Pubdate: Thu, 11 Dec 2003 Source: Dallas Morning News (TX) Copyright: 2003 The Dallas Morning News Contact: http://www.dallasnews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/117 Author: Diana Flores Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption - United States) MANY TAINTED BY SCANDAL The fake-drug scandal has gone unresolved far too long. We do not yet know who is responsible, nor who is to be held accountable. A thorough investigation is necessary to determine how a breakdown of this magnitude occurred in the local criminal justice system. This requires scrutiny of all parties involved. District attorney and prosecutors. In addition to investigating Officer Mark Delapaz's role, the special prosecutor appointed by District Attorney Bill Hill should examine the role of his own prosecutors in pursuing the indictments and in some cases the conviction of innocent victims. Was their focus primarily on getting convictions rather than on truth and justice? City Council. The public trust must be restored for all who live and work in Dallas. The council must take action to assure that a scandal like this will never happen again. City manager. Once the investigation is complete, the council must determine if there were failures on the part of the city manager and his oversight of city business. Dallas Police Department. Everything must be examined. Are policies and procedures adequate? Did the officers and their commanders comply with all policies? Who makes certain that procedures are followed? Police associations. Until this scandal is resolved, there is a stigma on every Dallas officer, deserved or not. The many honest, hardworking officers who put their lives on the line daily for us do not deserve this. The police associations - the Dallas Police Association, the Latino Peace Officers Association and the Fraternal Order of Police - do a disservice to their members by attempting to shield what may be some bad apples in their ranks. LULAC. It's wrong to fight to protect someone simply because of race and ethnicity. Our fight must be to protect those who are wrongly accused, unfairly persecuted or unjustly denied their rights, regardless of their background. The League of United Latin American Citizens has remained silent for two years. The only action LULAC took was to pass a resolution not to get involved until the FBI completed its investigation. The group's leaders decided to hold off because Latino officers and commanders were implicated. It now is addressing this issue, even though the investigation is ongoing. LULAC has much expertise to provide. We have all experienced adversity, and ended up better for it. We have to hope that the same will hold true for all the parties in the fake-drug scandal. Never again should anyone experience this kind of injustice at the hands of those who are supposed to serve and protect us. Never again should we remain silent or hesitate to speak out because those involved are of a certain race or nationality. Never again. Diana Flores is a community activist and a trustee of the Dallas County Community College District. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom