-------------------------------------------------------------------
Crime in Oregon dips in 1998 from previous year (The Oregonian says new
statistics from an unspecified source, possibly the Oregon Uniform Crime
Reporting Program, indicate violent crimes such as homicide dropped 3.2
percent last year, while property crimes showed an 8.6 percent decline and
overall crime dropped 6.3 percent. However, from 1989 to 1998, crime rose 13
percent while the population increased 17.1 percent. Apparently no statistics
were collected on illegal-drug offenses.)
Newshawk: Portland NORML (http://www.pdxnorml.org/)
Pubdate: Wed, May 05 1999
Source: Oregonian, The (OR)
Copyright: 1999 The Oregonian
Contact: letters@news.oregonian.com
Address: 1320 SW Broadway, Portland, OR 97201
Fax: 503-294-4193
Website: http://www.oregonlive.com/
Forum: http://forums.oregonlive.com/
Author: Maxine Bernstein, the Oregonian
Crime in Oregon dips in 1998 from previous year
* Violent crimes such as homicide drop 3.2 percent, while property crimes
show an 8.6 percent decline
Crime dropped 6.3 percent in Oregon in 1998, compared with 1997, with
violent offenses, property crimes and domestic violence all declining, newly
released statistics show.
And as the state's population grew 17.1 percent from 1989 to 1998, crime
rose 13 percent.
"That shows crime is trailing behind our population growth, which is a good
thing," said Jeff Bock, supervisor of the Oregon Uniform Crime Reporting
Program. "We're pretty much in keeping with the national trend."
The statistics for 1998, released Tuesday, show violent crimes, such as
homicide, rape, kidnapping, assault, sexual assault and robbery, decreased
3.2 percent.
Property crimes declined 8.6 percent, and behavioral crimes, including child
abuse, drunken driving and gambling, fell 3 percent.
Property crime, unlike violent crime, has been dropping steadily nationwide
since 1975. Law enforcement experts cite the aging of the baby boom
population beyond its prime years for committing crime, the increased use of
security alarms and a healthier economy as reasons for the decline.
In Portland, violent crimes dropped 12 percent in 1998 from the previous
year and property crimes fell 14 percent. Declines in motor vehicle theft
and burglary partly accounted for the drop in property crime, Portland
police records show.
Statewide, domestic violence fell, from 19,801 cases reported in 1997, to
19,768 in 1998.
As crime dropped, so did arrests.
The total number of arrests -- excluding traffic, fish and game, and marine
violations -- decreased 4.6 percent in 1998, compared with 1997. Of the
170,495 arrests in 1998, behavioral crimes accounted for 60 percent,
property crimes 26.2 percent, and crimes against persons 13. 8 percent.
Bias crime was one of the few categories that showed an increase in 1998,
but it was negligible. In 1998, 115 were reported, up 3.6 percent from 111
in 1997.
The number of bias crimes reported in Multnomah County dropped from 68 to
36, but Clackamas, Marion and Lane counties each reported an increase in
bias crimes in 1998 over 1997.
"Multnomah County all along has been the leader, if you will, in the number
of bias crimes reported, but it's steadily been going down," Bock said.
Crimes motivated by race, sexual orientation and national origin continued
to account for most of the bias crimes reported.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Peifer, part of the U.S. Attorney's Oregon
Hate Crimes Task Force, said explaining the bias crime numbers is difficult.
"Bias crimes are not reported consistently, and underreporting is a big
issue in regard to law enforcement," Peifer said.
You can reach Maxine Bernstein at 503-221-8212 or by e-mail at
Maxinebernstein@news.oregonian.com.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Spokane, officers sued over home-search mix-up (The Spokesman-Review, in
Spokane, Washington, says local resident Robert Critchlow has filed a $2.25
million lawsuit stemming from a fruitless police search for marijuana in
Critchlow's home in 1997. Police said they could smell marijuana, and that's
why they were knocking at his door at 4:17 a.m., the suit said. It claims
Critchlow's civil rights were violated, alleging 18 causes of action,
including trespass, false arrest, invasion of privacy and intentional
infliction of mental distress.)
Date: Fri, 7 May 1999 00:09:37 -0700 (PDT)
From: Den de (dendecannabist@yahoo.com)
Subject: HT: Spokane, officers sued over home-search mix-up
To: Hemp Talk *cannabist (hemp-talk@hemp.net)
Sender: owner-hemp-talk@hemp.net
Spokane, officers sued over home-search mix-up
http://www.spokane.net:80/news-story-body.asp?Date=050599&ID=s571358&cat=
Send your Thoughts on this article.
Peace not WoD
FFFF
DdC
Bill Morlin - The Spokesman-Review
Spokane _ An attorney has filed a $2.25 million lawsuit against
the city of Spokane and eight of its police officers.
The U.S. District Court suit filed late last week by Robert
Critchlow stems from a police search of his house before dawn
on May 4, 1997.
Critchlow says officers illegally searched his home in the
mistaken belief there was marijuana growing inside.
Police said they could smell marijuana, and that's why they
were knocking at his door on East Rockwell at 4:17 a.m., the
suit said.
No marijuana or any other illegal drugs were found.
Three days later, police searched a neighboring home and
found a marijuana-growing operation. Police arrested two of
Critchlow's neighbors.
Critchlow's suit claims his civil rights were violated by the
search.
Assistant City Attorney Rocco Treppiedi, who defends the city
in such cases, wasn't available for comment on Tuesday.
The suit says that when Critchlow told police they had no right
to search his home, he and his fiancee, Kimberly Bates, were
arrested.
They were ``physically seized and forcibly removed from their
house, arrested and placed in the custody and confinement of
two separate marked patrol cars for five hours,'' the suit said.
``Though Mr. Critchlow was well within his rights to deny entry
into his home in those very early hours of the morning, he was
punished for invoking those rights,'' the suit alleges.
During her confinement, an officer ``browbeat'' Bates and
encouraged her to ``rat on her `Mr. Lawyer' boyfriend who was
going down for a long time,'' the suit alleges.
Police detained the pair for five hours before realizing they had
the wrong house, the suit contends.
The delay was caused because police had to rewrite a search
warrant that had been signed by a Spokane County District
Court judge.
The suit alleges 18 causes of action, including trespass, false
arrest, invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of mental
distress.
It also contends the search occurred because of negligent
training and supervision of police officers.
The suit seeks $750,000 in actual damages and $1.5 million in
punitive damages.
