale and comes out of hiding to make an arrest. The suspect tosses plastic baggies of drugs onto the street, or the officer finds drugs in the suspect's pockets. In a courtroom, the case boils down to the word of the officer against the word of the suspect. It happens thousands of times a year. Instances in which a suspect dumps the drugs as an officer approaches are so common that prosecutors and judges have a nickname for them - "dropsy" cases. That is why recent charges that Officer Brian L. Sewell planted evidence on a suspect have reverberated so strongly through the criminal justice system. The Police Department's strategy for the city's 30,000 drug arrests each year focuses on officers' catching street-level dealers and users in the act. An officer's testimony is often the only solid evidence that prosecutors have to link the suspect and the drugs. "Officer credibility is central" to these kinds of drug cases, said Circuit Judge William D. Quarles. A police officer's "observation is the connection between the drugs and the defendant," he said. Police Commissioner Edward T. Norris said the "dropsy" cases are standard in his street-level war against drug dealing. Baltimore has open-air drug markets, and people often toss their drugs when a police cruiser approaches. "I've seen it myself," Norris said. "People run and throw stuff on the street. That's how it works out there. When they're arrested, they complain they don't have any drugs. What do you expect them to say?" Officers complain they can do little more to strengthen cases beyond witnessing a "drop" or a drug sale because they are overworked and under intense pressure to reduce crime. The best way to make a mark in the department is to lock up as many suspected drug dealers as possible. Norris agreed that his 3,200 officers are overworked - he is seeking funds to hire 500 more - and he said he wants his officers to make drug arrests. "I'm driving this department very hard in that direction," he said. "We obviously want them to arrest people who need to be arrested," Norris said. "They have to make arrests that are bona fide and legal." Quarles said he thinks the charges against Sewell could have a ripple effect in the courthouse. Many jurors, he said, are already suspicious of police. "The Sewell case is going to give ammunition to the portion of Baltimore citizens which has a basic distrust of the Police Department," the judge said. Prosecutors have dropped five pending cases in which Sewell is a primary officer, and a review of court records shows that about eight more probably will be dismissed. That means people, including Raymond Banks, a convicted burglar, and Lionel Pauling, a convicted drug dealer, will not be tried on charges filed by Sewell that each had illegal drugs. In Baltimore Circuit Court on Wednesday morning, Maurice Walker, who also was arrested by Sewell, saw his case disappear. As Walker stood with his lawyer, the prosecutor told Judge Paul A. Smith that she was going to drop the case. "Reason?" the judge asked. "Witness availability," the prosecutor replied. Outside of court, Walker, 19, did not deny having drugs in March, when Sewell arrested him in the 800 block of Edmonson Ave., but he claims that he did not have as many as the 31 gel caps of suspected cocaine that Sewell alleged in his report. In form and in substance, the case in which Sewell is accused of planting evidence resembles the thousands of cases that flow into the courthouse every year. On Sept. 4, Sewell swore out drug-possession charges against Frederick L. McCoy, alleging that he saw McCoy dump drugs on a park bench. "As I turned my patrol vehicle onto the block, I observed a [man] ... placing a clear plastic bag into a crack of a park bench," charging documents state. "Mr. McCoy then noticed my vehicle and ran (southbound) through a rear alleyway." But the drugs had been placed there by the Internal Affairs Division of the Police Department in a sting operation. Sewell's cases - and those of other officers - are generally similar. Reports detail what an officer believes is a suspicious drug transaction, then the arrest and drug recovery - creating a case that hinges on the officer's testimony. On Aug. 25, Sewell alleged in charging documents that he and his partner were driving in the 1500 block of Myrtle Ave., where a woman and a man named Philip Grey "were observed in hand to hand transactions giving U.S. currency ... to an unknown [man]." When the pair saw the officers, they began to walk "quickly" away, and the officers followed, the report says. "As we approached Mr. Grey, (Officer Sewell) asked Mr. Grey, 'Do you have anything on you?' Mr. Grey responded, 'Yeah, I got some dope in my pocket.' Mr. Grey was placed under arrest. Search incident ... revealed three clear gel-caps with white powder (suspected heroin) in Mr. Grey's right front pants pocket," the report states. Prosecutors dropped the case against Grey. In another case that was dropped, Sewell wrote that he was "observing" the 800 block of Whitelock St. when he saw a drug deal taking place and decided to go in for an arrest. As he went for the defendant, he said he saw him push a bundle of suspected drugs through a mail slot. "Said bundle was immediately recovered and found to be seven grey top glass vials containing a white, rocky substance (suspected cocaine) wrapped in a rubberband," his report states. Officers say police need to focus on building stronger drug cases with more evidence than what the police say they saw. An undercover narcotics officer with more than a decade of experience said patrol officers think the more arrests they make, the faster they will climb the promotion ladder. As a result, they don't take the time needed to develop good investigative skills, the officer said. "This is a stat-driven department," the officer said. "You got to get numbers and keep the crime down. You got to get that reputation: 'There's a guy busting his tail and making gun and drug arrests.'" Another officer who supervised a squad said street-level troops are stretched so thin that they have "less time to do proper investigations." "If you find a drug stash, how much time can you put into it?" that officer said. - --- MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager