Pubdate: Sat, 03 Mar 2012
Source: Tampa Bay Times (FL)
Contact: http://www.sptimes.com/letters/
Copyright: 2012 St. Petersburg Times
Website: http://www.tampabay.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/419
Note: Named the St. Petersburg Times from 1884=962011.
the-line/1218147

DON'T LET POLICE WORK CROSS LINE

When a Pinellas County sheriff's detective
dressed up as a Progress Energy worker as a
"ruse" to get a homeowner he suspected of growing
marijuana to open his door, the detective should
have known it was wrong. And when Pinellas
deputies tried to find home-based marijuana
operations by putting a camera outside a
hydroponics store and investigating customers,
red flags should have gone up. Both incidents
occurred because some in the sheriff's office
don't seem to understand when a novel
investigative technique crosses into a violation of the public trust.

It doesn't take a constitutional scholar to
understand what is wrong with a detective
dressing as a civilian utility worker to trick a
homeowner into opening the door. If the deputy
ends up seeing or smelling marijuana, there is a
good chance that any resulting arrest would be
irreparably tainted by the questionable way the
evidence was obtained. As Sheriff Bob Gualtieri
notes, the evidence probably wouldn't survive a
constitutional challenge. "And shouldn't," he says.

Gualtieri says he only found out about the
incident when Tampa Bay Times staff writer Curtis
Krueger called him about the deposition of
Detective Paul Giovannoni, who pretended to be
the Progress Energy worker. Gualtieri says it was
a one-time deception that occurred in May 2010,
well before he was appointed as sheriff last year
to fill an unexpired term. Apparently there
weren't more occurrences because Progress Energy
found out that a company shirt and hat had been
misused and demanded the clothes back.

When law enforcement uses the tactic of
impersonating a corporate worker, it jeopardizes
that business' relationship with its customers.
And you can imagine the reaction from law
enforcement when someone puts on a uniform and
pretends to be a police officer =AD that's illegal.
In the Giovannoni case, the homeowner ushered the
fake utility worker to his electricity meter to
complain about service, with the deputy caught in
his own ruse. But that homeowner was denied the
right to decide whether to open his door to a
sheriff's deputy or invite him onto the property.
He didn't know he was dealing with one.

Reassuringly, Gualtieri has not put up a
defensive shield. He acknowledges that the
dress-up tactic was wrong, just as he ended the
camera surveillance on the Simply Hydroponics
shop in Largo once he became aware of it. He says
these operations don't reflect his priorities:
the abuse of prescription drugs, cocaine and
other drugs where public safety is at greater risk.

Gualtieri has implemented a new policy that bars
deputies from wearing a corporate uniform without
the express written permission of the
corporation. New personnel and policies also are
in place. Giovannoni's supervisor has been
reassigned to patrol, and the captain in charge
has retired. The sheriff has referred nine people
in the narcotics unit to internal affairs for a
variety of personnel issues. And Gualtieri has
ordered mandatory legal training for the
narcotics unit and any other deputy who deals
with issues that touch on constitutional rights.

Gualtieri seems to understand the proper balance
between aggressive police work and resorting to
illegal or unethical tactics, but his
responsibility is to inculcate that understanding
in everyone else. It isn't at all clear that
everyone under his command knows the difference.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom