S.F. TO CONSIDER SEIZING CARS OF DRUG, SEX CLIENTS PENALTY IS IN FORCE IN
OAKLAND

Sally Burris sees good and bad in the Oakland law that allows police to
seize the cars of those caught cruising the streets for crack or
prostitutes -- a brand of justice that a San Francisco supervisor wants to
bring across the bay.

On one hand, it has done some good, said Burris, a resident of East
Oakland. On the other hand, it seems to her like harsh punishment.

"This street used to be really popping, really busy, and now it's toned
down," she said of her neighborhood near International Boulevard, a
nondescript commercial strip where drugs and sex can still be had for a price.

"But I don't think it's particularly fair. The police take away the
customer's car while the dealers go free. That could mess up a person's
livelihood."

The Oakland ordinance, which is still under legal challenge, goes after the
demand for drugs and illicit sex by taking aim at street-skulking buyers --
a strategy that San Francisco Supervisor Amos Brown wants to import to such
neighborhoods as the Western Addition, the Mission and Hunters Point.

Brown is proposing a law that would define the car of an arrested drug
buyer as a "public nuisance," and therefore subject to confiscation and
sale. What would ordinarily be a $100 fine for buying marijuana could turn
into a $20,000 loss for anyone unlucky enough to drive up to an undercover
police officer posing as a pot seller.

The pros and cons of bringing vehicle seizures to San Francisco will be
weighed at a hearing tomorrow before the Housing and Social Policy
Committee of the Board of Supervisors. The meeting starts at 6 p.m. in the
board's City Hall chambers.

"We want to make it difficult for professional career criminals to come
into bedroom communities and commit crimes," Brown said. "People have a
right to peace, tranquility and safety in their neighborhoods."

He cited the case of Douglas Chin, 46, who grew so sick of the prostitutes'
customers prowling his neighborhood, around Capp Street in the Mission
District, that he hurled chunks of rebar at the windshields of passing cars
from the roof of a church. He was convicted of assault and given probation
in July.

Attacking drug sales and prostitution can help create a sense of order in
hard-hit neighborhoods, which could prevent more serious crimes, such as
robbery and murder, Brown said.

"Dirty dishes left in a sink create more pests," he said.

Brown, a Baptist minister, also likened his proposed ordinance to the
account in the biblical Book of Exodus, in which God protects the fleeing
Israelites by making the wheels fall off the chariots of the Pharaoh's
army. Removing the transportation of evildoers also helps stop evil, Brown
said.

Oakland police conduct their car seizure operations, called "Operation Beat
Feet," in various neighborhoods about twice a month. About 80 percent of
the cars seized belong to alleged drug buyers, and the rest to alleged johns.

One elderly man who lives near the corner of 98th Avenue and Walnut Street,
where police have set up stings more than once, said he can still sit on
his porch and count as many as two dozen illicit transactions a day.

"There's been some improvement, yes, but we've got a long way to go," said
the man, who didn't want his name used.

"Nobody is going to sit here and say this ordinance is going to solve the
problem by itself,'' said Charles Vose, a deputy city attorney in Oakland.
``It's only one tool in our arsenal to stop street-level crimes."

Oakland officials have seized and auctioned off 288 cars since the law went
into effect in June 1997. There have been some unusual cases.

Police once seized an 18-wheel refrigerated tractor-trailer full of fresh
shrimp from a man who got caught in a street sting. The owner of the
trucking company had to fly out from Mississippi to buy back the big rig.

Another woman who had her car confiscated became wise to the law and drove
around looking for drugs in a rented Ryder truck. Police arrested her but
had to return the truck to the rental company.

Most of the confiscated cars have belonged to out-of-towners.

"It's really offensive. They come here because they think this is where all
the action is," Deputy City Attorney Pelayo Llamas said.

All the seizures have been the result of undercover operations, where vice
officers pose either as dope dealers or streetwalkers, said Lt. Rick Hart
of the Oakland vice unit.

Proceeds from auctioned cars are split evenly between the city attorney's
office and the Alameda County district attorney's office, with police
expenses deducted.

"This is not a big moneymaker for us," Llamas said. He said the city has
made $321,000 since the program was implemented.

Critics of the law note that the cars are seized in a civil court
regardless of whatever happens in the criminal case against the suspect.

"Property is being seized without a hearing, and people can permanently
lose their cars without ever being convicted of a crime," said Alan
Schlosser, managing attorney for the Northern California chapter of the
American Civil Liberties Union. "There's no presumption of innocence, so
the burden is on you. This is an experiment which San Francisco can live
without."

The ACLU has sued Oakland over the issue, arguing that a 1993 state vehicle
seizure law makes the ordinance illegal. A Superior Court judge and a state
appeals court both ruled against the ACLU, and Schlosser has appealed to
the state Supreme Court.