POLICE DISCUSS RAVE-ECSTASY LINK

Amid Summit Strategizing, Chief Barker Says IPD Will Keep Shutting Down The
All-Night Parties.

A piece of candy. A flashlight. A glowing green stick.

They may look like toys to the untrained eye, but to Sgt. Scott Baldwin,
they are red flags that a child might be attending so-called "raves" and
getting high on the weekends.

"When you look at all these things together, they begin to look very
suspicious," said Baldwin, who heads the Indianapolis Police Department's
narcotics unit. "You see a pack of Tootsie Rolls or Skittles and it very
well may be Ecstasy (an illegal drug)."

Investigators from throughout central Indiana attended a rave "summit"
Wednesday at the city's Police Training Academy to slow Ecstasy's growing
presence and share investigative strategies for closing the all-night dance
parties.

Electronic music promoters have protested that they do everything possible
to keep drugs out, and they are calling on Indianapolis Police Chief Jerry
Barker to repeal a ban on off-duty officers working security at their events.

"Police are refusing to provide public safety at events where we need it
the most," said Gary Bastin of Positivity Productions, whose June 30 party
ended prematurely when power was cut off. Bastin says the police showed up
at his Near-Northside event, but he doesn't believe they cut off the
electricity.

Barker said the ban remains in effect as part of the department's anti-rave
program. The goal is to stop the spread of Ecstasy, not rave culture, he said.

"We have nothing against rave clubs. We have nothing against dancing,
music, and children enjoying themselves in a safe environment," Barker
said. "What we are against is drugs."

He said city police will shut down raves whenever and wherever they occur,
coordinating with the 25 agencies that attended the summit and prosecuting
promoters for building-code and permit violations.

"We are going to continue to monitor these raves and work with authorities
to attack the promoters," Barker said.

Ecstasy use has been growing in Indiana and around the country, according
to law enforcement agencies. Indiana State Police confiscated 215 Ecstasy
pills last year, up from 60 in 1999. Authorities recently charged a British
citizen with smuggling as many as 20,000 doses a month into central Indiana.

But authorities still don't know whether raves have anything to do with the
drug's growth. City police have no data correlating rave attendance with
drug use or studies of other cities that solved their Ecstasy problems by
cracking down on raves, officials said.

A video shown to The Indianapolis Star of a recent rave depicted dozens of
young people lying on the floor and eating unidentified tablets. About 50
of the 500 people who attended the event in Indianapolis were using an
illegal drug, said undercover officers.

Johnson County Sheriff J.D. Richards said he is certain about the
connection between raves and drugs.

"If you see a girl and a boy in the dark, chewing pacifiers and waving
colored wands," he said, "they're probably on Ecstasy."

Richards said he shut down a rave Friday at the Future Farmers of America
in Johnson County. About 1,000 people attended. No drugs were found, he said.