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Amidst a chorus of protest over the raids, a federal grand jury has been convened to investigate DALE'S tactics. The agency was set up by President Nixon in January 1972 to work with the local authorities in combatting the narcotics trade. It has done effective work in some areas. It has some 300 agents, many of them recruited from the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs and accustomed to undercover work.
The criticism had repercussions at the top of the agency. From Washington, Myles J. Ambrose, Assistant Attorney General in charge of DALE, suspended four of the agents involved and promised a thorough inquiry. "It would have been reprehensible conduct," he said, "even if [the victims] had been defendants. People who use their badge to violate other people's constitutional rights are worse than criminals."
The Askews and the Giglottos want more consolation than that; they are bringing suit against the Federal Government. Evelyn Giglotto says that she can no longer sleep in the bedroom where she thought her husband was going to be murdered. Virginia Askew, according to her husband, has a history of "psychological problems." She has been in a local hospital's mental ward since the raid took place.