Pubdate: Thu, 12 Jul 2001
Source: Times Union (NY)
Copyright: 2001 Capital Newspapers Division of The Hearst Corporation
Section: Capital Region, Pg. B1
Contact:  http://www.timesunion.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/452
Author: Brendan Lyons; Staff Writer

OFFICERS' TACTICS MOVE OFF THE BUS

Albany Investigators Seeking To Stem Drug Traffic Will Now Watch Passengers 
Leaving The Vehicles

Sheriff's investigators have changed their methods for nabbing suspected 
drug mules at the Albany bus terminal to get around a recent court ruling 
that says they cannot question people simply because they came from New 
York City.

Investigators will no longer board buses from New York City and ask 
passengers to produce identification, sheriff's officials said. Now, bus 
passengers will be questioned only after getting off a bus and only if they 
are acting suspiciously.

In the past, sheriff's investigators used random identification checks as a 
way to watch for anyone acting "suspiciously" as investigators walked down 
bus aisles checking tickets and IDs.

But defense lawyers contend the practice is unconstitutional.

"Why aren't we hearing more about it? Generally speaking, it's because 
people who ride on buses are poor or young, and these are not two groups 
with political clout," said Terence L. Kindlon, an Albany defense attorney 
who has challenged the bus station searches since the 1980s. "Put sheriff's 
investigators with guns and badges outside a jet at Albany (International) 
Airport ... loaded with families coming home from Disney World and see how 
many of those people act nervous."

Typically, the sheriff's narcotics unit runs two stings a month at the 
terminal. Last year, 13 people were arrested on drug or weapons charges at 
the station. Over the past 11 years, sheriff's officials estimate they have 
seized about 100 handguns and tens of thousands of dollars worth of drugs. 
The most recent detail took place Thursday, just one week after the Court 
of Appeals overturned the drug conviction of a Nassau County man who was 
arrested in 1997 when sheriff's investigators boarded a bus in Albany and 
asked all 15 passengers for identification.

"They're saying we can't go aboard the bus, but we can still look for 
reasonable suspicion (of bus passengers)," said Inspector John Burke, who 
has headed the undercover Albany County Sheriff's Department stings since 
1990. Before that Burke was an Albany detective and ran similar operations 
for that department.

When a bus from New York City pulled into Albany at 10:30 p.m. Thursday, 
sheriff's investigators deployed a new tactic. Two plainclothes sheriff's 
investigators with their badges hanging from their necks stood outside the 
door as passengers got off the bus. Another group of undercover 
investigators then watched the passengers for anyone who acted suspiciously 
when they spotted the officers' badges.

Investigators zeroed in on a 16-year-old girl and 21-year-old man from New 
York City who "acted suspiciously" as they walked toward a cab, Burke said. 
They allegedly handed a black bag back and forth.

The girl, Lizette Perez, allegedly told investigators who asked her for 
identification that she was carrying marijuana. They arrested her for 
unlawful possession of marijuana and allegedly found two ounces of crack 
cocaine in her pants.  Perez and the man traveling with her, Godfrey 
Waldron, were then charged with felony drug possession.

"Cops are always complaining about lawyers looking for loopholes and now 
they are looking for a loophole in the Court of Appeals decision," said 
James Long, an Albany criminal defense attorney who was the original public 
defender in the recent Court of Appeals case. "While each case is decided 
on its own facts, it appears again that the only suspicious activity this 
young lady did was get off a bus from New York City and get into a cab."

Burke said that investigators often question people at the bus terminal 
they believe are acting suspiciously but have to let them walk away if they 
refuse to speak with investigators.

Kindlon contends most people don't know they have the right to not answer 
any questions. The Fourth Amendment of the Constitution also protects their 
right against unlawful searches. Kindlon said there is no way to measure 
how many innocent people's rights have been violated. Even in cases where 
the arrests have been upheld in court, defense attorneys have argued that 
judges turn a blind eye to the questionable policing.

Sheriff's investigators once arrested a man on drug possession charges 
after following him into a bus terminal restroom and observing that he did 
not lower his pants when he went into a stall and flushed the toilet.

"Why would a reasonable person go into a toilet and flush it twice without 
taking his pants down?" Burke said.

District Attorney Paul Clyne said he supports the sheriff's department 
decision to continue the stings.

"The police are not going to use that specific procedure (of boarding buses 
from New York City)," Clyne said. "However, that does not mean that they're 
not going to go down to the bus terminals and observe the traffic in an 
effort to interdict drugs that are flowing into the Capital District via 
these buses."
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