cannabisnews.com: Customs Tightens Rules On Holding Drug Suspects





Customs Tightens Rules On Holding Drug Suspects
Posted by FoM on November 01, 1999 at 15:25:21 PT
By Jeannine Aversa, Associated Press
Source: Fox News
The Customs Service, amid allegations of abusive drug searches, said Monday it will seek legal advice from U.S. attorneys whenever it wants to hold an airline passenger for more than eight hours. 
The new policy marks the latest effort by Customs Commissioner Raymond Kelly to change how the agency checks passengers for drugs. It revises a proposal for setting up an outside review process that Kelly announced in August. "While we are committed to making the customs clearance experience as expeditious and as pleasant as possible for the traveling public, we are continuing our strong enforcement posture to protect the citizens of this country against contraband of all types,'' Kelly said. The searches are intended to catch smugglers who hide cocaine or heroin inside their clothes or who swallow drug packets. The searches usually begin with a pat-down and, with reasonable suspicion, can proceed to a partial or full strip search, an X-ray or a monitored bowel movement. In general, customs officials can detain passengers for long periods of time without court approval. Under the change effective Monday, U.S. attorneys "will become involved in reviewing passenger detentions at any point in the process, but no later than eight hours from when the search began,'' the Customs Service said in a release announcing the change. This is how the service described the new procedure: If the U.S. attorney does not believe "reasonable suspicion'' exists to continue holding a passenger, then the person will be released. In a case with "probable cause'' that a crime has been committed, however, the U.S. attorney can seek an arrest warrant from a magistrate. And where probable cause doesn't exist, but there is reasonable suspicion to continue the search, "Customs will decide how best to proceed with the search.'' Under the plan announced in August, the service proposed seeking approval from a federal magistrate any time it wanted to hold an airline passenger for more than four hours. Customs would have had to convince a federal magistrate that it had "reasonable suspicion'' for continuing to keep the passenger in custody. At the time, the American Civil Liberties Union expressed misgivings that the reasonable suspicion standard was too easy for law enforcement to satisfy. It preferred the tougher "probable cause'' standard. A message was left for the ACLU to comment on the latest change. A law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Justice Department had some concerns with custom's earlier proposal. The new policy reflects negotiations between the two law enforcement agencies, the official said. Kelly, who took over the Customs Service last year, has acted repeatedly to respond to the criticism over its searches. Customs is facing numerous lawsuits from people alleging they were singled out for body searches because of their race or sex. The allegations first were reported by The Associated Press in December. In May, the service changed its policy so a person detained for at least two hours could make a telephone call. The agency also has clarified criteria for conducting searches, is retraining officers, has tightened the approval process for personal searches and pledged to help passengers whose travel plans were disrupted if they were detained but found not to have smuggled drugs An independent panel has been looking at complaints of racial bias by customs inspectors involving personal searches and is expected to report its findings before the end of the year. American Civil Liberties Unionhttp://www.aclu.org/3.10 p.m. ET (2019 GMT) November 1, 1999comments newsdigital.com© 1999, News America Digital Publishing, Inc. 
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on November 01, 1999 at 21:22:58 PT:
Customs To Get Legal Advice On Detentions
Customs To Get Legal Advice On DetentionsBy Stephen BarrWashington Post Staff WriterMonday, November 1, 1999; Page A25 http://search.washingtonpost.com/The U.S. Customs Service, faced with allegations that it conducts abusive searches of airline passengers in its attempts to capture drug smugglers, plans to announce today that it will seek the advice of U.S. attorneys when detaining travelers for more than eight hours.The announcement, disclosed by a senior Customs official, appears likely to end a months-long effort by Customs Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly to change agency policy by setting up an outside review process to help ensure that the agency's inspectors have acted on "reasonable suspicion" when they detain travelers.At most airports and other border crossings, Customs can detain passengers for lengthy periods--sometimes days--without court approval. The procedure, which has been upheld by the Supreme Court, helped fuel allegations in recent years that Customs wrongly targets blacks and Hispanics as suspected smugglers.Three months ago, Kelly said he planned to require Customs to seek the approval of federal magistrates when detaining travelers for more than four hours. But sources said that plan encountered opposition at the Justice Department, which questioned which legal standard Customs would use to call on magistrates for such a ruling. Instead, the Justice Department agreed that U.S. attorneys could be used to provide an outside opinion on whether Customs acted on a reasonable suspicion when detaining a traveler.Under reasonable suspicion, Customs may detain a person and ask for the traveler's consent to medically supervised body searches. If consent is not given, Customs may proceed with X-rays, physical exams and the monitoring of bowel movements. The strip searches and other tactics have drawn protests and criticism in lawsuits and on Capitol Hill.Kelly, who took over at Customs last year, has tried to address many of the complaints by shaking up the agency's staff and tightening procedures. Customs, for example, has drafted a new "Personal Search Handbook" that provides updated guidelines for inspectors trying to detect drug smugglers. Under Kelly's new rules:* A Customs supervisor must approve pat-down searches.* Any travelers delayed for two hours must be given the opportunity to have a Customs officer notify family or friends.* A senior Customs officer must approve all searches that require moving a traveler to a medical facility for a medical examination. The officer must consult with a Customs attorney on all medical exams.* A Customs officer must explain the detention process to the person under suspicion.In addition to these changes, Kelly has installed "body scan" machines at six major airports, including Los Angeles, Chicago and New York, to provide travelers with an alternative to strip searches. He also has requested $9 million to install X-ray machines at major airports to give travelers another option for a less intrusive body search.Kelly also has appointed an independent commission to conduct a comprehensive study of Customs search policies and practices, including allegations that some Customs inspectors may have improperly used race as a criterion for ordering searches of travelers. Customs officials hope to receive the commission's findings before the year ends. © Copyright 1999 The Washington Post Company
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