POLICE PRESENCE PANNED

Critics Of Cops At Lennon Tribute Will Not Let It Be

As fans from all over the world gathered in Central Park's Strawberry
Fields to commemorate the 20th anniversary of pop icon John Lennon's death,
undercover drug officers mingling in the crowd arrested 19 people for
smoking marijuana Friday and early yesterday morning.

In addition to the undercover officers, an estimated 50 to 60 uniformed
police officers, led by Chief of Department Joseph Esposito, kept watch
over the crowd as participants sang songs and lighted candles until a 1
a.m. park curfew. Police estimated that the event, held annually on Dec. 8,
drew about 1,000 at its peak.

Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, citing concerns for public safety, had refused
requests to waive the curfew, despite a personal appeal from the lord mayor
of Liverpool.

Following a Republican event on Staten Island yesterday, when asked about
the marijuana arrests and police presence, Giuliani said, "That's what they
should do. I don't know why anybody would be shocked by that. It is illegal
in the state of New York and the United States of America to sell marijuana
or smoke marijuana. So the police were doing what they should be doing."
Norman Siegel, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union,
called the police presence "intimidating, authoritarian and oppressive" and
said he plans to file a complaint with the city Civilian Complaint Review
Board.

Shortly after midnight, Siegel said, officers started to refuse people
entrance to the park to attend the vigil, held in Strawberry Fields-a
section, named after a Beatles hit, that is a short walk from The Dakota
apartment building where Lennon was gunned down by a deranged fan Dec. 8,
1980.

"I was there for most of the night," Siegel said in an interview. "And it
was total overkill by the police." Siegel said he will file the CCRB
complaint against Esposito, the third-ranking member of the department, for
refusing to let people into the park before the curfew. Esposito personally
oversaw the police operation until 2:30 a.m., Siegel said.

Siegel was among those refused entrance to the park at that time. He said
he had been at the vigil earlier and left to watch the 11 p.m. Friday news.

When he returned at 12:30 a.m., he said, officers refused to let him into
the park. He complained to Esposito, and the chief, in what Siegel
described as a "cutesy manner," said, "I guess my people read their watches
wrong." "Chief Esposito, the third person in command, was there into the
late hours, leading this major operation on John Lennon and Beatles fans?"
Siegel said, incredulous. "It was uncalled-for. The police should focus on
real crime, not people who were in Strawberry Fields smoking marijuana."
Tom Antenen, a police department spokesman, said, "Given the fact that in
the past there has been pot smoking" at the Lennon vigil, both undercover
and uniformed officers were assigned to the event.

In addition to the 19 people charged with smoking marijuana, one person was
arrested for sale of marijuana. While not everyone had departed by 2 a.m.,
police said the scene was quiet.