Police at the Party
The Washington Post
July 31, 1987, Friday, Final Edition
Police at the Party
SECTION: OPINION EDITORIAL; PAGE A22
LENGTH: 359 words
THE FAIRFAX County bashbusters case came to an end this
week, but important policy questions remain. Robert and Retha Morgan, who made
the mistake of giving a party for their son's graduating class at Oakton High
School, pleaded no contest to charges of aiding and abetting the consumption of
alcohol by minors -- charges that had been brought because some guests at the
party -- classmates and friends of their 18-year-old son -- were drinking
during the celebration. In exchange for the plea, other charges against Mrs.
Morgan, who later that same evening had failed a Breathalyzer test, were
dropped.
The Morgans had notified police in advance that they were
giving the party, had sought the advice of authorities and had posted
"Please, No Alcohol" signs around the house. They had not given or
sold any alcohol to the guests. More than 200 people turned up at the party,
though, and in spite of the efforts by the Morgans to cooperate with
authorities and observe the law, some of those invited brought and consumed
their own alcoholic drinks.
The Fairfax commonwealth's attorney's office has agreed to
dismiss the case entirely if there is no additional violation -- can you
imagine that the Morgans would go through this again? -- in the next six
months. Nevertheless, what remains troubling is the Fairfax County police
department's policy of crashing parties in plainclothes when there has been no
complaint from any citizen that the party is creating a disturbance. To go onto
private property without a warrant, without a request from the host family and
without a single call from a neighbor is intrusive and wrong. As another local
police chief put it, the department should have better things to do.
If a party is so noisy or disruptive as to be disturbing the
neighborhood, certainly the police should respond. And if a single intoxicated
person of any age attempts to drive a car, he should be arrested. But neither
of these things happened at the Morgan party. Whether or not police intrusions
into private functions of this kind are technically legal -- and apparently
they are -- they are bad policy and should be discourage
Had enough? Write to the Speaker of the House, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20515 and demand federal
hearings into the police problem in America.
Demand mandatory body cameras for cops, one strike rule on abuse, and a
permanent DOJ office on Police
Misconduct.