Pubdate: Sun, 26 Sep 1999 Source: Times Union (NY) Copyright: 1999, Capital Newspapers Division of The Hearst Corporation Contact: Box 15000, Albany, NY 12212 Fax: (518) 454-5628 Feedback: http://www.timesunion.com/react/ Website: http://www.timesunion.com/ Forum: http://www.timesunion.com/react/forums/ Author: Andrew Brownstein, Staff Writer JUSTICE DEAN SEES COST OF CRIME-FIGHTING Albany -- New UAlbany department head Dennis Rosenbaum wary of measures that may erode civil liberties For one who doesn't want to be known as "the nothing works guy,'' Dennis Rosenbaum spends a lot of time criticizing. The new dean of the University at Albany's top-ranking School of Criminal Justice is an outspoken critic of the nation's "war on drugs,'' DNA testing and cop shows like "America's Most Wanted.'' In 1998, he authored a study declaring that the D.A.R.E. program doesn't keep kids off drugs, and may actually increase drug use among those who participate in the program. More recently, he warned that the widespread installation of video cameras in schools will erode civil liberties. He likes McGruff the Crime Dog. That's because prevention methods like "Take a Bite out of Crime,'' featuring the trench coat-wearing canine, rely on the community, unlike top-down approaches that expand the powers of the police. "Most people in society are so focused on the threat to our public safety and the need to fight crime by any means necessary that they are blind to the long-term effects of these programs,'' Rosenbaum said in an interview. "It's all driven by a myopic fear of crime.'' But it's a fear, he found, that drives much "feel-good'' public policy. Rosenbaum learned that first-hand last year when he examined one of law enforcement's sacred cows: the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program. This is the same program touted on bumper stickers and KFC buckets, praised by presidents Bush and Clinton, and one that brings $700 million a year into the nation's schools. D.A.R.E. is a 17-week course that puts uniformed police into classrooms to urge kids to resist smoking pot, drinking and using other drugs. Unlike some critics who were dismissed as D.A.R.E. bashers, when Rosenbaum made his study he had credentials as a D.A.R.E. supporter: the study was funded by the Illinois State Police, which supervised the program. The seven-year study of 1,090 Illinois schoolchildren shocked lawmakers with its conclusion that the program had no impact on preventing youths from using drugs when they reached high school. In the suburbs, the study found that students exposed to D.A.R.E. used drugs at a "significantly higher rate'' than urban or rural students. Rosenbaum is highly critical of the nation's war on drugs, which he views as an effort that has expanded the powers of police at the expense of civil liberties and is incorrectly focused on supply rather than demand. Though not an advocate of legalization, Rosenbaum said the merits of decriminalizing drugs have been "grossly distorted'' by critics. "By far, the bigger health and safety risk is alcohol, but we're not putting alcohol distributors in jail,'' he said. Rosenbaum, 47, comes to Albany from Chicago, where he headed the criminal justice program at the University of Illinois. With an annual salary of $135,000, he inherits a school that was recently ranked number 3 in the U.S. News & World Report rankings of graduate criminal justice programs, and number one in other surveys. Interestingly, Rosenbaum will be working closely with a shaper of much of the policy he opposes -- former Drug Enforcement Administration chief Thomas Constantine. Constantine will serve as a guest lecturer in the school and set up a training program for police executives. The former DEA chief said he was unaware of Rosenbaum's opposition to national drug policy, but added, "I'm a believer that everyone is entitled to their opinion.'' In his office at Draper Hall, where boxes are still unpacked and the nameplate on the door bears the name of the former dean, Rosenbaum sometimes appears uncomfortable with his own outspokenness. It's understandable: Nelson Rockefeller's name appears simultaneously on the stationery of the college and the state's draconian drug laws. "I'm being a bit radical here,'' Rosenbaum said once during a discussion of drug policy, adding offhandedly: "I'm trying to bring state support into this school.'' But those who know him predicted Rosenbaum will have little trouble melding his strong opinions with New York's often unforgiving political climate. "Dennis was very good in Chicago, which is about as political as it gets,'' said Paul Lavrakas, director of the Center for Survey Research at Ohio State University and a frequent collaborator. "He did forceful scholarship, but at the same time maintained great working relationships with chiefs of police on down.'' Rosenbaum grew up in a small Oregon town, and credits his interest in law enforcement to a course called "The Criminal Mind'' taken during his senior year at Claremont McKenna College in California. The course got him asking questions: What caused people to commit crimes? And why were some crimes punished differently than others? Rosenbaum's research evolved into an exploration of crime prevention. In the mid-1980s, he performed a study for the U.S. Department of Justice on Crime Stoppers and other programs that offered cash awards, like "Americas's Most Wanted.'' Despite the programs' successes, Rosenbaum determined the combination of large cash awards and anonymity encouraged lying. More recently, Rosenbaum has become worried that advances in technology produced to prevent crime will lead people to give up their freedoms. DNA testing protects the innocent, sure; but it might also one day prevent a person with a genetic illness from getting health insurance. Soon, Rosenbaum said, airports will have the capacity to install electronic fingerprint detection devices, also with unforeseen implications. "Do we want to have a society where there is a video camera on every street corner, in every bank and every classroom, or DNA profiling where the data is available to not only law enforcement officials, but marketers and insurance companies?'' he asked. "The argument is that this will help us be effective in preventing crime,'' he said. "Well, Nazi Germany was also effective in preventing crime.'' - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake