FEWER PEOPLE SEARCHED BY CUSTOMS IN PAST YEAR

The U.S. Customs Service dramatically reduced the number of people searched
at the nation's borders last year, while simultaneously increasing its
seizures of drugs, including heroin, cocaine and ecstasy.

Customs officials hailed the new statistics released yesterday as proof of
the effectiveness of their stricter oversight of the personal searches done
by inspectors. The new policies were implemented over the past two years in
the wake of complaints by African Americans and other minorities who said
Customs Service inspectors disproportionately singled them out for searches.

A General Accounting Office report released earlier this year confirmed
those sentiments. It found that African American women were nearly twice as
likely to be strip-searched on suspicion of smuggling drugs as white men
and women and three times as likely as African American men.

The GAO report capped two years of criticism by minority women in Chicago
and elsewhere who have complained of being subjected to humiliating
treatment at the nation's international airports. In some instances, women
complained of cavity searches and of being forced to take laxatives by
customs inspectors in search of illegal drugs.

In response to those concerns, Customs Service Commissioner Raymond W.
Kelly initiated reforms to tighten oversight of the searches--changes that
have resulted not only in far fewer people being searched but also in the
seizure of more contraband.

"We're not declaring victory, we're not saying the battle is over, but
we're pleased," Kelly said. "The biggest change has been the accountability
and oversight."

To reduce the number of unwarranted searches and detentions, Kelly required
inspectors to consult with local Justice Department lawyers when detaining
a passenger for more than eight hours. Also, the agency overhauled its
search handbook, required a supervisor's approval for most pat-down
personal searches and eliminated the use of historical factors that raise
the possibility of a search. Instead, the agency uses six broad criteria to
support search decisions.

In addition, the Customs Service now keeps close track of the race and
gender of those singled out for searches. The data are sent daily to the
agency's top officials.

The results have been striking. In the fiscal year that ended in September,
9,008 arriving commercial air passengers were searched by customs
inspectors, a steep reduction from the 23,108 who were searched the
previous year, according to customs statistics. As searches decreased, the
seizures of heroin, cocaine and ecstasy increased from 533 to 665 between
fiscal 1999 and 2000. Overall, drug seizures increased from 1,164 to 1,174
during the same period.

Throughout its history, the Customs Service has had far-reaching authority
to detain travelers and administer searches if inspectors suspect them of
smuggling drugs or other contraband. Large numbers of smugglers swallow
drug-filled balloons or otherwise hide drugs to bring them into the
country. That, coupled with the growing number of passengers who pass
through customs each year, has increased the pressure on the agency.

But that pressure often prompted inspectors to haphazardly decide which
travelers would be searched, Kelly said.

In the past six years, 34 lawsuits have been brought against the Customs
Service, said agency spokesmen. The agency lost one in which a plaintiff
was awarded $500,000. Four were settled for amounts ranging from $2,000 to
$100,000, and the others either are pending or have been dismissed.

"We have this very powerful authority," Kelly said. "But we did not think
about it enough."