Bates filed a similar lawsuit against the city in January in
Spokane County Superior Court.
Bill Morlin can be reached at (509) 459-5444 or by e-mail at
billm@spokesman.com.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
A Prop. 215 Violation (A letter to the editor of the Ventura County Star, in
California, clarifies several inaccurancies in recent articles about the
cultivation bust of medical-marijuana patient/activist Andrea Nagy, whose
Agoura Hills home was raided April 19 by the L.A. County Sheriff's
Department.)
Date: Wed, 5 May 1999 18:11:14 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US CA: PUB LTE: A Prop. 215 Violation
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Double J
Pubdate: Wed, 05 May 1999
Source: Ventura County Star (CA)
Copyright: 1999, Ventura County Star
Contact: letters@staronline.com
Website: http://www.staronline.com/
Author: Jeff Meyers
A PROP. 215 VIOLATION
Re: your April 21 article, "Officials claim marijuana cultivation exceeds
limits," and your April 20 article, "Deputies seize Nagy's medical
marijuana."
In the past couple of weeks I've been reading articles in local
newspapers about Andrea Nagy, whose Agoura Hills home was raided April
19 by the L.A. County Sheriff's Department. The police confiscated
expensive grow lights and a few dozen marijuana plants growing in
several areas of the house.
The newspaper articles omitted key information and included a lot of
bad information. As someone who has known Nagy since she opened the
now-defunct Ventura County Medical Cannabis Center in 1997, I'd like
to set the record straight and lay out the facts.
Fact: Nagy has a valid doctor's recommendation to use medical marijuana in
compliance with Proposition 215. Fact: She lives with her mother, who also
has a valid doctor's recommendation.
Fact: Between the two of them, the Nagys had 60 immature plants and 27 just
harvested. The 27 would have yielded about a pound and a half, 12 ounces
apiece for Nagy and her mother. That's about four grams a day for each of
them -- two or three joints, which should have been sufficient to last them
until their next harvest, three months away, if the cops hadn't relieved
them of their plants.
Fact: The amount of marijuana in the house was far below the seven pounds a
year the U.S. government supplies to its eight patients under the federal
Compassionate Use Act. The Nagys would have to harvest at least 35 plants
each every four months to equal that amount.
Fact: Oakland guidelines for each medical marijuana patient are 144 plants
and one pound at any given time up to six pounds a year. Nagy and her
mother were well below those figures.
Fact: Nagy had sophisticated growing equipment in her house. Fact: As any
horticulturist will tell you, it makes a big difference in quality when a
grower uses a 1,000-watt high-pressure sodium lamp instead of a 100-watt
light bulb to grow indoors. Fact: It's no secret that Nagy is an expert
grower. She grew and provided high-grade medical marijuana for about 60
Ventura County patients when she operated the Cannabis Center. Obviously,
she knows what she's doing when it comes to marijuana growing -- but
expertise and sophisticated equipment don't make her a criminal
Fact: Nagy is a legitimate medical marijuana patient according to
California law. Prop. 215 applies to "any illness for which marijuana
provides relief." Unless journalism schools are now teaching medicine, what
qualifies reporters -- or the police for that matter -- to question whether
her migraines are serious enough to require the use of marijuana? Neither
journalists nor the cops should be playing doctor.
Fact: Sir William Osler, one of the foremost physicians of the early 1900s,
regarded cannabis -- as marijuana was called back then when it was legal
-- the most effective medication for migraines.
Fact: Nagy showed the sheriffs her doctor's recommendation but they still
confiscated her marijuana and her equipment -- although they did not
arrest her nor have they yet charged her with a crime. Their action is in
defiance of California law under Prop. 215. Police are supposed to enforce
laws, not interpret them.
Fact: The state Supreme Court only last week ordered a Northern California
police department to return plants confiscated from a legitimate medical
marijuana user.
I urge the Star to investigate the L.A. County Sheriff's Department.
The department appears to have an institutional policy of harassing
qualified medical marijuana patients, taking their plants and often
filing charges, so people have to go to the expense of defending
themselves in court.
Fact: Nagy is one of California's leading medical marijuana activists
Through her efforts, Simi Valley Police were forced to return plants they
had seized from Dean Jones and now face a civil suit. She has also assisted
other medical marijuana patients in filing lawsuits against other
California counties. I'm sure the L.A. County Sheriff's Department has not
seen the last of her.
Jeff Meyers
Ventura, Ca.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Study Says Methamphhetamine Use High In West (The Associated Press version in
the Orange County Register emphasizes the drug warriors' spin.)
Date: Wed, 5 May 1999 19:19:14 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US CA: Study Says Methamphhetamine Use High In West
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: John W. Black
Pubdate: Wed, 05 May 1999
Source: Orange County Register (CA)
Section: News,page 7
Copyright: 1999 The Orange County Register
Contact: letters@link.freedom.com
Website: http://www.ocregister.com/
Author: Michelle Williams, The Associated Press
STUDY SAYS METHAMPHETAMINE USE HIGH IN WEST
Drugs: One-tenth of the Users Surveyed Say Relatives Introduced Them to the
Substance.
San Diego - Methamphetamine usage remains highest in cities west of the
Rocky Mountains,according to a federal study released here Tuesday.
Additionally, 10 percent of methamphetamine users studied in San Diego, Los
Angeles, San Jose, Phoenix and Portland, Ore., say they were introduced to
the drug by their parents or a family member, researchers found.
"Although it's been around for decades, methamphetamine is the new drug,"
said Susan Pennell, a criminal researcher with the San Diego Association of
Governments and one of the authors of the study. "It's easy to get. It's
easy to make. It's cheap, and the high lasts a long time. But the long-term
effects on the brain chemistry are severe."
The National Institute of Justice, the research branch of the U.S. Justice
Department, and the government association studied 1,000 methamphetamine
users who were jailed in the five Western cities from October 1996 to
September 1997.
About half of the meth users said they snorted or inhaled meth (46 percent)
while others preferred smoking (31 percent). Users in Portland, which also
has a high rate of heroin use, were more likely to inject meth (49 percent).
Among other findings by researchers:
Meth use is often linked with violent and destructive behavior, however the
study found 40 percent of users were charged with a drug or alcohol
violation. Only 16 percent were jailed because of violent behavior.
