Pubdate: Fri, 01 Dec 2000
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 2000 Los Angeles Times
Contact:  Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, CA 90053
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Author: Jack Leonard, Times Staff Writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prop36.htm (Substance Abuse and Crime
Prevention Act)

OFFICIALS FEAR EFFECT OF DRUG LAW ON STINGS

Laws: Police And Prosecutors Say Prop. 36, Which Calls For Treatment Rather
Than Jail For Many Offenders, Could Undermine Undercover Operations.

They hang out on street corners and in parking lots notorious for drug
deals, offering $20 hits to would-be buyers. But these men clad in
gang attire are not drug dealers. They're cops.

For more than a decade, police have used the undercover stings that
target drug buyers to clean up neighborhoods ravaged by narcotics.
While so-called "reverse stings" usually result in minor drug
possession charges, police say the threat of jail is a powerful
deterrent, leading drug users to avoid areas where they are operating.

But a month after voters approved a sweeping reform of California's
drug laws, concern is mounting in law enforcement ranks that such
stings may fall victim to the radical changes.

Some police officials and prosecutors say they are worried that
Proposition 36--a ballot measure requiring treatment rather than jail
time for many drug offenders--will undermine the effectiveness of the
stings.

With drug buyers less likely to face time behind bars, some believe
that cash-strapped departments may eventually switch resources away
from stings to other operations.

"That is a very realistic fallout from Proposition 36," said Fullerton
Police Sgt. Joe Klein, who heads a local chapter of the California
Narcotics Officers Assn. "I think that everybody is worried about it,
but no one knows how to take care of it."

Proposition 36, which takes effect in June, requires judges to offer
nonviolent drug users treatment instead of jail for their first two
offenses. Under current law, first-time offenders can enter a
treatment program instead of jail only if they plead guilty and a
judge agrees to the sentence.

Reverse stings "are not going to be useful allocations of resources
after Proposition 36," said Orange County Deputy Dist. Atty. Jeff
Ferguson, who prosecutes drug cases. "Law enforcement does not measure
its performance by the number of people they send to rehab."

If Ferguson's prediction comes true, it won't be a moment too soon for
backers of Proposition 36, who believe the measure's passage was the
result, in part, of the public's growing tired of police tactics such
as stings that fail to tackle drug use as a medical problem.

"Voters in California . . . have sent a message to state officials
that harsh enforcement of drug laws is not wanted and does not work,"
said Elizabeth Schroeder, associate director of the American Civil
Liberties Union of Southern California. "Sting operations only
reinforce the old school of thought about how to effectively change
the behavior of people who are addicted to drugs."

Police and prosecutors maintain that stings have proved successful in
clearing some of the area's most drug-infested neighborhoods of major
crime.

Undercover officers sell street drugs or a substitute, such as
macadamia nuts disguised as crack cocaine, to unwitting buyers before
uniformed officers swoop down to make arrests. The operations are
often accompanied by publicity blitzes, such as an Inglewood campaign
that once warned, "Behind your rock could be a cop."

An end to the practice, some warn, could spell the return of drug
dealers and buyers who were scared away by stings.

"The way those areas were cleaned up was by officers . . . posing as
drug sellers," Klein said. "I would anticipate that many of these drug
alleys will be reopening" if the stings are halted.

Some police agencies, however, say they have no plans to halt the
stings when the law changes.

"We're still out there in the field and we're still going to arrest
them," said Los Angeles Police Capt. Walt Schick, who supervises his
department's narcotics field enforcement section.

In Santa Ana, police said the tactic has helped transform a four-block
area north of downtown where drug dealers only a few years ago peddled
their wares brazenly on street corners.

"We have to continue to have some sort of deterrent for folks who are
out there who want to purchase narcotics," said Santa Ana Police Lt.
Bob Helton.

But Helton also acknowledged that impending changes in drug laws are
likely to increase frustration among rank-and-file officers who are on
the streets making busts.

"I think," he said, "officers are going to ask, 'Is this going to be
an exercise in futility, knowing that we're going to see this person
two or three times and have them thumbing their nose at us.' "
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager