COPS SHOWS BUSTED; SUPREME COURT HALTS HOME ENTRY.

Byline: Peter Hartlaub Daily News Staff Writer

A U.S. Supreme Court ruling Monday bars police from taking TV crews into private homes, but it's too late for a mother who is suing the LAPD because a police reality show aired footage of her dead son.

And it's too late to save the more than $100,000 it cost Los Angeles taxpayers to settle an invasion-of-privacy lawsuit filed by the widow of baseball player Curt Flood because a police reality TV show entered her property uninvited with LAPD officers.

The ruling is based on Montana and Maryland cases, but Marietta Marich said it affirms her feeling that the Los Angeles police and ``LAPD: Life on the Beat'' had invaded her privacy by entering her son's apartment and filming his body.

``Oh, I cried,'' Marich said from her Houston home. ``It was like watching one of those old Jimmy Stewart movies. The little guy wins.''

The LAPD stopped allowing TV crews to enter homes with them after the controversy a year ago. But the department's top spokesman, Cmdr. David Kalish, said there are no plans to curtail ride-alongs with media because their public relations value outweighs the possible liability.

``This is one way to open up the Police Department to the public,'' Kalish said. ``It's in the best interest of society if government is open.''

The Supreme Court ruling found police who support media ride-alongs may be violating a citizen's privacy rights protected under the Fourth Amendment.

Under the ruling, police can be sued for allowing TV camera crews and other journalists into people's homes to observe arrests and searches.

``Surely, the possibility of good public relations for the police is simply not enough, standing alone, to justify the ride-along intrusion into a private home,'' Chief Justice William Rehnquist wrote in the unanimous ruling.

Like the LAPD, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said it will continue to allow the taping of the Arts & Entertainment ``L.A. Detective'' show because such exposure helps in recruitment and shows the public what police face on the streets.

The Sheriff's Department maintains total editing rights, said Capt. Doyle Campbell. ``I can control what goes out and what doesn't go out.''

In January, under newly elected Sheriff Lee Baca, the department formalized a longstanding policy of refusing media entry to private property without the owners' permission.

The LAPD changed its policy in May 1998 to forbid camera crews from entering people's homes uninvited. The LAPD now bars the media from covering property searches, and film crews and photographers may only enter private property when they have permission from the lawful owner.

``We developed these media guidelines and put them in place so that we could facilitate the media's reporting and balance that with the rights of the public,'' Kalish said.

But in March, the Los Angeles police, concerned about additional liability problems, suspended their involvement with the Spanish-language ``Placas'' and ``LAPD: Life on the Beat.''

Kalish said ``LAPD: Life on the Beat'' has stopped producing new shows. Officials at Telemax, which produces ``Placas,'' declined to comment on the ruling.

In the Flood case, the police were accused of purposely breaking up a lawful party and allowing ``Placas'' to film it on private property. The Flood case was the only one of several cases Kalish said he knew of that resulted in monetary damages.

``We reacted proactively, because we could see the writing on the wall with these trends,'' he said.

However, the door is open to renew ``LAPD: Life on the Beat'' if liability issues can be worked out. The City Attorney's Office is working to develop a waiver to reduce the city's risk on ride-alongs. The document would specify insurance requirements for media crews and would require an indemnity agreement that would hold the city harmless if a reporter or photographer fails to follow its guidelines.

That waiver will be completed in about 30 days, Kalish said.

David Cooper, an attorney for Marich and her husband said the ruling probably wouldn't affect their case. But he hoped it would prevent the need for future pain and suffering by victims' families.

``I think it's going to have a dampening effect on these shows,'' Cooper said.

The Marichs' lawsuit could go to trial as early as September.

Kalish said the Supreme Court's ruling will not force change in the department, because its new policy already follows the letter of the law.

In at least one Los Angeles County sheriff's case, videotape from a reality show has become evidence in a court case.

The crew from ``L.A. Detective'' was on call July 1 when four young sisters were found dead in their Santa Clarita home. Their mother, Sandi Nieves, is the suspect in their deaths and faces a preliminary hearing beginning today to determine if she will stand trial.

``L.A. Detective'' cameras were allowed within the yellow police tape at the Nieves home, but not on the property, Detective Frank Merriman said.

After a court battle, the videotapes for the reality-based show were handed over to the defense. The segment has never been aired.

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

PHOTO (1 -- color) Cameraman Dennis Gerber tapes as Officer Ken Boyels prepares for ``LAPD: Life on the Beat.''

Daily News

(2) Sound man Mike Alvarez wires up Officer Marco Oropeza as he prepares to go out on patrol from the Van Nuys station for ``LAPD: Life on the Beat.'' Despite the Supreme Court ruling, the LAPD said there are no plans to curtail ride-alongs with media because their public relations value outweighs the possible liability.

Daily News file photo