What
is so difficult about an apology? Surely, Tracey Bell of Hallandale Beach
deserves one, and her landlord deserves reimbursement for a mistaken
police raid on her home earlier this month that left her children
terrified and home damaged. That is mere decency.
Just as important would be a complete review of police
practice in the city, how police obtain search warrants and how they treat
residents, especially minorities.
According to the search warrant, ``during the week of 01-17-00 through
01-24-00,'' a ``confidential informant'' was ``observed making contact
with an unidentified black male'' to buy crack cocaine at the duplex where
Ms. Bell lives. On the strength of that, Circuit Judge Victor Tobin
authorized the warrant. Heavily armed police tore down Ms. Bell's door,
chased her children and forced Ms. Bell, who is nine-months pregnant, to
the floor and handcuffed her while police made a fruitless search. Ms.
Bell says that the police told her that they found traces of cocaine on
her kitchen table; now the police's spokesman sheepishly says that the
substance could have been sugar.
This behavior should not be tolerated. The Bill of Rights guarantees
``the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers
and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures.'' Search warrants
are judicially sanctioned invasions of homes or other private places based
on sworn statements; mistakes should be unacceptable.
People do not give up this Fourth Amendment right because they live in
drug-afflicted neighborhoods. Police say that they were reacting to
``various complaints.'' Ms. Bell herself has made numerous complaints to
the police about drug activity in the neighborhood.
Either way, the warrant carried the duplex's address. That's an
improvement. Last February, city police raided the wrong address, rousted
a sleeping couple and then arrested the husband for resisting the search.
The couple has sued the city, charging that police were brutal and then
tried to cover up their mistake.
Further, why wouldn't the city's officers who participate in its
community-oriented policing effort know who the neighborhood troublemakers
are? Ms. Bell has no criminal history and a steady job and has lived in
her duplex for six years.
The department owes Hallandale Beach residents a full explanation and a
full disclosure of how it intends to improve its procedures. Nothing less
is needed to rebuild trust lost by this incident -- and to prevent another
``mistake.''