Reefer Madness: Trash Search Led To Deadly Police Raid

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What prompted Pembroke Pines police to conduct a dawn paramilitary raid that ended with the June 12 shooting death of homeowner Vincent Hodgkiss?

In its application for a narcotics search warrant, police cited an anonymous complaint of drug dealing, surveillance of high-turnover visitors and two searches of Hodgkiss' trash by detectives, who found scraps of paper with handwritten numbers and trace amounts of "green, leafy substance" that tested positive for marijuana.

Police conducted the raid with its Special Response Team (similar to SWAT) two days after Broward Circuit Judge Dale Cohen approved the search warrant.

As a result of the investigation, police recovered about an ounce and a half of pot — and a 46-year-old father ended up dead.

Is this what America really wants from its War on Drugs?

"None of this makes sense," said Roger Scott, an Orlando defense attorney who heads the Florida chapter of NORML, which advocates the legalization of marijuana. "Do you realize that right now prisons are releasing violent criminals early to make room for drug offenders?"

Instead of relaxing marijuana laws, the Florida Legislature keeps getting tougher. This year, it approved a new law increasing penalties for marijuana growhouses. Those possessing more than 25 plants would get mandatory prison time, up to 30 years if children live at the house.

Scott was upset to hear about Hodgkiss' death, and he called the ongoing drug war "a fiasco."

Police say they also found weapons, $1,600 in cash, prescription drugs, a digital scale and smoking paraphernalia in Hodgkiss' home. Hodgkiss had a valid concealed weapons permit, and friends and family said he took several medications for a serious illness they declined to specify.

In the search warrant affidavit released last week, Pembroke Pines Detective Bryan Dietrich wrote that he saw many cars stop at the home in May and early June, "with very few staying for more than 10 minutes." He and partners twice searched trash that had been taken out for pickup, each time finding traces of pot inside.

The totality of the evidence could add up to a small-time pot dealer. Was an early morning raid with a mini-battalion really the best way to go about serving the warrant?

The increasing use of SWAT teams for basic police functions troubles Jack Cole, a former New Jersey narcotics and fugitive detective. He now heads Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, a group of retired police, judges and prosecutors who advocate drug-law reform.

Cole said SWAT was developed to handle barricaded suspects holding hostages. Agencies invested heavily in SWAT training and equipment, and soon began using these teams on an expanding range of missions, including drug, pornography and gambling raids. Pembroke Pines police uses its SRT unit to serve all drug warrants. It might be time for agencies to reconsider blanket policies and assess each case individually.

This wasn't some violent gang that moved into the neighborhood three months ago. Hodgkiss spent 14 years in the house, raising his family there. He had no previous felonies or history of violence. I bet two detectives approaching him when he made a trip to the corner store might have been more effective, and certainly less confrontational.

The attorney for Officer Javier Diaz, who fatally wounded Hodgkiss, said Diaz shot Hodgkiss twice after Hodgkiss pumped his loaded shotgun and carried it into his bathroom. The attorney said Diaz fired in "justified self-defense."

I'm not saying the shooting was unjustified. I'm sure Diaz felt threatened and compelled to shoot. The bigger point: Tragic outcomes like these are inevitable given our nation's drug policies and police procedures.

For the sake of both Hodgkiss' family and Officer Diaz (these tragedies are traumatic for the shooter, too), maybe it's time for a more measured and rational approach.




News Hawk: User: http://www.420magazine.com/
Source: South Florida Sun Sentinel
Copyright: 2008 South Florida Sun Sentinel
Contact: South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Website: Reefer madness: Trash search led to deadly police raid