editorial comment is paraphernalia the only one being reminded of the song "Dope Dog"?

Secret squad picks up trash, sifts it seeking drug evidence
Heights officer testifies action is almost daily
Wednesday, October 13, 2004
James F. McCarty
Plain Dealer Reporter

Residents of Cleveland Heights would be wise to treat their garbage collectors with respect. There may be a badge and a gun hidden beneath those dirty coveralls.

On many mornings, a detective with the Special Investigations Bureau of the Heights Police Department rides the back bumper of a garbage truck and pitches in beside the regular crew, targeting bags on tree lawns at homes where drug activity is suspected.

Enough people are under suspicion in the oak-shaded suburb to keep the Garbage Squad hopping, according to one of the undercover detectives who testified in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court.

"We conduct trash pulls on almost a daily basis now," Detective Katherine Dolan testified in April, according to a transcript of an evidentiary suppression hearing. "I would say at least three times a week. Every morning, depending on what streets are pulled that day."

Most of the residential rubbish is thrown into the truck's main bin and crushed with a compactor, Dolan said. But the targeted trash is set aside in a separate compartment to be saved and sifted through later.

And the residents aren't the least wiser, she said.

"We go down the street just like the garbage men would, wearing a garbage outfit . . . and pick up the garbage," Dolan testified.

The detectives are looking for probable cause to search the suspects' homes and sufficient evidence to make an arrest, she said.

"Drug dealers or users usually throw away either baggies or, you know, pipes they use for smoking crack or, you know, stuff like that paraphernalia," Dolan testified.

As the previously-secret squad comes to light, defense lawyers and civil rights advocates are calling for an end to the practice. Police Chief Martin Lentz defends the squad and downplays its duties.

"It's not an every-morning thing," Lentz said, contradicting the testimony of his detective. "Trash pulls are a common tool used by our narcotics unit, but only during the course of an ongoing investigation."

The element of surprise is essential to the success of the trash pulls, he said.

"After the publicity, it will be a less-useful tool, and I suspect we won't be using it in the future. What's the point if you've educated the bad guys?" Lentz said.

Disposing of the Garbage Squad wouldn't be such a bad idea, said Gary Daniels of the American Civil Liberties Union in Cleveland. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled trash pulls to be constitutional, but not in all cases, he said.

"We're always skeptical when the police say, 'Trust us, we're not abusing this power,' " Daniels said. "I'm pretty confident that a large number of Cleveland Heights residents would be horrified to know that taxpayer money is being spent so that police can rifle through their garbage on a regular basis."

Defense lawyers Ian Friedman and Angelo Lonardo represent a Cleveland Heights couple arrested after Detective Dolan discovered 10 bags of heroin in the trash on their tree lawn. The lawyers' request for an acquittal on constitutional grounds failed when Judge Ann Mannen denied a motion to suppress the evidence. But getting Cleveland Heights to abolish the Garbage Squad would be a victory in itself, Friedman said.

"Otherwise, I suspect a lot of people will be going to Home Depot this weekend to buy trash-shredders," Friedman said.


© 2004 The Plain Dealer.

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