Most of the meth users were white males, ranging from 54 percent in San Jose
to 94 percent in Portland. However, 57 percent of meth users surveyed in Los
Angeles were Hispanic. Meth use by blacks was relatively low, ranging from 1
percent in Phoenix to 11 percent in San Diego.
The average age was 30, slightly younger than the age of cocaine and heroin
users.
Meth users had higher rates of overall drug use than users of other drugs.
For example, 95 percent of meth users surveyed in San Diego also tested
positive for another illegal drug. The other drug of choice was most often
marijuana.
California leads the nation in number of labs seized - 1,234 in 1997
compared with 1,273 other labs nationwide.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Popularity Of Methamphetamines Surges, Report Says (A different Associated
Press version in the Seattle Times)
Date: Thu, 6 May 1999 03:36:42 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US CA: Popularity Of Methamphetamines Surges, Report Says
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: John Smith
Pubdate: Wed, 5 May 1999
Source: Seattle Times (WA)
Copyright: 1999 The Seattle Times Company
Contact: opinion@seatimes.com
Website: http://www.seattletimes.com/
Author: Michelle Williams, The Associated Press
POPULARITY OF METHAMPHETAMINES SURGES, REPORT SAYS
SAN DIEGO - Once just a drug used by biker gangs and World War II
soldiers trying to stay awake and alert, methamphetamine is now the
drug of choice for white men in their 30s looking for a cheap
alternative to cocaine and young women trying to lose weight.
Those findings were part of a study released yesterday in San Diego by
the National Institute of Justice, the research branch of the Justice
Department, and the San Diego Association of Governments.
Federal and local authorities, health professionals and educators are
meeting in San Diego this week to formalize recommendations to
Attorney General Janet Reno on how to combat the nation's growing
methamphetamine use.
"Although it's been around for decades, methamphetamine is the new
drug," said Susan Pennell, a criminal researcher with the government
association and one of the authors of the study. "It's easy to get.
It's easy to make. It's cheap, and the high lasts a long time. But the
long-term effects on the brain chemistry are severe."
During the course of a year, researchers studied 1,000 methamphetamine
users jailed in San Diego, Los Angeles, San Jose, Phoenix and
Portland. Those cities represent urban areas where meth use is most
prevalent in the U.S., said Jeremy Travis, institute director.
In the past decade, use of methamphetamine has grown as the cocaine
trade has declined.
Among findings by researchers:
-- Meth use is often linked with violent and destructive behavior.
However, the study found 40 percent of users were charged with a drug
or alcohol violation. Only 16 percent were jailed because of violent
behavior.
-- Most of the meth users were white males, ranging from 54 percent in
San Jose to 94 percent in Portland.
-- The average age was 30, slightly younger than the age of cocaine
and heroin users.
-- Meth users had higher rates of overall drug use than users of other
drugs.
-- Ten percent of methamphetamine users studied said they were
introduced to the drug by their parents or a family member.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Special Prosecutor Urged For Police Abuse (The Los Angeles Times says the
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights will wrap up a long-running investigation
into misconduct and bias among Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies and Los
Angeles Police Department officers by recommending that a special prosecutor
be created to replace the county district attorney in pursuing allegations of
abuse against law enforcement officers.)
Date: Wed, 5 May 1999 21:41:37 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US CA: Special Prosecutor Urged For Police Abuse
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: when@olywa.net (Bob Owen)
Pubdate: Wed, 5 May 1999
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 1999 Los Angeles Times.
Contact: letters@latimes.com
Fax: (213) 237-4712
Website: http://www.latimes.com/
Forum: http://www.latimes.com/HOME/DISCUSS/
Author: TINA DAUNT, MATT LAIT, Times Staff Writers
SPECIAL PROSECUTOR URGED FOR POLICE ABUSE
Civil rights: U.S. panel says D.A. should be replaced in LAPD, sheriff's
cases. Officials respond that some findings are inaccurate, outdated.
Wrapping up a long-running investigation into misconduct and bias among Los
Angeles County sheriff's deputies and Los Angeles Police Department
officers, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights will recommend that a special
prosecutor be created to replace the county district attorney in pursuing
allegations of abuse against law enforcement officers.
In its report on a probe that has been ongoing since 1993, the commission
cites the district attorney's poor record of prosecuting such cases and
consequent lack of public faith in the process as justification for the new
post.
The commissioners also are calling on the U.S. Department of Justice to
conduct its own investigation into allegations that sheriff's deputies have
formed "gangs" within the rank and file to mete out their own brand of
street justice.
"Serious allegations persist that groups of deputies have formed
associations that harass and brutalize minority residents," commissioners
wrote in the report, which is scheduled for release next month but was
obtained in advance by The Times.
"The [Sheriff's Department] should take steps . . . to disband such groups
permanently," the report said. In addition, the eight-member commission
recommends that the county appoint a civilian review board to investigate
misconduct complaints against the Sheriff's Department.
The LAPD, meanwhile, is taken to task for failing to adequately address a
number of problems, including excessive use of force, gender bias and the
so-called code of silence within its ranks.
Law enforcement officials, particularly at the LAPD, criticized the report,
saying many of its findings were inaccurate and, in some cases, outdated.
Three members of the civil rights commission also expressed reserv ations,
saying the report was substandard.
According to the report, both departments need to make greater strides in
community policing programs and improve their relationships with minority
communities.
"Despite admirable training programs in both departments, there is evidence
of increasing intolerance of ethnic and minority immigrants among some
members of both the LAPD and the [Sheriff's Department]," the report said.
In fact, the report said, "There is evidence that a significant number of
rank-and-file [sheriff's] deputies have been resistant to cultural awareness
instruction."
The commissioners' most controversial recommendation concerned prosecution
of misconduct cases: "The district attorney's reliance on police cooperation
for prosecuting crimes conflicts with its duty to prosecute police
misconduct," the report said. "There is low public confidence in the D.A.'s
office as a tool for controlling misconduct by [Sheriff's Department]
officials."
In 1996 and 1997, the Sheriff's Department referred 126 cases to the Special
Investigations Division of the district attorney's office. Criminal charges
were filed against 11 deputies.
"Because of its relationship with the Sheriff's Department, combined with
the small number of police prosecutions, claims by the D.A. that there is
insufficient evidence to prosecute a given case are met with skepticism,"
said the report, which did not provide comparable statistics for the LAPD.
Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the district attorney's office, said the
office would not comment on the report until it has a chance to review it.
