From the Dallas Morning News:

Former boss testifies that he doubted Garland narcotics detective's accuracy

12:00 AM CDT on Friday, April 2, 2010
By TANYA EISERER / The Dallas Morning News
teiserer@dallasnews.com
 
The former commander of the Garland narcotics unit testified Thursday that he doubted the credibility of a former detective whose work has become the subject of a wide-ranging review by prosecutors.
 
Lt. John Orozco, who headed the narcotics unit until last fall, testified that other narcotics detectives had previously expressed concerns about the accuracy of Officer Dennis Morrow's reports and that he worried that Morrow was cutting corners. He also said he had difficulty managing Morrow, whom he described as a "high producer."
 
"There were instances that would involve reports ... not being accurate," testified Orozco, a 20-year veteran.
 
Orozco's testimony came during a pretrial hearing in which two former Garland narcotics detectives, Daniel Colasanto and Cliff Wise, previously testified that Morrow inaccurately wrote in a July police report that Tramane Hooks lunged for $150 worth of crack cocaine stored in a hotel room refrigerator, resulting in his arrest on drug delivery charges. The officers testified that the inaccuracies were part of a pattern by Morrow and that they doubted his credibility.
 
Morrow has denied any wrongdoing in the drug arrest, and a Garland police internal investigation cleared him. Morrow, Wise and Colasanto were among a group of Garland officers transferred out of the narcotics unit last year after the Hooks arrest.
 
"The only way the system works is when you trust police officers to be credible," said defense attorney Bill Wirskye. "Here you have a police officer who some of his own co-workers and his own supervisor do not trust. It certainly calls into question each and every case he was involved in."
 
During the hearing, Orozco testified that Officer Marc Mendoza called him the day after the Hooks arrest wanting to have lunch to discuss concerns about the case. "He made a reference to wanting to get together due to the fact that we need to have an intervention with Officer Morrow," Orozco said.
 
Mendoza has previously denied in sworn testimony having expressed any concerns to Orozco about the Hooks arrest.
 
Over lunch, Orozco testified, Colasanto told him that he believed Morrow had lied in the Hooks report. He said Mendoza did not disagree with Colasanto's assessment.
 
Orozco also testified that on another occasion, he was present during an informal meeting with Mendoza and other officers in which they confronted Morrow about issues related to honesty. He said he also heard one narcotics detective state that not one word that comes out of Morrow's mouth could be believed.
 
Under questioning from Wirskye, Orozco said he also would have put a stop to it if he had known that any officer was getting informants to sign pay sheets that didn't have the amount filled in. Morrow testified last week that he sometimes engaged in this practice.
 
The practice appears to violate the unit's procedures, and is one deemed questionable by law enforcement experts because of the potential for abuse.
 
Since the hearing began last month, Morrow has been transferred from his job patrolling the streets of Garland to a desk job in the quartermaster unit. Narcotics unit detectives have also been ordered within the past week to cease using paid informants.
 
The hearing continues next Thursday.
 

 
The article above is in today's Metro section of the Dallas Morning News. Related posts:

• Mar 19: Police Department in Spotlight
• Mar 28: Trial Probe Has Become Three-Ring Circus