Pubdate: Tue, 16 Nov1999
Source: Star-Ledger (NJ)
Copyright: 1999 Newark Morning Ledger Co.
Contact:  1 Star-Ledger Plaza, Newark, NJ, 07102-1200
Website: http://www.nj.com/starledger/
Forum: http://forums.nj.com/
Author: Josh Margolin, Star Ledger Staff

POLICE USE SEIZED CARS TO SEND DRUG WARNING

The teens of North Edison are used to seeing that souped-up, low-riding
white BMW M3 driving around. It was the prized possession of Kent Au, a man
about town who was suspected of dealing drugs.

Now, more than a year after Au was arrested and charged with peddling
marijuana, the students at J.P. Stevens High School in Edison still see his
car almost every day. But these days, the flashy German sportster isn't
hot-rodding around town with the sound system thumping, taking corners at
high speeds.

Instead, the Beemer is being driven by an Edison cop. It's decked out in the
blue and gold of the Edison police with a red, white and blue light bar on
top and the words "busted" and "seized" painted on it.

"When they first saw it," Detective Mike Peer said of the high school
students, "they knew it was Kent Au's car. The kids flip over the car. They
knew the car and the kids ask about Kent. Hopefully, the kids learn not to
deal drugs and not to do drugs altogether".

That lesson, Peer said, is driven home when he reminds the students of Au's
fate.

In September 1998, Edison police and the U.S. Drug Enforcement
administration arrested Au on a list of charges, including possession of
marijuana with intent to distribute. Through an arrangement with the court
and the DEA, the township seized the 1995 BMW and made it part of Edison's
Drug  Abuse Resistance Education program.

Au was convicted of drug charges and forfeited the car as part his court
penalty, police said.

Au could not be reached for comment.

The Edison BMW is the latest example of police departments around New Jersey
and the rest of the country putting flashy cars in service as part of their
Dare programs.

Officials with DARE - the national program designed to help kids fend off
the influences of the drug world - said cars like the BMW send a strong
signal.

"We're taking something negative and turning it into something positive,"
said Carl Mittelhammer, the state coordinator of DARE-New Jersey.

The idea of using sports cars to send anti-drug messages wasn't born in New
Jersey. It wasn't even created by DARE.

The concept is an outgrowth of the southern police practice of patrolling
like Georgia and the Carolinas in unorthodox - and sometimes very sporty -
vehicles to trap speeders. As DARE grew, coordinators throughout the country
picked up on the patrol idea and started using flashy cars as billboards on
wheels.

In Mount Olive, the police department's 1988 Ford Mustang draws more than
its share of double-takes. The car is a moving optical illusion. The car is
painted iridescent and looks blue, copper, orange or purple, depending on
the amount of light that reflects from its metallic coat.

"We want to draw attention to it," said Joe Kluska, one of Mount Olive's
DARE officers. "We want people to look at it and say, 'Hey, that's a cop
car'. First, we call attention to the car and once you have people's
attention, then they're drawn into what the message is behind the car.

"We're countering a lot of the other marketing, the other messages, that are
out there and we're trying to send a different message," he said.
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