But she said that Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti had sent a letter to the
commission in 1998, in which he said he is "strongly committed to the
prosecution of all the residents of this county regardless of whether the
criminal offenders are law enforcement officials or private citizens."
The findings of the commissioners--who are appointed by the president and
members of Congress--are based, in part, on hearings conducted in Los
Angeles in 1996, as well as on subsequent interviews and media reports.
Although the report is being billed as a thorough investigation into
policing in Los Angeles, several commission members said the document is
inadequate.
In a dissenting statement at the end of the 233-page document, Commissioners
Carl A. Anderson, Robert P. George and Russell G. Redenbaugh, all appointed
during George Bush's presidency, said the document fails to adequately deal
with the broader issues of poverty, inequality and discrimination. They also
took issue with the fact that the report relies heavily on media sources.
"The report . . . does not meet the commission's high standards for fact
finding and advising the Congress and the American people on critical civil
rights developments in this country," the three commissioners wrote.
Moreover, the dissenters said, several recommendations in the report, such
as the call for an independent prosecutor and a civilian review board, "are
an overreaction which, in the long run, would actually thwart the kinds of
results the commission wants to see."
LAPD's Reaction
LAPD officials who have reviewed an advance copy of the report said they
also are troubled by some of the findings and recommendations. They faulted
the commission's research and the quality of witness testimony. They also
contended that the report makes sweeping, inaccurate generalizations about
the department.
"We have some grave concerns about the substance of the report," said LAPD
Cmdr. David J. Kalish, a department spokesman. He said the LAPD plans to
send the commission a detailed letter addressing its concerns.
Sheriff's Department officials, meanwhile, declined to comment, saying that
they have not yet had a chance to review the document.
Commission members and their public affairs officials could not be reached
for comment Tuesday.
The Civil Rights Commission began its investigation into the LAPD and the
Sheriff's Department in 1993, as part of a nationwide project on racial and
ethnic tensions. Its findings and recommendations are forwarded to the
president and Congress, as well as local officials.
The commission decided to conduct a follow-up report on policing in Los
Angeles in 1996, after the testimony of LAPD Det. Mark Fuhrman during the
O.J. Simpson murder trial and the videotaped beating of two suspected
undocumented immigrants by Riverside County sheriff's deputies.
"The commission's report finds that Los Angeles has received more immigrants
than any other city in the United States during the past several decades,"
Commission Chairwoman Mary Frances Berry wrote. "As a result, Los Angeles
has become a city of immigrants: Roughly one in 10 Los Angeles County
residents immigrated to the United States after 1985 and roughly 17% arrived
after 1980."
For the LAPD, the commission's report is a mixed review, crediting the
department with making strides in certain areas but criticizing it for
falling short on many issues.
Commissioners said the LAPD should be commended for improving its diversity,
noting that it leads the state in the percentages of women and minorities on
the force. And the commission praised the LAPD for its "training efforts
with respect to racial and gender bias."
Nonetheless, the commissioners found that the LAPD--18% of whose officers
now are women--lags far behind its goal of having a police force that is 40%
female. More troubling, the commissioners concluded, gender bias "continues
to be a significant problem" within the LAPD.
The commissioners found that tensions between the LAPD and minority
communities are exacerbated by "perceptions and incidents of the
department's application of excessive force towards [sic] people of color."
For example, the commissioners cited a study showing that pepper spray is
more frequently used by LAPD officers on African Americans and Latinos than
on whites.
Community Policing
Commissioners found that the "code of silence" practice of officers refusing
to report or lying about a colleague's misconduct remains a "barrier to
eradicating excessive force and discriminatory treatment in the LAPD."
To improve relationships with minority communities and other residents, the
commissioners said the LAPD needs to make greater progress in
institutionalizing community policing programs. The department also should
"investigate training programs that offer conflict resolution and mediation"
as a way of "defusing some situations that could potentially escalate into
violence."
The commissioners recommended that the LAPD randomly test officers on their
"subduing techniques" to ensure that they comply with the department's use
of force policies. And, the commissioners said, additional efforts need to
be taken to make officers "more knowledgeable about diverse cultures, in
order to improve relationships with immigrant communities."
Many of the recommendations in the commission's report address problems that
police reformers say have long plagued the department, but a good number of
the proposals seem outdated. Over the past two years, Chief Bernard C.
Parks, the Police Commission and the commission's inspector general have
either embarked on or proposed similar recommendations.
Among the commission recommendations that the LAPD already has moved forward
on are:
* Adopting a new language policy aimed at improving contacts with people who
speak little or no English.
* Creating an internal ombudsman position that allows officers to voice
concerns about bias on an informal basis.
* Establishing a new system for categorizing and monitoring misconduct
complaints.
* Having the commission's inspector general audit complaints to evaluate the
fairness of the process and the equity of punishment.
"A lot of the report is dated information that fails to note significant and
recent progress," Kalish said.
In a 41-page section dealing with the Sheriff's Department, commissioners
call on the Board of Supervisors to establish a civilian review board with
the power to investigate and adjudicate complaints of police misconduct.
"The LASD is essentially responsible for policing itself," the report said.
"Although the sheriff has instituted reforms to increase accountability,
critics are not satisfied that the department will be able to keep itself in
check."
Commissioners also expressed concern over reports that some deputies have
formed self-styled "gangs" with macho monikers like the Vikings, Grim
Reapers and Tasmanian Devils.
Although sheriff's officials testified that the groups were nothing more
than "sports teams and social clubs," others were skeptical. "Witnesses at
the commission hearing were unshaken in their view that deputy gangs were
responsible for terrorizing minorities," the report said.
It called on justice officials to get to the bottom of the matter. "The
seriousness and recurring nature of the allegations warrant an investigation
by the U.S. Department of Justice," the report said.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
ASU's Fletcher arrested on drug charge (The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette says
Arkansas State University basketball player Chico Fletcher, a two-time Sun
Belt Conference Player of the Year and honorable-mention NCAA All-American,
was arrested Sunday morning on a charge of possessing an eighth of an ounce
of marijuana. Fletcher was arrested at a "safety checkpoint" where a
drug-sniffing dog stood by as each and every vehicle was stopped for
inspection.)
From: GranVizier@webtv.net
Date: Wed, 5 May 1999 08:18:50 -0400 (EDT)
To: cp@telelists.com
Subject: [cp] ASU's Fletcher arrested on drug charge
http://www.ardemgaz.com/today/spt/cbbeckasu.html
Wednesday, May 5, 1999
ASU's Fletcher arrested on drug charge
BECK CROSS
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
Arkansas State junior guard Chico Fletcher, a two-time Sun Belt
Conference Player of the Year and honorable-mention NCAA All-American,
was arrested Sunday morning on a charge of possession of marijuana,
according to the Poinsett County Sheriff's Department police report.
If convicted of the Class A misdemeanor, Fletcher could face up
to a year in the county jail and a fine not to exceed $1,000. The court
hearing is set for May 21 at the Lepanto Municipal Court.
Fletcher has one season of eligibility remaining at ASU.
"We are extremely disappointed, embarrassed and surprised to
learn of this," ASU Coach Dickey Nutt said. "During three years of drug
testing, Chico has never tested positive. We do not know what kind of
disciplinary action we will take. We're in the middle of finals right
now, and we'll decide sometime later.
"At this point, I have no idea what we'll do. We'll get together
as a staff and make a decision in the next week or two."
Fletcher and Tracy Allen, 22, of Osceola, were arrested at 1
a.m. Sunday at a safety checkpoint at the intersection of Arkansas
Highways 135-136 north of Lepanto. According to Poinsett County Sheriff
Larry Mills, approximately one-eighth of an ounce of marijuana was found
in Allen's Dodge Stratus.
The two were taken to the Lepanto Police Department and released
on $500 bond.
"We were running a safety check in that area,'' Mills said. "On
safety checks, we stop each and every vehicle that comes through and
basically check to see if the driver's license aren't suspended and
their head lamps work and all that sort of thing.
"[Fletcher] was a passenger in a car that came through. When
they rolled up, the deputies asked them to roll their window down. I
think the driver cracked his window and the marijuana smoke rolled out.
"At that point, we had the drug dog at the scene and the dog
located the bag inside the car.''
Attempts to reach Fletcher were unsuccessful.
"He was in the car with the other guy,'' Nutt said. "He wasn't
driving. I guess the law is that everybody in that car is guilty.''
Asked if Fletcher denied that the marijuana was his, Nutt said,
"I have no idea.''
All this week, Fletcher has been in final exams.
"He's been in tears for the past two days,'' Nutt said. "He's
hurt and feels he let the world down. He feels awful and is as
remorseful as he can be.
"I have three kids at home and they think Chico Fletcher along
with this basketball team are their heroes. We're not going to have
this. We will not condone this behavior on our team or in our program. I
think he knows that.
"He hasn't had a rosy childhood, but he knows the difference
between right and wrong. I think he learned his lesson.''
Last season, Fletcher averaged a team-leading 17 points and was
ranked second nationally in assists with 8.3 per game in leading the
Indians to their first NCAA Tournament appearance.
Information for this article was contributed by Ken Heard of the
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
This article was published on Wednesday, May 5, 1999
Copyright (c) 1999, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc. All rights reserved.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
State Authorities' Wiretapping Up (According to the Associated Press, the
U.S. government said Wednesday that the number of wiretaps authorized by
state courts rose 24 percent last year, to 763, while the number of federally
authorized wiretaps held steady at 566. Seventy-two percent of all wiretaps
were aimed at catching illegal-drug offenders, while 12 percent were aimed at
racketeering and 7 percent at gambling.)
Date: Wed, 5 May 1999 18:10:57 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US: Wire: State Authorities' Wiretapping Up
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: charlotte.montrezza@intel.com (Montrezza, Charlotte)
Pubdate: Wed, 5 May 1999
Source: Associated Press
Copyright: 1999 Associated Press
Author: Laurie Asseo
STATE AUTHORITIES' WIRETAPPING UP
WASHINGTON - The number of wiretaps authorized by
state courts rose by 24 percent last year, while the number of
federally authorized wiretaps held steady, the government reported
Wednesday.
State courts authorized 763 wiretaps, compared with 617 the previous
year, according to figures released by the Administrative Office of
the U.S. Courts.
Federal courts authorized 566 such surveillance actions, about even
with the 569 authorized in 1997. That adds up to 1,329 wiretaps
authorized by federal and state courts in 1998, an increase from 1,186
last year.
A decade earlier, in 1988, there were 738 total wiretaps authorized,
including 293 permitted by federal courts and 445 by state courts.
Buggings in New York made up almost half of the state-authorized
wiretaps, with 373. New Jersey was next with 84, Pennsylvania followed
with 68, California had 52 and Florida had 44.
Seventy-two percent of all wiretaps were aimed at catching narcotics
offenders, while 12 percent were aimed at racketeering and 7 percent
at gambling. New York City's Special Narcotics Bureau got
authorization for 186 drug-related buggings.
Telephone wiretaps made up 40 percent of all devices installed, while
46 percent were electronic wiretaps of digital display pagers, voice
pagers, cellular phones and e-mail.
Forty-two states, the District of Columbia, the Virgin Islands and the
federal government have laws allowing courts to permit some form of
bugging, and last year 25 states reported use of such
surveillance.
The average length of an initial wiretap was 28 days, and the average
length of an authorized extension was 27 days. Courts approved 1,164
extensions of existing wiretaps last year.
Officials said 3,450 people were arrested as a result of wiretaps that
ended in 1998, and 26 percent of them were convicted.
Federal and state judges are required to report to the Administrative
Office all applications for wiretap authorizations, and prosecutors
must report when a wiretap is ended.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
U.S. Says Losing Panama Base Hurt Its Anti-Drug Efforts (An Associated Press
article in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle says drug war sorties from
Howard Air Force Base in the Canal Zone ended May 1, as part of the United
States' scheduled withdrawal from Panama on Dec. 31. Clinton administration
officials told a Government Reform subcommittee overseeing drug policy
yesterday that missions were down 50 percent from the 2,000-a-year flown two
years ago. Ana Maria Salazar, the Pentagon's deputy assistant secretary for
drug enforcement policy, said operations should be up to 85 percent next year
as a result of new interim agreements for use of airfields in Ecuador and the
Dutch islands of Aruba and Curacao. And the government was looking for a
third location that would boost surveillance to 110 percent of the 1997 level
by 2001.)
