Too many questions surround police shooting

JAMES BROCCOLETTI, the defense attorney for Ryan Frederick, doesn't know who's organizing the rally today outside the city jail for his client. Nor do officials at the Chesapeake Sheriff's Department.

This is what's known: People in Chesapeake are stunned and saddened that police Detective Jarrod Shivers, 34, was shot while trying to execute a drug search warrant at Frederick's home Jan. 17. But many are also incensed by the large show of police force in the raid, by the small amount of marijuana recovered from the scene, and by the huge reliance on an unnamed "confidential informant" - who indicated Frederick, 28, was growing marijuana in his garage and selling it.

Search warrants indicate pot and drug paraphernalia were indeed recovered by police, but the written records leave huge doubt as to whether Frederick was a big-time dope dealer. Before the shooting, criminal records in the region only turned up traffic offenses against Frederick, who has admitted using pot.

Letter writers to The Virginian-Pilot and bloggers have railed about this case. People have left messages of support on a huge sign in Frederick's front yard. In law-and-order Chesapeake, a city where most people are glad when they see the white-and-blue cruisers pull up, residents are thinking: What if I'd been in Frederick's shoes?

"It's awful in every direction," said Tracy Mullin, 33, who's known Frederick since he was a teenager. "... I don't think he would have taken a life on purpose."

On Thursday, Frederick was denied bond. Paul Ebert, a special prosecutor brought in from Northern Virginia, said he might seek capital murder charges, and that Shivers was in the front yard when he was struck. Frederick currently faces charges of first-degree murder, using a firearm and first-offense possession of marijuana, a misdemeanor.

Police have said officers came to the house in the Portlock section to look for drugs and had announced they were there. Frederick has said in interviews that he had been in bed, heard someone trying to enter his house, and was wary because there had been a break-in a few days earlier. He said he opened fire with a .380-caliber handgun. Shivers, an eight-year veteran of the force, was struck by one shot in the arm and chest.

At a news conference Jan. 29, the city manager announced a wide-ranging, independent examination of police department policies, procedures and staffing levels. Chief Richard Justice, who retires April 1, made comments, but police supervisors have been relatively mum since, citing the ongoing criminal case. The department has said it will review the way it serves search warrants.

But many questions about the Jan. 17 incident remain: Did the raid have to take place at night? Who was the confidential informant? Did that individual offer details on Frederick in exchange for leniency by law enforcement? Did undercover cops make any drug buys themselves before executing the warrant - so they weren't just taking the word of the informant?

A police spokeswoman told me she cannot release details about the informant "because it is directly related to the ongoing investigation." But a review of documents filed in Circuit Court suggests police didn't make any buys themselves at Frederick's house.

A document dated Jan. 15, signed by Detective K.S. Roberts, says "The CS" - presumably confidential source - "has provided information to the Chesapeake Police Department in the past, which has proven to be reliable and accurate. The CS has also given members of the Special Investigations Section information, which has proven to be reliable and accurate. The CS has made several controlled purchases of narcotics with your Affiant."

Search warrants are served daily by police and deputies nationwide. Most go off without incident. Some 50 narcotics warrants executed by Chesapeake police in 2007 led to 72 arrests, drugs recovered, and many weapons and property seized.

Though police weren't seeking hard-core drugs like heroin or cocaine in Portlock last month, a drug dealer of any kind can be a menace to his neighbors. I know I wouldn't want to live next to one.

And yet...

Jarrod Shivers - husband, father, cop - is dead. Ryan Frederick is in jail, claiming he was defending himself. Hardly any marijuana was recovered.

Something went terribly wrong.

Roger Chesley is associate editor of The Pilot's editorial page. Reach him at (757) 446-2329 or at roger.chesley@pilotonline.com.