ALLEGED 'RACIAL PROFILING' AT ISSUE

With police nationwide under fire for "racial profiling," the Colorado
Supreme Court hears arguments today in a case involving a Hispanic
airline passenger arrested on suspicion of ferrying cocaine from Los
Angeles to Denver.

The man's lawyer says local and federal drug agents targeted his
client because of his ethnicity. His conviction and two concurrent
24-year prison sentences should be thrown out, the attorney will tell
the justices, who are hearing cases in a special traveling session at
Air Academy High School near Colorado Springs.

Prosecutors maintain that officers singled out Jose Cruz Salcedo -
convicted of traveling with more than $600,000 in cocaine - as he
stepped off the airplane because he fit a recognized "drug courier
profile," not because of his skin color.

The case dates back to May 1, 1995, when Denver Detective Dennis
Petersohn and federal agent Vincent Sanchez went to Denver
International Airport to screen passengers arriving from Los Angeles.

At Salcedo's trial, Petersohn said he went to DIA often to monitor
inbound flights because the West Coast is a frequentsource of Denver's
drugs.

He said Salcedo caught his attention because he wasn't wearing a
business suit and had no carry-on luggage such as a briefcase or
garment bag. He didn't even have a book or a camera.

Salcedo, wearing a large cross around his neck, also seemed nervous
and paced back and forth as he waited for his bag at the luggage
carousel, Petersohn said.

Those were all indicators of a drug courier, said the detective, a
32-year police veteran.

Petersohn and Sanchez approached Salcedo and questioned him. They
found that he had bought his ticket with cash just before the plane
left Los Angeles. And although Salcedo blurted out, "That's not my
bag, I'm just carrying it for someone, I don't know what's in there,"
they found that both the airline bag claim tag and a handwritten
identification tag on the bag bore Salcedo's name.

The two officers then asked Salcedo if they could search his suitcase.
He said they could. They found three kilograms of cocaine, some
women's clothes and some stuffed animals.

Salcedo's subsequent conviction on drug charges was based heavily on
Petersohn's testimony about "drug courier profiles" and how Salcedo
fit that profile.

Salcedo's lawyer, Thomas M. Van Cleave III, contends that Denver
District Judge Morris B. Hoffman should never have allowed that testimony.

Van Cleave argues that courtroom testimony about drug courier profiles
has repeatedly been discouraged by judges around the country. The
judges, he said in his Supreme Court brief, believe that the profiles
are improperly prejudicial to defendants such as Salcedo.

He says that over the years, federal and local drug agents have
expanded the profiles to the extent that almost any passenger on any
airline flight could fit the profile of a drug courier.

In this case, the officers didn't have probable cause to stop his
client, he argues.

Drug courier profiling has been criticized much the same way racial
profiling has across the country. Such profiling takes place when
officers use race as the chief criterion to stop or arrest suspects,
instead of specific information about a particular crime.

Traffic stops based on a driver's race - labeled by opponents as
"driving while black" - have contributed to the national outcry.

Last year, President Clinton deplored such profiling and directed
federal law enforcement agencies to collect data on the race,
ethnicity and gender of people they stop and search. A bill in
Congress would provide funds for states to gather similar data.

In Salcedo's case, Van Cleave also claims Hoffman compounded the
mistake by refusing to let Dr. M. J. Philipus, an expert on Mexican
culture, testify. Van Cleave claims Philipus could explain why for
cultural reasons Salcedo was traveling as lightly as he was and
wearing or not wearing things that Petersohn felt indicated Salcedo
was a drug courier.

But police and prosecutors contend that Petersohn was an officer with
vast experience and that the drug courier profile characteristics he
was looking for were limited and specific.

At the time, Petersohn had been an officer for 27 years. In the 10
years prior to Salcedo's arrest, Petersohn was assigned to airport
narcotics investigations.