Pubdate: Sun, 19 Nov 2000 Source: Houston Chronicle (TX) Copyright: 2000 Houston Chronicle Contact: Viewpoints Editor, P.O. Box 4260 Houston, Texas 77210-4260 Fax: (713) 220-3575 Website: http://www.chron.com/ Forum: http://www.chron.com/content/hcitalk/index.html Author: Thom Marshall THE TRUTH BE TOLD NOT NECESSARILY SO Testimony is the key. To win a guilty verdict and get someone off the street and locked up in prison, a prosecutor needs convincing testimony from an appropriate source. "I have personally been asked to lie in court to achieve a conviction," said Mark Conrad of Spring. He is a retired U.S. Customs agent who now works as a private investigator for attorneys. As a Customs agent, he played a pivotal role in many drug-war skirmishes. He said that he has been in meetings where the argument was made that in order to get the bad guys locked up it was OK for law-enforcement personnel to "shade the truth or point-blank lie to gain convictions." A Substantial Problem When a federal prosecutor in Florida asked him to lie in court, Conrad said he responded in the strongest possible terms that he would not. But that wasn't the end of it. Conrad said the prosecutor then went to a high-ranking supervisor at Customs and asked that the supervisor "order me to change my testimony to comport to the government's theory of the case." The supervisor also responded in the strongest possible terms that he wasn't going to do that. "There are many men and women of integrity out there," Conrad said, "but there are many who are not." He spent the last decade of his career working in the Internal Affairs section of the Customs Service. Internal Affairs investigates when agents are accused or suspected of violating policies or laws. Conrad said that based upon his experiences and observations he believes the overwhelming majority -- "98 percent" -- of the men and women working in drug law enforcement "are trying to do the right thing." However, considering there are many thousands of officers, even 2 percent falling prey to the temptations generated by illegal drugs adds up to a substantial problem. Another major source of difficulties in drug war efforts, Conrad said, has been in the directions that come from executive management. "It's scary what the government is and is not doing," said this man who spent more than 27 years as a government agent. "I'm more scared of the government than I am of any dope dealer. I've put better people in jail than some of the people I've worked for." Conrad, 51, and currently working as an investigator for attorneys, said he recently completed law school. He said he is "attempting to become commissioner of Customs" because he believes the current drug war is "phony" and in need of "a totally different approach." Wartime Measures As an example of how it is phony, Conrad referred to 100,000 pounds of cocaine that the government knowingly allowed to enter the United States a couple of years ago in what turned out to be a futile attempt to catch a major dealer. He said he told America about that in a 1998 appearance on ABC's Prime Time Live. Conrad also is critical of the ever-escalating cost of the drug war, with so much money being spent on "agents' new cars, new radios, cell phones, surveillance equipment, etc." He is concerned about the growing and easily abused practice of seizing property "under questionable circumstances." And considering the length of the sentences often handed down for nonviolent drug offenses, Conrad said, "We're doing a terrible disservice to so many young people." He said he was inspired to join our ongoing debate and discussion on the criminal-justice system in this space after reading comments Friday from John Morgan, a retired DEA agent. Morgan said police and the DARE program need to be replaced by "a real drug prevention and education program" by health care professionals, parents and educators. Morgan also said, "Some serious thought must also be given to legalization. Most of our problem drugs were legal prior to 1921." Conrad said, "I agree with him 100 percent." Fighting the drug war as a government agent is not a job for the faint of heart. And yet it may demonstrate a greater measure of courage for these men to publicly call for such drastic changes, knowing that many of their former colleagues are certain to disagree. - --- MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager