| Chapter 3
Reporting
on Drug Law Enforcement
and Controlled Substances
By
Bill Wallace
Focusing Your
Lens
When you contact these sources ask them to tell you about big cases
that have either already been prosecuted or are currently awaiting
trial. Look cases up in the court clerk's office and read the case
files for background information. Many reporters become involved
in a criminal case at only three points: when charges are originally
filed, when the opening arguments are heard in court, and when a
verdict is handed down.
In between these key events, prosecutors and defense attorneys
file reams of paper with the court, including routine motions, requests
for information from law enforcement agencies, sworn affidavits
from witnesses and investigators and other documentary materials.
Often these filings occur when there is nothing happening in the
courtroom, so a reporter who keeps an eye on the file in a major
drug case will sometimes happen on major developments that can be
fashioned into a news story.
Arrest and Trial
No matter how carefully you prepare to cover the drug enforcement
beat, how familiar you are with the law and the terminology or how
well you have cultivated your sources, you may not have a story
until somebody gets arrested for a drug offense. Finding out about
arrests is a critical part of the beat.
Some agencies – particularly larger departments or federal
agencies – will issue press releases about drug busts or investigations
after they make arrests. But smaller departments or those outside
urban areas tend to avoid drawing media attention to themselves,
even when they believe that publicity might be useful. If you have
been successful in your source-building, you may have developed
contacts that will tell you that a big case has resulted in arrests
– or even tip you off before the arrests begin. Otherwise,
the chances are good that you will have to use your own initiative
to dig up the story.
If you have a scanner radio, you may be able to program
in the frequencies used by local public safety agencies and find
out about police operations by listening to officers' radio traffic.
If you haven't the time or the resources to use a scanner, you will
have to learn about an agency's drug enforcement operations after
the fact by reviewing its blotter information or field activity
reports.
Reporters who cover local courts will probably first hear about
major drug cases from contacts in the courthouse, or by reviewing
the morning and afternoon criminal calendars. Calendar information,
like blotter data, is rather limited. It usually gives the name
of the accused, the code section that was allegedly violated, the
date of the arrest, the name of the judge who has been assigned
the case and location of the courtroom.
Translating
Blotters and Calendars
In order to make sense of blotter and criminal calendar entries,
reporters and the editors and producers who work with them will
want to familiarize themselves with the laws that relate to controlled
substances in their jurisdiction. Each state's criminal code contains
similar provisions governing dangerous drugs, but not all are organized
the same way.
In addition, some local jurisdictions have their own city or county
ordinances that relate to particular drug offenses, and blotter
and calendar entries in those jurisdictions may refer to Municipal
Code or County Statute numbers in addition to, or instead of, the
relevant section of the state code.
Federal narcotics and dangerous drug laws fall under Title 21 of
the U.S. Code. Calendar information in federal courts will identify
alleged offenses by that title and the relevant federal law section.
Covering Arrests
Once a reporter has discovered that an arrest took place, the real
reporting begins. Call the department's public information officer
if it has one, the operations or watch officer or the officer in
charge of the unit that made the pinch. Ask for details about the
operation, including how many officers were involved, what agencies
they came from and how long the alleged network had been under investigation
before the arrests were made. Find out who was arrested, who is
still at large and what illicit materials were seized. You will
want to know what types of drugs were being dealt and the size of
the business. Where did the drugs come from? Was the operation a
stand-alone or part of a bigger network?
Law enforcement agencies involved in drug suppression activity
often stage photo opportunities at which drugs, weapons and other
items seized during a large investigation can be photographed. Usually
a police agency will have one of more of the investigators who participated
in the bust available at these sessions to answer questions. It
is worth going to these dog-and-pony shows in order to get a first-hand
view of the contraband and an opportunity to talk to one or more
of the people who made the case.
Pay particularly close attention to bail hearings and their
federal counterpart, the detention hearing. During these
proceedings, the prosecutor may release additional details about
the alleged crimes while attempting to secure a higher figure. In
addition, attorneys for the accused may divulge details about the
suspect's place of employment, family ties, property holdings and
marital status while trying to secure his or her release.
In any of these proceedings, prosecutors may argue that the defendant
should continue to be held in custody because he or she is likely
to flee or engage in further criminal activity if released. When
they do, they may reveal more information about the suspect's background
and a more detailed description of the criminal activity the defendant
allegedly committed.
Preliminary Examinations
The preliminary examination, sometimes called a preliminary
hearing, is a crucial part of the judicial proceeding in a drug
case. During it, the prosecution calls witnesses to establish probable
cause – evidence that the crime charged took place
and the suspect was responsible for it. The witnesses who testify
for the prosecution usually include investigators who participated
in the probe that led to the arrest. They will probably discuss
noteworthy details about the case, including the origin of the investigation,
its organization and the nature of the evidence it collected.
Although the preliminary examination is an adversary proceeding
and legal counsel represents the accused, the attorney for the defense
generally does not put on his own witnesses during the hearing,
and frequently will only cross-examine the prosecution's witnesses
in an effort to expose weaknesses in the evidence or the investigative
procedures that led to the charges.
Attending these court appearances is an important part of covering
drug enforcement operations, but an equally important task is reviewing
the documentary materials that will emerge as a given case works
its way through the system. Those papers may contain details you
neglected to ask about, or that your sources have been unwilling
to discuss. As a consequence, a reporter covering the drug beat
– or any other type of criminal case – should become
familiar with the types of records available and refer to them frequently
as the case develops.
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