From: [b--r--e] at [rcf.rsmas.miami.edu] (Charlie Byrne) Newsgroups: talk.politics.drugs Subject: Reno: Another Positive Indication Date: 19 Jul 1993 12:18:19 GMT OK, I probably went a little overboard in my recent praise for Janet Reno, but after 12 years of disaster, news like below gets me pretty excited. ============================================================================== "Copyright 1993 by Reposted with permission from the ClariNet Electronic Newspaper newsgroup clari.florida. For more info on ClariNet, write to [i--o] at [clarinet.com] or phone 1-800-USE-NETS." Date: Fri, 16 Jul 93 7:15:46 PDT DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (UPI) -- U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno has asked the FBI to investigate charges Volusia County Sheriff Bob Vogel's Interstate 95 drug squad discriminated against blacks and Hispanics. Reno said the investigation will be based on two federal civil rights laws. Penalties for violating the laws include fines and prison times -- as much as 10 years in one case. ``We all along have said we welcome a review by any agency,'' said Vogel in his only comment about the pending investigation. Reno decided to investigate last week, not because of requests from members of Congress, but because of the Justice Department's review of facts, spokesperson Julie Anbender said. There is no indication how long the investigation will take. More than half of Florida's congressional delegation asked for an investigation. ``Janet Reno sent a message that racial discrimination by law enforcement will not be tolerated,'' said U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D- Mich., who chairs the House Government Operations Committee. Conyers' subcommittee on legislation and national security has held two hearings on abuse of seizure laws in the past 10 months. Vogel's five-member drug squad stopped thousands of motorists for minor traffic offenses since March 1989, seizing about $8 million from people suspected of being drug traffickers. The squad made arrests in only 25 percent of the cases. Vogel has repeatedly denied deputies used race as a factor in deciding which motorists to stop and search. Reports published have said of 1,100 traffic stops and 199 cash-only seizures in which no arrests were made, blacks and Hispanics comprised 90 percent of the people whose money was taken, 80 percent of the people searched and 70 percent of the drivers stopped. A state task force was appointed by Gov. Lawton Chiles to examine Florida's seizure law and to investigate how Vogel and other agencies used it. The task force's report was sent to the U.S. Justice Department. ==============================================================================