300 DRUG SUSPECTS RELEASED; LAPD LAB PROBLEMS HAMSTRING ENFORCEMENT.Byline: Patrick McGreevy Daily News Staff Writer Up to 300 felony felony (fĕl`ənē), any grave crime, in contrast to a misdemeanor, that is so declared in statute or was so considered in common law. narcotics narcotics n. 1) techinically, drugs which dull the senses. 2) a popular generic term for drugs which cannot be legally possessed, sold, or transported except for medicinal uses for which a physician or dentist's prescription is required. suspects have been released so far this year by the LAPD 1. LAPD - Link Access Procedure on the D channel. 2. LAPD - Los Angeles Police Department. because it did not get a drug analysis from the department's Crime Lab in time for the arraignment A criminal proceeding at which the defendant is officially called before a court of competent jurisdiction, informed of the offense charged in the complaint, information, indictment, or other charging document, and asked to enter a plea of guilty, not guilty, or as otherwise permitted . The problem was cited by Chief Bernard C. Parks Bernard Parks (born December 7, 1943 in Beaumont, Texas) is a member of the Los Angeles City Council, representing the 8th District in South Los Angeles and former Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department. Parks attended Los Angeles City College, received his B.S. in a recent internal report. Officers said last week in interviews that the problem includes staff shortages at the Scientific Investigation Division and new lab procedures. They also said glitches in the handling of evidence and arrest reports has resulted in costly delays in verifying whether seized substances are illegal drugs. That information is needed for prosecutors to file a case and take it to arraignment. ``Without the lab results, we don't have a case,'' said Detective Norm Lee, a supervising narcotics detective in the Valley Bureau. ``We're sending people off that need to be incarcerated incarcerated /in·car·cer·at·ed/ (in-kahr´ser-at?ed) imprisoned; constricted; subjected to incarceration. in·car·cer·at·ed adj. Confined or trapped, as a hernia. .'' Warrants may be issued later for suspects released because tests are incomplete, but by then, Lee noted, ``They are in the wind.'' The problem does not seem to affect San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. arrests but is most severe in downtown courts. In his report, Parks acknowledges the problem, saying, ``The department is currently releasing a significant number of felony narcotics suspects without an initial filing as a result of difficulties in obtaining a formal laboratory analysis of evidence by the morning of arraignment day. ``There is reason to believe this problem will become even more severe as a result of a steady increase in narcotic narcotic, any of a number of substances that have a depressant effect on the nervous system. The chief narcotic drugs are opium, its constituents morphine and codeine, and the morphine derivative heroin. See also drug addiction and drug abuse. arrests and changes which may be required in the narcotic analysis process because of Scientific Investigation Division's accreditation accreditation, n a process of formal recognition of a school or institution attesting to the required ability and performance in an area of education, training, or practice. .'' The problem has frustrated frus·trate tr.v. frus·trat·ed, frus·trat·ing, frus·trates 1. a. To prevent from accomplishing a purpose or fulfilling a desire; thwart: prosecutors, who still are waiting for drug analysis reports for arrests dating back five months, said Deputy District Attorney John Perlstein, who supervises the filing of narcotics cases in the downtown office. ``I have never seen it this bad,'' Perlstein said. ``We're sitting here with cases that go back to December and January, where they not only haven't been able to do the dope test but in some cases they haven't been able to find the dope.'' Perlstein said as many as 300 felony drug suspects have been released just in the first four months of this year because the drug lab reports were not available. Lt. Tony Alba, a Los Angeles Police Department "LAPD" and "L.A.P.D." redirect here. For other uses, see LAPD (disambiguation).  This article or section is written like an . spokesman, said the chief is concerned that felony drug suspects are being kicked loose because of procedural glitches. ``Any time we run into operations problems where it negatively impacts on our mission, the chief is worried, including in this case,'' Alba said. For narcotics detectives, it is frustrating frus·trate tr.v. frus·trat·ed, frus·trat·ing, frus·trates 1. a. To prevent from accomplishing a purpose or fulfilling a desire; thwart: to see good busts go bad and spending hours sitting in prosecutors' offices waiting for drug analysis reports that never arrive. ``It's not just the (suspects) lost, but it's the time of filing, detectives sitting and waiting for the lab analysis,'' Lee said. He said detectives who bring paperwork to the prosecutors' office to file felony drug charges sometimes have to wait from 7 a.m. to noon for drug analysis reports. ``It stops the whole process,'' Lee added. ``The district attorneys are sitting around twiddling their thumbs waiting for these reports.'' Lee said suspects are not being turned loose in the Valley because delays are not as bad at the Valley's SID office and prosecutors are providing more flexibility in filings. Prosecutors generally won't file felony drug cases without a lab analysis that confirms that the powder or liquid that was seized is an illegal substance and is of substantial quantity or concentration to warrant a felony filing, Lee said. The downtown offices file 50 to 200 felony narcotics cases per day, 10 times the average Valley numbers. Police and prosecutors have 48 hours after an arrest to file charges against a felony drug suspect, but that is sometimes not enough, Lee said. Most arrests are made by patrol officers, but the cases are taken to prosecutors by special filing detectives. They must request a drug analysis, but are often hindered when crime reports are delayed in being routed from the patrol station. ``In many instances, the detective does not learn of the arrest until the arraignment day,'' says an LAPD report on the problem. ``Upon receiving the request for analysis, the evidence is frequently not available at SID as a result of some error in the evidence booking process,'' it says. Perlstein estimated that in about a quarter of the old cases where drug tests are still pending, it's because ``they can't find the dope.'' The prosecutor prosecutor Government attorney who presents the state's case against the defendant in a criminal prosecution. In some countries (France, Japan), public prosecution is carried out by a single office. In the U.S., states and counties have their own prosecutors. said he does not believe the problem is one of people stealing it before it reaches the lab. ``It's usually caused by an officer not filing the evidence report properly - putting the wrong number on it,'' Perlstein said. Said one lab worker, ``I'm good, but I can't analyze it if it doesn't get here.'' Once the drug evidence arrives at the lab at Piper Tech, further delays are likely, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. the LAPD report. ``Obviously, there's been an increase in narcotic arrests, but they (lab) have not really added any personnel to keep up with the narcotics testing that is required,'' Alba said. ``They have not increased personnel in a number of years.'' There are seven criminalists and one supervisor assigned downtown to analyze narcotics evidence. There are two vacancies. One LAPD official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the lab needs four more criminalists to handle the current caseload case·load n. The number of cases handled in a given period, as by an attorney or by a clinic or social services agency. caseload Noun . Two more lab positions are proposed in the new city budget. In the first three months of this year, the LAPD filed 10,906 felony narcotics cases, up from the 10,527 filed during the same period in 1996. Despite the problem, prosecutors are wary of filing charges based on preliminary tests done by police officers with kits of questionable reliability. ``I'm concerned about filing cases based on the promise that they'll do the lab test in two weeks,'' Perlstein said. ``I'm concerned about their ability to do that, causing cases to be dismissed and causing lawsuits.'' |
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