SHERIFFS REAP CASH FROM DRUG DEALERS

N.C. Law Agencies Collect Millions In Stops Along I-95

Drug dealers might call it highway robbery, but to local sheriffs, it's a
bonus for fighting the war on drugs. Along 182 miles of Interstate 95 in
North Carolina, county sheriff's departments are seizing millions of
dollars from suspected drug couriers, then using the money to buy guns,
computers, cars -- and, in one case, a training center.

I-95 is a natural target. It links Florida to the Northeast and is the East
Coast's major drug corridor.

In North Carolina, law enforcement officers have seized at least $6.3
million in cash, 440 pounds of marijuana and 110 pounds of cocaine along
I-95 over the past three years, according to the federal Drug Enforcement
Administration. The numbers are considered conservative, because local
officers do not report every bust to the DEA.

Just last week, a Johnston deputy stopped a 1998 Cadillac for speeding,
then seized eight ounces of marijuana, 40 tablets of OxyContin and $40,000
in cash.

Traditionally, state troopers, not sheriff's deputies, patrol the
interstates. But in Johnston, Cumberland and Robeson counties, sheriffs now
regularly post deputies trained in drug detection on I-95. Sheriff's
offices in other counties, such as Nash, said they would like to work I-95
full time but don't have the staff.

The seizures from I-95 add up to big bucks. A federal program gives law
enforcement agencies up to 80 percent of any drug-related cash they seize.
Last year, that amounted to more than $2.8 million for sheriff's
departments in Johnston, Cumberland, Robeson, Nash, Harnett and Wilson
counties.

In Cumberland County, where two deputies monitor I-95 full time, cash
seizures are building a $2 million training center with an indoor firing
range. The majority of the money came from I-95.

In Johnston County, the sheriff's drug-interdiction program is just 2 years
old and staffed part time by two deputies. The pair already have seized
more than $930,000 from motorists.

Last year alone, more than $415,000 in seized drug money came back to the
Johnston Sheriff's Department. By contrast, the sheriff's office in
neighboring Wake County, miles from I-95, received $88,000 from seized cash
last year.

Using Profits To Shop

The Johnston department used its money to buy equipment that many rural
sheriffs would covet: 55 laptop computers, six vehicles, more than a dozen
guns, 15 bulletproof vests, a narcotics dog, an aluminum boat for searches
and rescues, speakers to negotiate with hostage-takers, in-car video
cameras and two Honda four-wheelers.

Even deputies who direct traffic will do so in greater comfort, thanks to
100 rain jackets and 100 neon-green traffic vests.

"I probably wouldn't have spent the taxpayers' money buying the rain
jackets," said Johnston Sheriff Steve Bizzell. "But I'll let the drug
dealers buy them."

While their chief goal is to destroy narcotics, officers say, seizing money
does more damage to the drug trade.

"Where you break the back of the criminal enterprise is to take the
profits," said John Boone, acting resident agent in charge for the DEA in
Raleigh.

Federal drug officers in Raleigh run a task force with the State Bureau of
Investigation, local sheriffs and police to coordinate drug interdiction.
The federal agency also sponsors training, which Boone said is critical to
stop the flow of drugs.

Officers learn to spot drivers who match a set of "courier
characteristics," Boone said. Drug agents are tight-lipped about the
characteristics, saying they don't want to tip off traffickers.

Officers can't pull over a car unless they see the driver break the law, so
they typically stop the car for a traffic violation, such as weaving. They
interview passengers individually; if their stories don't match, or
deputies see other telltale signs, they will ask to search the vehicle.
They may also use a drug dog to sniff the car.

Days after returning from such training, a deputy in Johnston County landed
the biggest cash seizure in county history.

In January 2002, the deputy borrowed a drug-sniffing dog from the Highway
Patrol and found $472,386 in a hidden compartment of a 1995 Toyota Camry.
Two Miami men in the car said they had never seen the money, legally
forfeiting it. The men were released with a warning ticket for tailgating.

In Cumberland, deputies looking for drugs on I-95 have had unexpected
results. They not only have seized $6.3 million in cash and $5 million in
drugs, but also have nabbed 20 fugitives. They found six runaway children,
discovered two kidnappings and a carjacking, and even arrested two murder
suspects -- all in traffic stops, said Maj. Sam Pennica of the Cumberland
Sheriff's Office.

Even if the stops are a pretext for investigating other crimes, they are legal.

Profiling Is A Concern

Arnold Loewy, a constitutional law expert, said the searches come at a
cost. "The reason it's controversial isn't that the guilty people got
caught," said Loewy, the Graham Kenan professor of law at the UNC-Chapel
Hill law school. "It's the number of innocent people who may have been
subject to being stopped and being harassed and come away with a negative a
view of police."

Loewy said he also is concerned that stopping drivers on a pretext makes it
easier for officers to engage in prejudicial profiling.

"I don't know whether race or ethnicity is part of the profile, but it
wouldn't surprise me if it is," Loewy said. "It's more likely going to be
people who are in a lower socioeconomic strata, that maybe have cars that
stand out in a particular way, who maybe don't look like middle-class
folks. And that, I do think, is a problem."

Pennica, of the Cumberland Sheriff's Office, said experience has taught
deputies not to make assumptions about class and race.

"I think it makes them more alert not to overlook something, not to assume
that everything is OK ... just because they're driving a nice car or have a
child with them," Pennica said. "If you try to stereotype or profile,
you're going to miss."

In Johnston, deputies working the interstates are having increasing
success, including three traffic stops in the fall that each netted
$100,000 or more.

Bizzell, elected in 1998 on pledges to fight drugs, said he hopes one day
to have deputies work I-95 full-time.

"I'm not in the business of getting money to put in an account here at the
sheriff's department," Bizzell said, noting that officers seized $1.5
million in drugs from I-95.

But, he added, "if there is seized currency -- whether it's 50 cents or
half a million dollars -- if it's being used for illegal drugs in Johnston
County, I want it."