From: [c--r--n] at [ux4.cso.uiuc.edu] (Christopher J Burian)
Newsgroups: alt.politics.libertarian,alt.society.civil-liberty,alt.conspiracy,alt.drugs,talk.politics.misc
Subject: Anti-drug thugs terrorizing Alaska
Date: 6 Apr 1994 07:56:20 GMT
= Area: AEN NEWS =============================================================
Msg#: 23161 Date: 03-28-94 17:40
From: Boo Rody Read: Yes Replied: No
To: All Mark:
Subj: Drug Raids Alaska
==============================================================================
Sunday, March 27, 1994
Anchorage, Daily News, Metro Section
DRUG HUNT RAISES HACKLES
Peninsula residents call troopers, Guard unit intimidating
By Tom Kizza
Daily News Reporter
A sweep by state troopers, backed by a National Guard drug unit,
uncovered several marijuana growers on the upper Kenai Peninsula this
month, including what troopers called a major commercial operation in a
Sterling airplane hangar.
But the anti-drug effort also drew protest from other homeowners who
say they were frightened or embarrassed when troopers showed up on their
doorsteps without search warrants and asked to look around. Nothing was
found in their homes.
The protesters say police reliance on hunches, anonymous tips and
informal "knock-and-talk" searches invites abuse and invasion of
privacy.
"I don't think they have a right to violate anybody's privacy,"said
Armin Schmidt, 32, a Kasilof fisherman. Schmidt said he thinks someone
involved in a dispute with his family reported him anonymously.
When the troopers arrived at his door earlier this month, he first told
them to get a warrant, he said. Then the troopers told him he'd be
investigated. Faced with that choice, Schmidt opened his door. They
found nothing.
"I don't appreciate them or anyone else harassing me." Schmidt said.
"People are calling Crimestoppers to make false reports out of revenge,"
said kenai lawyer Bob Cowan, who said he'd heard complaints from four
innocent property owners approached by troopers without search warrants
this month. "People can tell police to take a walk. But it's a form of
legal coercion."
Troopers and police defend the state wide practice of making informal
house calls, which they call knock-and-talks. They say it's an
efficient and unthreatening way to deal with a backlog of tips without
undertaking a long investigation to get a search warrant.
"We tell people if it's all bogus, nothing's here, then we're out of
your hair," said Sgt. Wayne Bortz, head of the trooper drug unit on the
Kenai Peninsula. If you're not committing a crime, there's probably no
problem if I come in."
"Would they rather we be hiding behind a bush looking at their house?"
said Kenai Police Chief Dan Morris. "Personally, I'd rather they walked
up to my house and talked to me about it."
The source of the tip is often a Crimestoppers call.
Like similar programs elsewhere in Alaska, the Kenai Peninsula
Crimestoppers is a business-supported, nonprofit program that takes
anonymous calls on possible crimes and passes out rewards for
convictions. The 10-year-old program is administered by Kenai police
Morris said it has been a success, paying out something more than
$10,000 in rewards in return for recovery of more than $1 million in
drugs and stolen goods.
Law enforcement officials say they are obliged to follow up on tips they
receive at least to see if there's anything to them.
"If we don't go talk to people, we can't do our jobs," Morris said.
Often the easiest way is to drive by the house, knock on the door, and
ask to look around. homeowners are free to say no, but sometimes
officers will detect something - an aroma of marijuana, blacked-out
windows - that could help obtain a subsequent search warrant.
Some of those unhappy with this month's effort say they felt
intimidated, with as many as six officers approaching houses and a five
ton National Guard truck standing by.
"They said they'd been watching the house for year-and-a-half and had
the phone tapped. I was very upset," said Patty Mann, owner of a Kenai
janitorial service. She told them to go away, she said, but the
troopers persisted for 10 minutes until she relented. "He kept
insisting if I didn't have anything to hide to let him in."
If her house was under surveillance as troopers claimed, the observers
weren't very effective, Mann said. She said the person troopers told
her they were looking hadn't lived there since August.
Bortz said troopers were following up a tip that predated Mann's
residence there. He said he told her the tip was half-a-year old and
denied saying he'd tapped her phone, which would be illegal under Alaska
law. He wanted to check the house to confirm her story, he said.
But Bortz said he's willing to take no for an answer. In fact, he said,
three of the 12 people who were home when troopers visited this month
wouldn't let them come in. Investigation into activity at those homes
is continuing, he said.
Trooper Lt. Ted Bachman, head of the state wide narcotics unit, said
officers have to know the line between persistence and coercion - in
part because the conversations are usually recorded by troopers and an
improper search could backfire in court.
But Cowan said the authorities have stepped up the pressure. "What's new
is them rolling up with those big military deals and pouring in en
masse," he said. "If people don't object to this, would they have any
objection to (body) cavity searches under these same procedures?"
The Drug Eradication and Interdiction Unit of the Alaska National Guard
was along to help with removal of plants and equipment at big busts,
troopers said. Use of the National Guard has become common in drug
efforts in Alaska since the unit was formed in 1988 as part of the
federally funded war on drugs. The drug unit has 30 full-time employees
and a $1.1 million annual budget, said Guard Maj. Bob Kean, who commands
the unit.
"The idea is to allow the equipment the Guard already owns to be used in
the drug war," said Kean. He said the Guard unit stays back and does
not take part in the knock-and-talk searches.
In the troopers' biggest knock-and-talk success of the month, they
visited a house in Sterling on March 8 and were allowed in just one
room, according to Bortz. The smell of marijuana plants was powerful,
Bortz said. Troopers left and returned two hours later with a search
warrant based on the smell, he said.
Troopers said they turned up 426 marijuana plants of various sizes.
Many were hidden in a false floor under an airplane hangar, Bortz said.
Two other knock-and-talk visits turned up smaller marijuana-growing
operations, according to troopers. In both cases, residents allowed
troopers in and showed them the marijuana, Bortz said. One case
involved four plants in Sterling. In the other the other, involving 39
plants in Nikiski, troopers were admitted by the grower's wife, Bortz
said.
Kenai police made two marijuana busts during the same period, using
support from the troopers. But these were conventional cases, relying
on investigations and search warrants, according to Kenai police
investigator Joe Harrison. About 2 pounds of marijuana was collected
from each home, he said.
Kenai police do fewer than a dozen knock-and-talk visits every year,
Harrison said. They were briefed on the procedures by police
consultants from California last year who claimed to win admittance to
97 percent of the houses they visit, he said. Police in Alaska say they
get turned away more often.
"People here are a little more concerned about the privacy thing, and I
don't have any problem with that." Harrison said.
***********
NOTE:
The Alaska Daily News has a local reputation of disinformation
reporting and general poor journalism and MOST articles issued by the
Daily News are considered by most locals to be inaccurate until they can
be verified through other sources.
QMPro 1.50 41-1285 ë I ain't no Doctor, but I'm loosking all me patience!
-!- WM v2.09/92-0593
! Origin: AmeriKa BBS - Anchorage,AK. 907-272-1776 (1:3550/516)
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