FOREST SERVICE ORDER SINGLED OUT LATINOS IN DRUG INVESTIGATION

SAN FRANCISCO--Federal officers were ordered to interrogate Latinos in a
Mendocino National Forest marijuana eradication effort, even if no evidence
of the drug was found in their cars.

A U.S. Forest Service supervisor told his officers in a directive that, "If
a vehicle stop is conducted and no marijuana is located and the vehicle has
Hispanics inside at a minimum we would like all individuals FI'd [field
interrogated]." The biweekly Sacramento Valley Mirror newspaper obtained
the directive.

Forest Service officials said the directive should not have singled out
Latinos but denied that officers were told to use racial profiling.

The language was deleted from the directive Wednesday night, said Phebe
Brown, public affairs officer for Mendocino National Forest.

Officers have since been told to "apply the stop-action across the board to
whomever would be stopped in any kind of a vehicle for probable cause," she
said.

The effort began Oct. 8 and will end Oct. 14, according to Jerry Moore,
special agent in charge of the region for the forest service. He said it
came in response to an increase in marijuana cultivation in national parks
that law enforcement agencies tie to Mexican nationals.