Betraying Children

I read in The Times about the Los Angeles Police Department’s recommendation against prosecuting suspected drug sellers at a Granada Hills high school because the policewoman--posing as a student--who arrested them had a “romantic relationship” with a 17-year-old boy (“Student-Police ‘Romance’ Stymies Drug Cases,” Dec. 16).

I find it most interesting that the Police Department might back out of this case because defense attorneys would probably bring up the undercover policewoman’s “bad judgment” if her cases went to trial.

As a plaintiff in a case that seeks to end such undercover police work in San Diego, I’ve had an underlying feeling all along that these deceitful sting operations are the epitome of “bad judgment.”

Could there be worse judgment than a decision to have someone pretending to be a sophomore befriend and betray young people?

The Granada Hills principal feels that the “romance” incident has hurt the reputation of his school and the school sting program. It’s put a bad taste in his mouth, he says.

But what about the reputation a school earns when undercover police officers are allowed to contribute to the delinquency of students by asking them where drugs can be bought--and by asking them to buy drugs for them?

Why doesn’t it leave a bad taste in educators’ mouths when more and more students no longer trust them because of the undercover work going on in schools? How can we as a society knowingly betray our children? Isn’t doing so using “bad judgment” of the worst kind?

ERNIE McCRAY

San Diego