Date: Fri, 7 May 1999 07:14:52 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US: Wire: US Says Losing
Panama Base Hurt Its Anti-Drug Efforts
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Keith Sanders
Pubdate: Wed, 05 May 1999
Source: Rochester Democrat and Chronicle (NY)
Copyright: 1999sRochester Democrat and Chronicle
Contact: dceditpage@democratandchronicle.com
Address: 55 Exchange Blvd. Rochester, NY 14614
Fax: (716) 258-2356
Website: http://www.democratandchronicle.com/
Author: Associated Press
U.S. SAYS LOSING PANAMA BASE HURT ITS ANTI-DRUG EFFORTS
WASHINGTON - Anti-drug efforts in Latin America have been weakened by the
ending of surveillance flights from a U.S. base in the Canal Zone, the
administration said yesterday. The zone is being transferred to Panama.
State and Defense Department officials said they planned to restore full
operations within two years by building up three smaller staging centers in
the region. However, lawmakers at a House hearing charged the
administration with handling the changeover badly.
"I am deeply alarmed by the administration's disjointed and half-hearted
response to the impending withdrawal of U.S. forces from Panama," said Rep.
Benjamin Gilman, R-Middletown, Orange County, chairman of the House
International Relations Committee.
Howard Air Force Base in the Canal Zone, which ended flights on May 1, was
"the crown jewel in our fight against drugs," Gilman said at a hearing of a
Government Reform subcommittee overseeing drug policy.
Ana Maria Salazar, the Pentagon's deputy assistant secretary for drug
enforcement policy, acknowledged that there would be "a degradation." She
estimated that surveillance coverage of the Caribbean region at the moment
was only half what it was two years ago.
Salazar said the United States had been flying 2,000 counter-drug missions a
year out of Howard, and operations should be up to 85 percent next year as a
result of new interim agreements for use of airfields in Ecuador and the
Dutch islands of Aruba and Curacao. And the government was looking for a
third location that would boost surveillance to 110 percent of the 1997
level by 2001.
The United States turns the canal over to the Panamanian government on Dec.
31, 1999, under the terms of the treaty negotiated by the Carter
administration in 1977. Panama will take over five U.S. military bases,
70,000 acres of land and the waterway that handles 14,000 ships a year.
Peter Romero, acting assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere
affairs, told the House panel that the administration had tried for six
years to work out a deal that would allow anti-drug activities to continue.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Society Is Committing Genocide Against Intravenous Drug Users (According to
the Victoria Times-Colonist, in British Columbia, that's what Dr. Martin
Schechter, an epidemiologist and national director of the Canadian HIV
trials, told the eighth annual Canadian conference on HIV/AIDS research
Tuesday in Victoria. "The government has the means to stop it and they are
not doing anything about it," said Dr. Schechter. "If someone from Mars
landed here, they'd say this is social murder.")
Date: Wed, 5 May 1999 18:11:59 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: Canada: Society Is Committing Genocide Against Intravenous
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: creator@mapinc.org
Pubdate: Wed, 05 May 1999
Source: Victoria Times-Colonist (Canada)
Contact: timesc@interlink.bc.ca
Author: Louise Dickson
SOCIETY IS COMMITTING GENOCIDE AGAINST INTRAVENOUS DRUG USERS
Society is committing genocide against intravenous drug users and
everybody knows it, delegates at the eighth annual Canadian conference
on HIV/AIDS research were told Tuesday in Victoria.
"The government has the means to stop it and they are not doing
anything about it," Dr. Martin Schechter told the conference's closing
session.
"If someone from Mars landed here, they'd say this is social murder.
It's going to get very grim."
Schechter, an epidemiologist and national director of the Canadian HIV
trials, was referring to the almost 12,000 drug addicts living in
downtown Vancouver's eastside.
"Over 2,000 are HIV positive and almost all of them have hepatitis C,"
said the doctor.
Schechter believes society has to take a much broader approach in
dealing with drug addicts.
He believes strategies including the availability of better treatment
for drug addicts, prevention of addiction, availability of methadone,
safe injection sites, widespread access to clean needles and safe
injection practices would improve the situation.
"I would even go so far as to advocate trials of medically supervised
heroin which has been done in Switzerland and Amsterdam and appears to
be successful for those addicts that don't respond or won't come in to
methadone [treatment]," he said.
Addicts will tell you their lives revolve around acquiring drugs, said
Schechter.
"Can you imagine if you had an addict who was provided clean
pharmaceutical heroin under medical supervision and then had the rest
of their day to get a job instead of breaking into your house or
getting rousted by the police?"
The medical profession is beginning to understand the overlap in the
way HIV and hepatitis C are transmitted, said Schechter. "Right now
and for the past several years, the overlap has concentrated in
injection drug users."
Hepatitis C is transmitted much more easily than HIV, he said. People
can become infected using someone else's razor or toothbrush.
Hepatitis C is also transmitted very efficiently when people share
dirty needles.
"Such a great proportion of injection drug users are infected that
when you share with a stranger, there's a significant chance that
person is going to be infected."
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Justice Department Report Contradicts Common Perception (The San Jose Mercury
News notes a U.S. Justice Department report of methamphetamine use in Western
cities suggests the connection between the drug and violent crime has been
overstated by police and mass media. A study of 7,355 people arrested in Los
Angeles, San Diego, San Jose, Portland and Phoenix for a variety of offenses
in 1996 and 1997 found that meth users were "significantly less likely" than
other drug arrestees to be charged with a violent offense. The largest
segment - about 40 percent of adult users - were charged with drug or alcohol
violations. By contrast, 25 percent were booked for property offenses and
only 16 percent were arrested for violent behavior. Non-meth arrestees, on
the other hand, were "significantly more likely to be arrested for a violent
offense.")
Date: Wed, 5 May 1999 19:09:10 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US: Justice Department Report Contradicts Common Perception
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: charlotte.montrezza@intel.com (Montrezza, Charlotte)
Pubdate: Wed, 5 May 1999
Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Copyright: 1999 Mercury Center
Contact: letters@sjmercury.com
Website: http://www.sjmercury.com/
Author: Bill Romano, Mercury News Staff Writer
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT REPORT CONTRADICTS COMMON PERCEPTION
Results of a U.S. Justice Department study of methamphetamine use in the
Western cities, including San Jose, suggest the connection between the drug
and violent crime may be overstated -- a conclusion disputed by one of Santa
Clara County's top domestic violence prosecutors.
The report by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) released Tuesday in
San Diego during a two day meeting of the Methamphetamine Interagency Task
Force outlines use of the drug in Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose, Portland
and Phoenix.
