DRUG-PROBE TACTIC QUESTIONED

Sioux Falls police are being scrutinized for employing a controversial
method of drug investigation known as "knock-and-talks."

Police officials are reluctant to discuss the technique but admit they
have used it to uncover drugs and make arrests.

Simply put, police knock on someone's door, then try to persuade
whoever answers to allow officers to search the home, typically for
drugs or other contraband.

Police don't want the public to know about knock-and-talks because the
technique takes advantage of people's ignorance of their rights, civil
libertarians say.

They say it violates people's Fourth Amendment right against
unwarranted searches and seizures.

"If the police have probable cause, they should simply obtain a search
warrant," said Jennifer Ring, executive director of the ACLU of the
Dakotas, who is dismayed at the practice.

"The question to me is, how are they selecting these
people?"

Police spokesman Lt. Bob Runyan acknowledged Thursday that Sioux Falls
officers have told people they will obtain a search warrant if police
don't receive permission to search the home.

"That could happen, but it's not common practice," Runyan said. "It
would depend a lot on circumstances, and would be the exception rather
than the rule."

Sioux Falls Police Chief Clark Quiring said Friday he isn't certain
how often his officers employ knock-and-talks. But they should never
threaten to obtain a search warrant if they aren't allowed in the
home, he said.

"If they had enough for a search warrant, I'd assume they would have
already gotten one," Quiring said.

Although his department has no policy covering knock-and-talks, proper
procedure dictates that officers walk away if they are refused
permission to enter, he said.

But one Sioux Falls' teen-ager said police never followed those rules
when they entered his home.

Justin Kirschman, 19, 211 W. 14th St. No. 2, said police cajoled and
berated him to let them enter, then threatened to return with a search
warrant and a drug dog when he wouldn't let them in his first-floor
apartment.

Kirschman said he had just stepped out of the shower about 10:30 p.m.
Monday when he heard a knock on the back door of his apartment.

Opening the door, he saw men in plain clothes who showed him their
badges. They immediately wanted in, telling him, "If we come in, the
neighbors won't hear what we're gonna talk about," Kirschman said.

He refused.

They told him a friend's mother had found the butt of a marijuana
cigarette in her ashtray, which she said was Kirschman's.

"If you don't let us in, we're gonna get a search warrant," Kirschman
said the detectives told him.

Kirschman still refused.

When one threatened to get a drug dog, Kirschman got scared.
Kirschman's father, Gary, said Friday that his son is extremely
allergic to dogs.

Kirschman said detectives continued to press him to let them enter,
saying: "If you don't let us in, that means you're doing drugs."

Finally, after they asked the fifth or sixth time, he
relented.

"They were pressuring me and wouldn't stop asking me," he
said.

Once inside, Kirschman said the detectives immediately went to a spot
in his apartment where they found two pipes. They didn't search the
rest of the apartment.

Officers took Kirschman to the police station and charged him with
possessing drug paraphernalia.

Because the pipes contained what police said was marijuana residue,
Kirschman also was charged with misdemeanor marijuana possession.

Kirschman remained in the county jail on the charges until Thursday,
when his father posted $750 bond.

Minnehaha County Chief Public Defender Jeff Larson said
knock-and-talks occur in Sioux Falls, but they aren't used as
frequently as in other cities.

Spokesmen for police departments in other cities say they have strict
guidelines for using knock-and-talks.

Officer Guillermo Campos of the Los Angeles Police Department said
Friday that officers don't persist if a citizen refuses them access.

"Then you just walk away,"he said.

Doug Lake, the director of the South Dakota Division of Criminal
Investigation, said once somebody refuses to let in his DCI agents,
they leave and obtain a search warrant, if they can. They don't persist.

Citizens should never allow police to search their home unless
officers have a warrant, the ACLU recommends.

"If they threaten to get a search warrant, people should tell them to
go get one," Ring said, "Then, they should call a lawyer."

Mike Hanson, who has been a defense lawyer in Sioux Falls for 20
years, also disapproves of the tactic.

"It's so much easier just to take out the Miranda card" and read them
their rights, he said. "Then you wouldn't see any problems with what I
call catch-and-release.

"As citizens, we shouldn't have to put up with that."