Pubdate: Sat, 20 Nov 1999
Source: Seattle Times (WA)
Copyright: 1999 The Seattle Times Company
Contact:  http://www.seattletimes.com/
Author:  Connie Cass, The Associated Press

CUSTOMS SERVICE PLANS TO STRIP WHISTLE-BLOWER - OF HER JOB

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Customs Service is taking steps to fire a
veteran inspector who helped bring to light problems with the agency's
treatment of airline passengers, especially strip searches of black
and Hispanic women.

Customs officials have given Cathy Harris a 30-day notice of plans to
fire her because she allowed a television station access to internal
records showing black passengers in Atlanta were singled out for
searches at a higher rate than whites. Customs regulations ban release
of the records, which include personal information about travelers.

Customs officials say they don't use racial profiling. But under
pressure from Congress, dozens of travelers' lawsuits and news
reports, Commissioner Raymond Kelly ordered several changes this year
to make searches less traumatic for passengers and guard against
racial targeting.

Pat-downs, strip searches and body-cavity exams are performed on a
tiny fraction of international travelers to catch smugglers who
swallow packets of heroin or cocaine or hide them on their bodies.

Changes include sensitivity training for inspectors, allowing people
detained for more than two hours to call a lawyer, and requiring legal
advice from a U.S. attorney if a passenger is detained more than eight
hours. In some airports, microdose X-ray machines can be used in lieu
of pat-downs in some cases.

Customs, meanwhile, is taking steps to fire another inspector who has
publicly criticized the agency: Croley Forester, president of the
Treasury employees' union local in Miami. Forester, who complained
about lax security at Miami International Airport and cronyism within
the Customs Service, was accused of falsely saying he had inspected a
box that later was found to contain cocaine, officials said.

Customs spokesman Dennis Murphy said the cases aren't retaliation, but
instead reflect reforms designed to make the disciplinary process more
fair and consistent.

"The Atlanta and Miami cases show we are going to be evenhanded,"
Murphy said. "When people who have gone public with allegations in the
past are caught up in situations that go before the Discipline Review
Board, we can't say that's so-and-so and if we do something to them
that would create problems for us. That's favoritism."

Harris, who can respond to the termination notice before the review
board makes a decision, plans to seek government help under the
Whistleblower Protection Act, which protects the jobs of federal
workers who disclose waste, fraud and abuse.

She admits printing out six months' worth of records of searches at
Atlanta's Hartsfield International Airport for an attorney
representing her in a sexual- and racial-harassment complaint against
the Customs Service. She said her former attorney shared them with
WAGA-TV in Atlanta without her knowledge.

But Harris says she has no regrets about the disclosure.

"They wouldn't have gotten the full story without me doing that, and
people need to know," she said.

Harris said black travelers were singled out for strip searches
routinely, while white passengers - even those who aroused the
interest of drug dogs - were not stopped.

Harris, who said other black female employees were also harassed, has
sent written testimony to two congressional committees and the General
Accounting Office, filed eight complaints with the Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission, organized a protest group among U.S. Customs
workers and is preparing her own harassment lawsuit. She is currently
on unpaid leave, which she sought because of stress.

Harris' attorney, Tom Allison, said the changes in Customs' procedures
should help vindicate her.

"It's an admission that what she reported was actually something where
policies needed to change," Allison said. "She did what she thought
was right. She is a whistle-blower."
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