ATTORNEY FOR MAN ARRESTED AT MASS PARTY TO FIGHT CLUB'S SEARCH POLICY

The attorney defending a man who was arrested at the gay circuit party,
Mass, will ask the court to throw out the charges against her client on the
grounds that Ten 15 Folsom nightclub security officers violated the man's
constitutional rights.

San Francisco Assistant Public Defender Sujung Kim is representing a man
charged with drug dealing after Ten 15 security officers allegedly found him
in possession of several ecstasy tablets. The man was one of seven people
arrested on drug charges at Mass on May 28.

Kim told the Bay Area Reporter that she believes many of Ten 15's searches
are in violation of the Fourth Amendment, which prohibits police or
government agents from searching an individual without probable cause. Kim
said Ten 15's security officers are acting as de facto government agents
because of an agreement the club reached with the San Francisco Police
Department and the City Attorney's office last May. Under the pact, Ten 15
agreed to arrest and detain anyone found to be in possession of illegal
drugs. The settlement was reached in the wake of a police crackdown on
several South of Market after-hours clubs.

In a court hearing scheduled for September 27, Kim will ask a judge to rule
that Ten 15's security officers are de facto government agents and shouldn't
be allowed to conduct searches without probable cause. If the judge decides
in her favor, Kim will then argue the charges should be thrown out on the
grounds that Ten 15's security officers didn't have probable cause to search
her client.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California's managing
attorney, Alan Schlosser, told the B.A.R. that he agreed with Kim's argument
that Ten 15's security should be held to the same standards as police
officers.

"The Fourth Amendment doesn't apply to private security officers but I think
that when you have searches that are taking place pursuant to a court
injunction, in which the club is required to comply with it to stay open, I
think the question then is whether you are dealing with private searches or
whether they are in fact acting as agents of the state," said Schlosser. "It
seems to me that these are no longer private searches.

"I don't think that the San Francisco Police Department and the city
attorney can come in and force a private club to adopt a search policy and
then kind of wash their hands of it and say the searches that take place,
even if they're unconstitutional, are purely private and therefore the
evidence isn't covered by the exclusionary rule."

Schlosser also questioned the club's searches of people before they enter
the club.

"If they are pat searching everyone who comes in, then I think that raises
some questions about whether that intrusion is reasonable."

Ten 15's attorney, Joe Wood, told the B.A.R. that the club's searches don't
violate anyone's constitutional rights because people voluntarily consent to
be searched as a condition of entering the club.

"That doesn't raise any constitutional issues whether or not you deem them
to be private security or government affiliated because it's consensual,"
Wood said. "As for things that happen inside the club, which is what her
[Kim's] client was involved with, if somebody is engaging in what looks to
club security like drug related criminal activity, then that person is
searched on that basis."

Wood added that Ten 15's security is well trained to only search people
inside the club when there's probable cause to believe they are engaged in
an illegal activity.

San Francisco Police acting Southern District Captain, Larry Minasian, told
the B.A.R. that since Ten 15 initiated its tough security policy, three to
four people on average are arrested each night by club security. Minasian
said that the arrests are considered "citizen's arrests" and those arrested
are picked up by San Francisco police for booking at the Hall of Justice.
Minasian reiterated Ten 15's position that all patrons are admonished both
verbally and by posted signs that they will be arrested if found with drugs.