Rating the raids: Leaders disagree on SWAT team’s successes, failures

LIMA - More than a quarter of the 198 raids by the Lima Police Department SWAT team in the last seven years came up empty-handed without finding drugs, weapons, paraphernalia or money.

And nearly a third of the time, police do not find drugs or a weapon. Drugs alone were found in nearly two-thirds of the raids and a weapon, by itself, was found one-third of the time.

The Lima News reviewed 198 raids by the Lima Police Department Special Weapons and Tactics team from 2002 through June 2008, examining evidence inventory sheets.

"That means 68 percent of the time, we're getting guns or drugs off the street," said Maj. Kevin Martin, who called the numbers a success.

But outspoken Lima 5th Ward City Councilman Tommy Pitts said the numbers show anything but success. He said the numbers show police are failing one-third of the time to find drugs or guns during SWAT raids.

"That's a huge number," he said. "There is absolutely no doubt in my mind they are fishing a lot of the time."

Measuring success

Martin said knowing when to raid a house is not a science but rather a decision based on information collected during an investigation.

"We're not looking at it as a win-loss record like a football team does," he said. "We have to look at where there is probable cause to make us believe there will be evidence in the house when we raid it."

Probable cause includes direct evidence that links a house to the illegal sales of drugs, he said.

Pitts, who speaks not only as a councilman but as a father who has had two children sent to prison for drug crimes, said police need to do a better job collecting information before jumping to raid houses.

"I think they should know what is going on, beyond a shadow of a doubt, in that house," he said.

Police have no way of knowing what is in a house at a given time until they get in, Martin said. What police do know is an investigation showed drugs were in a house at one time or a drug dealer could be using a house as a storage site, he said.

That knowledge isn't just something police can use as a free pass to go into any house to search. It's something they have to show to a judge, who has the final say on whether they can conduct a raid, Martin said.

The lack of drugs only shows there were no drugs in the house at the time of a raid, not for all time, he said.

"Would I like to see us get 100 percent of the time we raid houses, that drugs be there? Yes, I would like to see that," he said.

Reasons for striking out

Sgt. Brian Leary, who oversees the department's Pro-Active Crime Enforcement unit, which investigates the sales of illegal drugs, said there are many reason for not finding drugs on raids. People who sell to support their habit, which is a common person police find operating drug houses, may be out of drugs.

The supplier of an addict is not going to allow an addict to have a large quantity of drugs, only what they can quickly sell, Leary said. Otherwise, the supplier risks having the addict take the drugs for his own use.

Consultant Joseph Thomas Jr., a suburban Detroit police chief hired by the city to lead a series of community meetings to come up with ideas to improve police services, said looking at success based only on what police find during raids is not fair. He said the reasons that led police to raid a home, such as the illegal sale of drugs, need to be included.

"It's not uncommon for a SWAT team to raid a location and not hit anything," he said.

Thomas, who spent seven years on a SWAT team in Michigan, said the result of the raid does not mean much compared to what led to the raid. There are many reasons why drugs may not be found at any given time, he said.

"It could be you picked the wrong day. Usually you try to hit the delivery date, but sometimes you don't," he said.

On top of that, drug dealers are taking steps to prevent getting caught, Thomas said.

Pitts disagreed with Thomas and and said looking at raids by themselves is more than fair and shows police are not doing enough to investigate before the raids.

"That shows how police officers are going to support one another," he said.

Reasons to raid

Pitts questioned why police target lower-level dealers, many of whom are addicts selling to support a drug habit, instead of going after those higher on the food chain.

"They need to go after the jokers who are bringing this mess up in here, and I'm sure they know exactly who that is. If they want to say they're good at their jobs and know what they're doing, why aren't they bringing down the hard-core dealers?" he said.

Leary said the houses police choose to raid are those that residents reported, not random choices by police. Residents do not want drug houses in their neighborhood and call in to report them.

"That's what we go after and try to shut down to improve the quality of life in the neighborhoods," Leary said.

Complaints are investigated before a home is raided. Those complaints often lead to the lower-level dealer, some of whom are selling drugs to support a habit, he said.

The most successful raid in terms of drugs, weapons and cash found in the past seven years was Jan. 12, 2007, at 421 N. Shawnee St., when police found $54,894 in cash, at least 33 guns along with other weapons. Police also seized 15 pounds of marijuana with an estimated value of $30,000.

That raid was a shining example of the fruits of a successful police investigation that stemmed from a good tip.

The owner of the home, Michael Prichard, was sentenced to six months in jail on drug charges. Prichard not only lost the items police seized but also his home.

Money, guns and drugs

But raids where police hit the jackpot are rare. Typically, if police find anything, they come across a small amount of drugs, cash and occasionally a weapon or two.

Drug paraphernalia, such as a digital scale, was found two-thirds of the time. Other items listed as paraphernalia included plastic sandwich baggies, razor blades, crack pipes, cigarette papers and plates. Some of the items, such as baggies, which are found in most households, have been collected from the kitchen, according to records.

Money was found half the time, and officers have collected $132,810 from the 198 raids, according to police records.

A gun of some type is by far the most common weapon police found. However, officers have found knives, swords and even brass knuckles.

Crack cocaine and marijuana are the two most common drugs found. Powder cocaine, ecstasy and mushrooms also were found, according to records.

Policy could change

Following the Jan. 4 raid of 218 E. Third St. that resulted in a SWAT officer killing an unarmed mother holding her baby, the Lima Police Department has not changed the way it handles SWAT raids.

In that raid, police were after Anthony Terry, the boyfriend of Tarika Wilson, and did find him inside the house. Wilson and her 1-year-old son, Sincere, were shot when a police sergeant thought a shadow of a figure in a doorway, which turned out to be Wilson, was shooting at him. The gunshots the sergeant heard actually were fired by fellow officers shooting at charging dogs.

Martin said policies and procedures, however, could change if a flaw is found when the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office, an independent agency asked to conduct the internal investigation, returns its report.

"One of their findings also could be that policy was followed but that policy was flawed," he said. "We are always looking at ways to improve our service delivery and that certainly includes combating drugs in this community."