Pubdate: Thu, 08 Feb 2001 Source: Wisconsin State Journal (WI) Copyright: 2001 Madison Newspapers, Inc. Contact: PO Box 8975, Madison, WI 53708-8975 Website: http://www.wisconsinstatejournal.com/ Author: Brenda Ingersoll POLICE SAY KEEP LAW ON BOOKS Madison's Anti-loitering Ordinance Is About To Expire, But Police Want It Kept Around Just In Case. Madison police want to keep an anti-loitering ordinance on the books after its scheduled expiration March 6 but don't intend to use it unless open-air drug sales stage a comeback on city streets. "We still have some open-air drug dealing, but drug sales have gone indoors and become more sophisticated," Capt. Luis Yudice, head of the Dane County Narcotics and Gang Task Force, said Wednesday. "In the early 90s, it was waving people down in cars and using pay phones. Today it's pagers and palm pilots and even personal computers." The ordinance, which bars loitering for purposes of illegal drug activity, was passed in August 1997 to combat drug dealing on troubled neighborhood streets. Initially, opponents feared it would result in police targeting blacks and ticketing innocent passers-by. The City Council extended the ordinance in 1999, but it is due to expire March 6. Police now hope the council will extend the ordinance for another year, with the understanding that police won't use it unless street drug sales enjoy a resurgence. "We'd like to keep it in our bag of tricks," Yudice said. "The chief could give the go-ahead to use it again at any time if there's a downturn in the economy or a new drug comes in, like heroin." City Council President Dorothy Borchardt, however, said she has warned police that Borchardt council members won't approve an extension of the ordinance unless police plan to use it. "I'm not going to get beat up for something they're not going to use," she said. "A moratorium is absolutely unacceptable. If they're not going to use it, they're going to lose the votes." Yudice was unavailable to respond to Borchardt's remarks. A proposed one-year extension was introduced to the City Council Tuesday night. The ordinance extension will be voted on at the council's Feb. 20 meeting. The Police Department's stance on the drug loitering law reflects a change in focus, Yudice said. The task force recently has turned its attention away from waning street sales toward upper-level drug suppliers, as in the Jocko's cocaine trafficking case, which sent nine dealers of powder cocaine to federal prison, and the recent indictments of 11 people on crack cocaine charges. Police prepared for council members a report summarizing how they have used the anti-loitering law since its inception. It shows that since 1997, the ordinance has resulted in 207 citations. Nine were issued in 1997, 30 in 1998 and 114 in 1999, but the number dropped in 2000 to only 54, the report shows. Last year's 54 citations were issued during 414 drug-loitering contacts made by police. The 414 contacts resulted in 135 drug-related charges being issued, 85 trespassing tickets and 54 other charges, the report shows. In 86 of the contacts, no charges or tickets resulted. In 2000, 76 percent of those ticketed were black males, 9 percent were white males, 13 percent were black females and 2 percent were Hispanic males, the study showed. In addition, 81 percent of the suspects ticketed did not live in the neighborhood in which they were cited for loitering. - --- MAP posted-by: GD