Pubdate: Mon, 23 May 2016
Source: Albuquerque Journal (NM)
Copyright: 2016 Albuquerque Journal
Contact:  http://www.abqjournal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/10
Author: Ryan Boetel, Journal Staff Writer

PUBLIC DEFENDER, APD AT ODDS OVER UNDERCOVER DRUG STINGS

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - An Albuquerque police narcotics operation in which
undercover detectives haggled with transient drug addicts  in some
cases accepting the clothes off their backs in exchange for drugs,
then arresting them  is raising broader questions about the agency's
approach to drug crimes, especially when using stings.

APD says a court order allowing them to sell drugs on the streets,
then arrest people is a valuable tool that lowers crime, while the
public defender's office contends that police are targeting the poor
and that the tactic has done nothing to battle drug crime in the city.
The district attorney said the value of the operations is minimal.

Albuquerque police have a court order allowing them to sell drugs
including heroin, methamphetamine and crack  on the streets. The
order, which Detective Marc Clingenpeel wrote earlier this year, said
that traditional methods for investigating narcotics have failed.

"It is believed that taking enforcement action against the purchasers
of drugs in the area, if well known, will reduce the demand for drugs
in the area," he said in the order, which was approved by District
Judge Brett Loveless.

Albuquerque police have used similar orders for decades to conduct the
stings. Every so often, a detective brings the order to a judge to get
permission. The order technically allows police to manufacture the
drugs  such as turn cocaine into crack  but narcotics detectives said
that enough drugs have always been in evidence that they've never had
to alter them. Loveless' order is in effect until the end of the year.

Alan Wagman, a public defender, said he has defended clients, dating
back to the 1990s, who were arrested for buying drugs from undercover
police officers. He said that undercuts the police's argument that it
prevents crime.

"They've been doing this for 20 years. It clearly doesn't work," he
said. "Why create crime if it doesn't deter crime?"

District Attorney Kari Brandenburg said that, while these tactics have
been used by law enforcement agencies across the country for years,
she discourages the practice and said "we must be willing to update
and re-examine our way of thinking." "Without buyers, the drug sellers
quickly leave, but I suspect any impact would be minimal, at best,"
she said in an email. "It is my opinion that we need to focus on the
'dealers,' or those higher up the food chain. We desperately need to
focus on rallying community resources to help deal with drug addiction
and mental health issues."

Parking lot sting

The controversial sting operation was outlined in a series of criminal
complaints obtained by the Journal.

On May 9, Clingenpeel was waiting in a parking lot in southeast
Albuquerque with crack cocaine when he spotted Anthony Pounds, 49.

The detective asked him if he was looking for something.

"Hard," Pounds replied.

Clingenpeel told him that he had $20 of crack cocaine. Pounds had only
$5. The detective suggested that Pounds give him the money and his
jacket in exchange for crack.

Pounds handed over the jacket and $5.10, which was all in coins, and
took a small amount of crack. He was then quickly arrested and booked
into jail on a drug possession charge. He was there for two days.

The operation was executed in a parking lot at Pennsylvania and
Central NE. They arrested eight people: seven of them on drug
possession charges and one person for drug trafficking.

In most of the cases, those arrested had very little cash but bartered
with the officers, offering them medicine, change, a tablet computer
and a police radio for drugs.

In one transaction, a detective was discussing a sale with a man when
a woman walked up and wanted in on the deal  offering $3, colic
medication and sex.

Both were taken into custody.

Albuquerque police said the stings help fight drug problems in the
community in several ways: they drive drug dealers out of certain
areas by taking away their customers and they make people more leery
about buying drugs on the streets.

"Think of a drug dealer like a retail store. If you take away the
customers, then he has to go elsewhere," said Detective Ben Sallee, a
longtime Albuquerque narcotics detective.

Looking at changes

But Wagman said the drug buys target the poor.

"Upper-income people buy drugs indoors. Low-income people buy drugs
outside on the street," he said.

The public defender's office has filed a motion trying to block the
order that allows Albuquerque police to conduct the stings.

Sallee said arresting poor drug addicts can prevent other types of
crime  pointing out that poor drug addicts commit property crimes to
feed their addiction. And stolen items are often exchanged for drugs.
Some of these people who can't afford to buy the drugs are willing to
do anything to get them.

"I even had a guy flat out say, 'Do what you want with my child, just
give me dope,' " he said.

But Sallee said police do the operations all over the city, using
drugs  primarily crack  from adjudicated cases, and they do not target
the poor. He said detectives do other types of investigations that
target drug users with different incomes.

Narcotics Sgt. Luke Languit said that, while detectives plan to
continue to use such sting operations, they are considering changes.

"We're recognizing that if there's a guy pushing a shopping cart with
all his possessions, we're not going to put a case against him," he
said. "Let's try to get him some services."

City Councilor Pat Davis said he has written a letter to police Chief
Gorden Eden asking for the department to stop the drug stings and
instead target drug and firearms dealers.

"APD rolling in, picking off a couple addicted folks doesn't do
anything to solve that problem," he said.
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