Pubdate: Sun, 22 Sep 2002 Source: San Antonio Express-News (TX) Copyright: 2002 San Antonio Express-News Contact: http://www.mysanantonio.com/expressnews/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/384 Author: Randall Chase, Associated Press DELAWARE COP CAMERAS DRAW FROWNS WILMINGTON, Del. -- The Police Department's Corner Deployment Unit is known as the "jump-out squad" for bursting out of vehicles to question and search suspects. Its officers also do something else: snap photos of people they stop, even those they don't arrest. City officials defend the practice as a legal and effective part of fighting drug dealing and street crime. Critics say it violates the constitutional rights of innocent people. In an era when surveillance cameras peer from buildings and parking lots, courts have ruled that people can't expect privacy in public places. Civil libertarians argue that police photographing people they don't arrest is a different matter. "There's no authority to forcibly photograph someone and enter them into a database when they have committed no crime," said Barry Steinhardt of the American Civil Liberties Union. Wilmington Mayor James Baker describes such criticism as "blithering idiocy," saying police take pains to protect the rights of law-abiding citizens while targeting people "who are killing our neighborhoods, who are killing our people." Some media reports have compared the technique to "Minority Report," a recent science fiction movie in which police identify criminals before they commit crimes. "It's not a Gestapo technique, it's not anything other than a progressive me ans of policing an urban environment," police spokesman Cpl. Stephen Martelli said. Among other things, the photos can serve as proof that a person arrested for loitering received other warnings. They also are kept as "possible evidence for ongoing investigations," authorities said. Police Chief Michael Szczerba said his department has taken photographs of suspects for years without complaints. It's "highly improbable" that innocent people were caught up in the stops, he said. City officials say 658 people were stopped and questioned between June, when the jump-out squad's "Operation Bold Eagle" began, and last week. Among them, 546 were arrested, and 708 charges were filed. Police believe the other 112 are involved in criminal activity, even if officers lacked enough evidence that day for an arrest. Drewry Fennell, head of the ACLU's Delaware chapter, argues that shouldn't matter. "Their criminal histories are not relevant to their rights to move freely about on the street," Fennell said. The ACLU is considering a lawsuit but, so far, no one has come forward with a formal complaint about being detained and photographed, he said. City officials have met with ACLU, NAACP and Urban League representatives to hear their concerns, and another meeting is set Wednesday. In crime-troubled neighborhoods, some residents have welcomed the camera-toting police. "I would rather have innocent people's pictures taken than innocent people shot," Barbara Washam said during a rally last week to support the police. In 1968, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Terry vs. Ohio that police may stop and frisk people if they have reasonable suspicion they're engaged in criminal activity. The state attorney general and chief federal prosecutor for Delaware agreed Wilmington police appear to be acting within the law. But others disagree, saying the Terry decision allows police only to briefly detain and question suspects. City officials say officers exercise discretion. On a recent Friday night at a corner reeking of alcohol, the squad frisked and questioned six men while investigating suspected drug dealing. Patrol Officer George Collins questioned one of the men, then pulled a digital camera from his pocket and asked if he could take his picture. "Can I ask why you're doing this to me?" replied the man, who showed ID and told police he just was walking to the store. "If you're not a criminal, you don't have anything to worry about," Collins answered. "It's for future reference." Satisfied with the identification, Collins pocketed his camera without snapping a photo. "He was a resident, so I gave him the option," Collins explained. - --- MAP posted-by: Doc-Hawk