A total of 7,355 people arrested in those communities for a variety of
offenses in 1996 and 1997 agreed to participate in the project, 922 of them
users of methamphetamine. A vast majority volunteered urine samples while
those who declined provided information about their personal use of drugs,
researchers said.
According to the study, meth users were found "significantly less likely"
than other drug arrestees to be charged with a violent offense. The largest
segment -- about 40 percent of adult users of the cheap, illegal stimulant
participating in the study -- reportedly were charged with drug or alcohol
violations. By contrast, 25 percent were booked for property offenses and
only 16 percent were arrested for violent behavior.
Non-meth arrestees, on the other hand, were "significantly more likely to be
arrested for a violent offense, contrary to a common perception that
associates methampehtamine with violent behavior," the report said.
Noting the differences, Jack Riley, director of the NIJ's drug-abuse
monitoring program, said the results were not particularly surprising.
"I think it's a common misconception that methamphetamine is concretely
linked to violent crime. I've never seen that before, (just) as it was
never observable with cocaine," Riley said. "That's not to say meth is not
involved in violent crime. But it is not disproportionately linked to it."
But Assistant District Attorney Karyn Sinunu disputed some of the study's
conclusions.
"Any physician will tell you methamphetamine leads to paranoia," Sinunu
said. "It's a know medical fact that paranoia is what often causes people
to kill. This is a stimulant long associated with violence. I've seen the
craziness in meth users."
Findings in the voluntary study showed that among the 180 meth users
interviewed in San Jose, 26 percent were picked up for violent crimes, 39
percent for drug and alcohol offenses, 24 percent for all other offenses.
In the five cites surveyed, the majority of users the 12 month study were
white males, ranging from 54 percent in San Jose to 94 percent in Portland.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
KLA Linked To Enormous Heroin Trade (The San Francisco Chronicle belatedly
helps break the American mass media's silence about how the United States'
allies in its latest military conflict are - surprise! - funding their war
effort by trafficking supposedly controlled substances throughout Europe.)
Date: Wed, 5 May 1999 07:29:36 -0700
To: editor@mapinc.org
From: "Tom O'Connell" (tjeffoc@sirius.com)
Cc: dpfca@drugsense.org, maptalk@mapinc.org
Sender: owner-dpfca@drugsense.org
Reply-To: "Tom O'Connell" (tjeffoc@sirius.com)
Organization: DrugSense http://www.drugsense.org/dpfca/
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
PubDate: Wednesday, May 5, 1999
Page: A1 (Lead Story)
URL: http://www.sfgate.com/
LTE: chronletters@sfgate.com
(Newshawk note: Frank Viviano is a Chronicle Staff Writer who seems to be
on permanent assignment in Eastern Europe, since long before the Kosovo
eruption. He has been the author of several probing "insider" type articles
and a few seris from the region over the pas couple of years. I did a quick
search of a few other papers and none have picked up this story yet;
certainly none seem to have given it the featured position it enjoys in
this morning's Chronicle)
***
KLA Linked To Enormous Heroin Trade
Police suspect drugs helped finance revolt
Frank Viviano, Chronicle Staff Writer
Officers of the Kosovo Liberation Army and their backers,
according to law enforcement authorities in Western Europe and the
United States, are a major force in international organized crime, moving
staggering amounts of narcotics through an underworld network that
reaches into the heart of Europe.
In the words of a November 1997 statement issued by Interpol, the
international police agency, ``Kosovo Albanians hold the largest
share of the heroin market in Switzerland, in Austria, in Belgium,
in Germany, in Hungary, in the Czech Republic, in Norway and in
Sweden.''
That the Albanians of Kosovo are victims of a conscious, ethnic-
cleansing campaign set in motion by Yugoslav President Slobodan
Milosevic is clear. But the credentials of some who claim to
represent them are profoundly disturbing, say highly placed
sources on both sides of the Atlantic.
On March 25 -- the day after NATO's bombardment of Serb forces
began -- drug enforcement experts from the Hague-based European
Office of Police (EUROPOL), met in an emergency closed session
devoted to ``Kosovar Narcotics Trafficking Networks.''
EUROPOL is preparing an extensive report for European justice and
interior ministers on the KLA's role in heroin smuggling.
Independent investigations of the charges are also under way in
Sweden, Germany and Switzerland.
``We have intelligence leading us to believe that there could be a
connection between drug money and the Kosovo Liberation Army,''
Walter Kege, head of the drug enforcement unit in the Swedish
police intelligence service, told the London Times in late March.
As long as four years ago, U.S. officials were concerned about
alleged ties between narcotics syndicates and the People's
Movement of Kosovo, a dissident political organization founded in
1982 that is now the KLA's political wing.
A 1995 advisory by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration
warned of the possibility ``that certain members of the ethnic
Albanian community in the Serbian region of Kosovo have turned to
drug trafficking in order to finance their separatist
activities.''
If the drug-running allegations against the KLA are accurate, the
group could join a rogues' gallery of former U.S. allies whose
interests outside the battlefield brought deep embarrassment and
domestic political turmoil to Washington.
In 1944, the invading U.S. Army handed the reins of power in
Sicily to local ``anti-fascists'' who were in fact Mafia leaders.
During the next half century, American governments also turned a
blind eye to, or collaborated with, the narcotics operations of
Southeast Asian drug lords and Nicaraguan Contras who were allied
with the United States in Indochina and Central America.
In each case, the legacy of these partnerships ranged from global
expansion of the power wielded by criminal syndicates, to divisive
congressional inquiries at home and lasting suspicion of American
intentions overseas.
The involvement of ethnic Albanians in the drug trade is not
exclusively Kosovar. It includes members of Albanian communities
in Europe's three poorest countries or regions -- Kosovo,
Macedonia and Albania -- where the appeal of narcotics trafficking
is self-explanatory, even without a separatist war to fund.
The average 1997 monthly salary in all three communities was less
than $200. In Albania, it was less than $50.
According to the Paris-based Geopolitical Drug Watch, which
advises the governments of Britain and France on illegal narcotics
operations, one kilogram (2.2 pounds) of heroin costs $8,300 in
Albania, which lies at the western terminus of a ``Balkan Route''
that today accounts for up to 90 percent of the drug's exports to
Europe from Southeast Asia and Turkey.
Across the border from Albania in Greece, the same kilo of heroin
can be sold for $30,000, yielding an instant profit equal to nine
years' normal income in Macedonia and more than a third of a
century in Albania or prebombardment Kosovo.
