Waveland police mark ‘drug houses’ with yard signs. Is that legal?
Three months ago, Waveland Police Department investigators and narcotics task force officers arrested eight people in a drug bust.
Once inside the home in the 500 block of Meadow Lane, officers reported finding multiple bags of drugs suspected to be meth. Paraphernalia was also found throughout the home and confiscated, police said on Facebook.
The eight suspects were all arrested on drug charges and ranged in age from 17-47.
The drug bust was made after several residents complained of criminal activity going on at the home in a residential neighborhood.
And it would be the first time officers put a sign in the yard signed by the police chief himself: “This drug house closed for business by: Chief Mike Prendergrast.
Over the next three months, officers would place signs at at least four other homes when felony drug arrests were made, and the photos would be shared on the police department’s Facebook pages, garnering thousands of likes, comments and shares.
The signs, Prendergrast told the Sun Herald, were made in part of his plan to let the community know their concerns about drugs were being heard by law enforcement.
But some people – including attorneys across the Coast – question the legality of the signs before convictions are handed down.
Drug arrests and sign placements in Waveland
Waveland police have named five ‘drug houses’ on Facebook from June 17 - August 8, including the bust on Meadow lane.
The other arrests were made at various addresses across the city:
July 3: Anthony Alexis was arrested at a mobile home on a charge of possession with an intent to distribute. Police did not give an address or say what type of drug was found inside the home.
July 16: Three arrested on felony possession with intent to distribute charges at a home on Elaine Street.
August 1: Two drug arrests made at a home on Danube Street.
August 8: At least one arrested with other arrests expected at a home in the 800 block of Spruce Street.
“I get a lot of complaints about activity going on at different houses and I wanted them (residents) to know that I was addressing the issues, that I wasn’t just blowing them off,” Prendergrast told the Sun Herald last week.
The police chief said the signs are placed on city property in front of the homes, but it’s unclear how that is determined by police at the crime scenes. Many of the photos posted by Waveland Police Department on Facebook show the signs in the front yard of the houses.
Are the signs legal?
The overwhelming majority of Facebook comments about the “drug house” signs are in support of police getting drugs off the streets, while a few have shared concern about what the signs mean for the reputation of neighborhoods and the residences nearby.
Defense attorneys on the Coast also question the legality of the signs.
“I think it undermines the credibility of not only drug cases, but every case, because it reflects the attitude of the police from the top to the bottom that we are not going to consider the possibility the person might be innocent,” said Michael Crosby, a well-known defense attorney based in Gulfport.
“They are acting as if they don’t believe in the judicial system…America is about the presumption of innocence.”
Jim Davis, who is also a Gulfport-based defense attorney, agrees with Crosby.
“He (Prendergrast) is definitely publicly saying the person they arrest is guilty,” Davis told the Sun Herald. “It is horrible.”
Davis believes the signs may violate the Mississippi Code of Criminal Conduct that says police and lawyers should not comment on the innocence or guilt of an individual before a trial.
“If you ask me, they are violating that with those posters,” Davis said.
Prendergrast said the intention of the posters is to raise awareness, and they are not placing guilt on individuals who were arrested.
“I am not saying they’re guilty…people are innocent until they are proven guilty, I am not the court system,” he said. “All I am doing is letting my citizens know that we’re addressing the issues in their neighborhood.”