DRUG STINGS BRINGING FEW CONVICTIONS

Prosecutors fear entrapment claims will be successful; Cases seldom go
to trial; Police say they aim to make things difficult for suburban
buyers

A renewed campaign by Baltimore police to pose as drug dealers and
round up addicts is being met with skepticism by prosecutors who,
fearing claims of entrapment, are reluctant to take most cases to court.

Few of the more than 300 people arrested since June have been
convicted. Most of their cases have been thrown out before trial - the
only jail time being the hours spent waiting for an initial bail hearing.

"I would like to see more being prosecuted than are being prosecuted
now," said city Police Commissioner Edward T. Norris. "I'm not going
to stop doing the stings."

State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy said officers need better
training in writing statements of probable cause, legal documents that
justify criminal charges. "They should be doing it in a way we can get
convictions," she said.

Police have conducted 16 "reverse stings" since June 8 and arrested
326 people, more than one-third of whom live outside the city. They
have seized $14,690 and 93 cars.

Neither police nor Jessamy's office could provide statistics on how
many arrests resulted in convictions. Jessamy said the numbers weren't
kept after the first few operations.

But both acknowledge that most suspects never set foot in a courtroom
after their arrests. Their harshest penalty is their brief
incarceration immediately after arrest and the two weeks fighting city
bureaucracy to get their cars back.

That is one of the prime motivating factors behind the stings:
inconveniencing suburban drug buyers who use Baltimore neighborhoods
as narcotics supermarkets.

"County residents should know that when they come into Baltimore City
to buy drugs, they are going to be arrested and their cars are going
to be seized," said Lt. Michael Tabor, who runs the weekly
initiatives.

Police can keep a seized car for up to 45 days to investigate whether
it was used in the drug trade. Most seized in reverse stings have been
returned.

"When you take their cars away from them, that hurts them more than
anything," Tabor said.

On Friday, undercover officers hit the area around North Rose and
McElderry streets. Within an hour, a white police van parked on a
vacant lot was full of suspects, most of whom lived far from the East
Baltimore neighborhood.

None would talk publicly about their ordeal. "I did something stupid,"
one man said. Another suspect's wife or girlfriend emerged from a
corner bar and yelled to the handcuffed man: "Bail yourself out."

A 50-year-old Annapolis man arrested trying to buy $10 of marijuana
two weeks ago said he comes to Baltimore because the penalties for
getting caught are light.

"In Anne Arundel County, they are tough," said the man, who consented
to an interview on the condition he not be named. He was arrested at
Edmondson Avenue and North Mount Street - a notoriously violent area.

"The hustlers on the street look at you like a business customer," he
said. "The drug markets are so established in Baltimore City that you
drive down the street and there are dozens of people who wave you down."

Reverse drug stings are nothing new. Former Police Commissioner Thomas
C. Frazier used them for years, though few people were convicted. City
police haven't used the tactic much in the past two years.

Judges said police agencies across the state have used the tactic with
varying degrees of success.

Chief District Judge Martha F. Rasin said the cases send up the red
flag of entrapment. "It's one of those things that doesn't feel
right," she said, quoting a typical defense: "'I wasn't out shopping,
but this guy wanted to sell me something.' Your constitutional antenna
goes up."

There are several hurdles that police must overcome to win in court,
police and prosecutors said. Buying illegal drugs is never clear-cut.
"Give me five" for $5 worth of cocaine, or "Give me some ready" for
ready rock crack cocaine, is the common terminology.

Another problem is that drugs never exchange hands. The charge is
attempted possession, or attempted conspiracy. In a city where drug
possession rarely results in jail time, the act of trying to buy drugs
barely registers on an overflowing court docket.

Tabor said that when his officers returned to the use of reverse
stings this summer, they wrote one- and two-sentence reports, and
defendants were being set free.

As of this month, police are trying something different. Undercover
officers, dressed in baggy pants and gold chains around their necks,
make sure the customer flashes or hands over the cash.

The officers tell them to walk around the corner to get their drugs,
and an arrest team slaps on the handcuffs. Tabor said this technique
has started winning convictions in some cases, with jail sentences of
30 days.

"Show me the money," Jessamy said of what is needed to win a
conviction.

"We're learning," Tabor said.

Defense lawyers argue that the stings don't put a ding in the city's
drug and crime problem.

"Are we out to punish people who have addictions?" said defense
attorney Jack B. Rubin, who has represented defendants involved in
some of the area's biggest drug gangs. "If the answer is 'yes,' then I
guess reverse drug stings are OK. ... It makes a laughingstock out of
the police and the state's attorney when the cases are dropped."

Police argue that the stings do more than simply inconvenience people.
It is part of Norris' crime-fighting strategy to arrest criminals at
every level.

"We cannot, as a police agency, not make arrests because we don't
think they're going to be prosecuted," Norris said.

Tabor said intelligence from addicts has prompted drug raids with
substantial seizures. In addition, he said tips from the addicts have
led to arrests in 21 slayings and 74 shootings.

And community residents support the initiatives. On Sept. 14, police
raided six homes on Oswego Court, Oswego Avenue and Loyola Southway in
Park Heights. They seized drug packing material, 38 vials of crack
cocaine and arrested six suspected dealers.

The next day, Tabor's team hit the same streets and targeted potential
customers.

"The community was clapping," Tabor said. "They were ecstatic that we
were in their area doing something about a problem they had been
complaining about."

One of the 13 people arrested during the sting in Park Heights was
Eugene Flanagan, 26, who lives above a pawn shop on West Main Street
in Westminster. The day before, he had been convicted of drug
possession in Baltimore District Court and fined $50.

Flanagan said he was in the area to pay child support to a woman from
a previous relationship. He said that as he crossed a street, a man
asked, "What's up?" and he got arrested.

"I can get any kind of drug I want, if I want, right here in
Westminster, so why would I go to Baltimore for it?" he said. "I can
get a bag of herb [marijuana] for $10 here in 10 minutes, and I can
get a pound of herb if I want it in an hour and 10 minutes."

Police say he propositioned an undercover officer for
drugs.

Flanagan spent about 13 hours in central booking and was released
about 2:30 a.m. on a Sunday after posting $100 for bail. He spent
Monday getting his car back, and said a camera and other property are
missing.

"I'm really hot," Flanagan said. "[Police] had no right to be rude and
arrogant when they stood around bragging about making arrests in their
little sting operation."