The Balkan Route is a principal thoroughfare for an illicit drug
traffic worth $400 billion annually, according to Interpol.
Although only a small number of ethnic Albanian clans profit
directly from the trade, their activities have cast a dark shadow
on the entire Albanian world.
There is a growing tendency among foreign observers, says former
Albanian President Sali Berisha, ``to identify the criminal with
the honest, the vandal with the civilized, the mafiosi with the
nation.''
Those ethnic Albanians who have embraced the narcotics trade are
extraordinarily aggressive.
Albanian speakers comprise roughly 1 percent of Europe's 510
million people. In 1997, according to Interpol, they made up 14
percent of all European arrests for heroin trafficking.
The average quantity of heroin confiscated per arrest, among all
offenders, was less than two grams. Among Albanian-speakers, the
figure was 120 grams (4.2 ounces).
Until the war intervened, Kosovars were the acknowledged masters
of the trade, credited with shoving aside the Turkish gangs that
had long dominated narcotics trafficking along the Balkan Route,
and effectively directing the ethnic Albanian network.
Kosovar bosses ``orchestrated the traffic, regulated the rate and
set the prices,'' according to journalist Leonardo Coen, who
covers racketeering and organized crime in the Balkans for the
Italian daily La Repubblica.
``The Kosovars had a 10-year head start on their cousins across
the border, simply because their Yugoslav passports allowed them
to travel earlier and much more widely than someone from communist
Albania,'' said Michel Koutouzis, a senior researcher at
Geopolitical Drug Watch who is regarded as Europe's leading expert
on the Balkan Route.
``That allowed them to establish very efficient overseas networks
through the worldwide Albanian diaspora -- and in the process, to
forge ties with other underworld groups involved in the heroin
trade, such as Chinese triads in Vancouver and Vietnamese in
Australia,'' Koutouzis told The Chronicle.
On assignments in Kosovo and Macedonia between 1992 and 1996, a
Chronicle reporter frequently encountered groups of ethnic
Albanian men -- ostentatiously dressed in designer clothing and
driving luxury cars far beyond the normal means of their community
-- at restaurants in the Macedonian capital of Skopje and near the
Kosovo frontier.
The men were quite willing to speak about politics, confirming
that they were Kosovar, and asserting their determination to bring
down Milosevic. But when asked how they earned their livings, they
uniformly answered ``in business,'' declining to provide any
details.
The rise of Kosovar bosses to the pinnacle of the drug trade --
and the sudden, simultaneous appearance of the KLA -- dates from
1997, when the Berisha government fell in Albania amid nationwide
rioting over a collapsed financial pyramid scheme that destroyed
the savings of millions and wrecked the economy. In the unchecked
looting that followed, the nation's armories were emptied of
weapons, explosives and ammunition.
In June 1997, Berisha was succeeded as president by Rexhep
Mejdani, who unlike Berisha was openly sympathetic to a separatist
rebellion in Kosovo.
Last year, a NATO official in Brussels quoted by Radio Free Europe
cited intelligence findings of ``the wholesale transfer of weapons
to Kosovo'' in 1997, destabilizing the precarious balance between
ethnic Albanians and Serbs in the province and undercutting the
position of pacifist Kosovo leader Ibrahim Rugova in autonomy
negotiations with Belgrade.
A U.N. study found that at least 200,000 Kalashnikov automatic
assault weapons stolen from Albanian military armories wound up in
the KLA arsenal. So many, according to reliable sources, that KLA
operatives were themselves exporting guns to overseas black
markets at the start of 1999.
In effect, the KLA's armed insurgency, escalating at a time when
U.S. and Western European diplomats were seeking a peaceful
solution to the crisis, provided a pretext for Milosevic to press
for a nationalist solution to the Kosovo problem.
Then came the failed Rambouillet talks, the NATO bombing decision,
and with it what Koutouzis calls ``the militarization'' of the
Kosovar drug trade.
``Narcotics trafficking has been a permanent part of the Kosovo
picture for a long time. The question is where the profits go,''
Koutouzis said.
``When Rugova held sway and the object was a peaceful settlement,
the drug proceeds of Kosovo clans were at least invested in
growth, in things like better housing and health care. It was a
form of social taxation in a sense, and the more illegal the
activities, the more that their `businessmen' were expected to
pay.''
But with the outbreak of war, Koutouzis adds, ``the investment is
only in destruction -- and the KLA's first effort was to destroy
the influence of Rugova, and no one in the West did much to help
him.''
Nonetheless, NATO military officers and diplomats have always been
troubled by the murky origins and financing of the KLA, which
materialized for the first time in Kosovo on Nov. 28, 1997,
outfitted in expensive Swiss-manufactured uniforms and equipped
with the purloined Albanian Kalashnikovs.
The mistrust is reciprocated. According to Veton Surroi, the
widely respected editor of Kosovo's Albanian-language daily
newspaper Koha Ditore, U.S. negotiator Richard Holbrooke had a
Kalashnikov held to his head when he arrived for a meeting with
KLA officers during one of his shuttle missions to Kosovo.
As recently as February 25, U.S. Ambassador Chris Hill, another of
the negotiators, said, ``The KLA must understand that its members
have a future as members of political parties or local police
forces, but not in the continuation of armed struggle.''
The eruption of war changed almost everything. Since the bombing
campaign opened, NATO has had little alternative but to rely on
the KLA for intelligence. Its guerrilla units inside Kosovo are
the only eyewitness sources of information on Serb troop
movements.
Solid intelligence about the KLA itself is nearly impossible to
nail down. NATO estimates put its forces at 15,000. Avdija
Ramadom, the organization's official spokesman, claims that the
KLA has more than 50,000 men.
In addition to alleged drug receipts, the group is said to be
funded by a war tax of 3 percent imposed by the People's Movement
of Kosovo on the earnings of 500,000 ethnic Albanian emigrants in
Western Europe, a population that is soaring with the immense
exodus of refugees. Half of the prewar immigrants have settled in
Germany, according to the International Migration Organization,
and a third in Switzerland.
A single fund-raising evening in Switzerland earlier this year is
believed to have raised $7 million from ethnic Albanian
immigrants, much of it earmarked for the KLA struggle against
Serbia.
(c)1999 San Francisco Chronicle Page A1
-------------------------------------------------------------------
[End]
to the 1999 Daily News index for April 30-May 6