CUSTOMS SAYS NEW PROCEDURES REDUCE BIAS

The U.S. Customs Service, responding to complaints over searches it
conducted of suspected smugglers at airports nationwide, says new
techniques have allowed the agency to conduct fewer searches while
confiscating more contraband.

"The new statistics indicate Customs is searching fewer innocent travelers
of all races and genders, while doing a better job of catching those
carrying contraband," said Customs Commissioner Raymond F. Kelly.
"Nevertheless, our efforts are a work in progress. There is much more to be
done."

The new procedures were put into effect after several complaints - and a
dozen lawsuits - accused the agency of targeting travelers for searches
based on race and gender. Customs has used strip and body searches, along
with X-rays, to detect smugglers who hide cocaine or heroin inside their
bags, clothing or in packets they have swallowed.

Beginning in 1998, Customs began a series of reforms Mr. Kelly said were
aimed at ensuring that neither racial nor gender bias played a role in the
selection of passengers for Customs personal searches.

The reforms included an increased role of supervisors in the search
process; new training for Customs inspectors; increased legal oversight of
the process; mandatory data collection of all searches; new technology to
make the searches less intrusive; and an information program to tell the
traveling public about the search program.

Figures released this week show that Customs conducted 61 percent fewer
personal searches of airline passengers in fiscal 2000 (October 1999
through September 2000). The total number of searches was 9,008, down from
23,108 last year.

Mr. Kelly said travelers are five times less likely to undergo a personal
search today than two years ago, although the number of drug seizures
resulting from searches conducted this fiscal year compared to last
increased by 25 percent.

He also said that agents conducted 60 percent fewer searches of black
airline passengers during fiscal 2000 than in fiscal 1998 (2,437, compared
with 6,141), although seizures from black travelers increased by 5 percent.
Searches of Hispanic travelers, he said, dropped 82 percent during that
same period (from 14,951 to 2,731), while seizures increased by 71 percent.

Earlier this year, the General Accounting Office confirmed some of the
accusations made by passengers who filed lawsuits against Customs claiming
they had been singled out by inspectors for examination on the basis of
race. However, the GAO did not find a widespread pattern of such abuse.

GAO reviewed the 102,000 searches in 1997 and 1998, when some 140 million
passengers entered this country. It said black women were "nine times more
likely than white women who were U.S. citizens to be X-rayed after being
frisked or patted down in fiscal year 1998."

It also said that black women who were U.S. citizens were less than half as
likely to be found carrying contraband as white women who were U.S.
citizens. The GAO also noted that "white men and women and black women were
more likely than black men and Hispanic men and women to be strip-searched
rather than patted down in fiscal year 1998."

In response, Mr. Kelly announced the creation of an independent review
board to evaluate complaints of racial bias by Customs agents. He said at
the time that if bias existed, "it is paramount that we find its cause and
eliminate it." The board has evaluated Customs policies and procedures in
processing international travelers.