CUSTOMS TIGHTENS RULES ON HOLDING DRUG SUSPECTS

The Customs Service, amid allegations of abusive drug searches, said Monday
it will seek legal advice from U.S. attorneys whenever it wants to hold an
airline passenger for more than eight hours.

The new policy marks the latest effort by Customs Commissioner Raymond
Kelly to change how the agency checks passengers for drugs. It revises a
proposal for setting up an outside review process that Kelly announced in
August. "While we are committed to making the customs clearance experience
as expeditious and as pleasant as possible for the traveling public, we are
continuing our strong enforcement posture to protect the citizens of this
country against contraband of all types,'' Kelly said.

The searches are intended to catch smugglers who hide cocaine or heroin
inside their clothes or who swallow drug packets. The searches usually
begin with a pat-down and, with reasonable suspicion, can proceed to a
partial or full strip search, an X-ray or a monitored bowel movement.

In general, customs officials can detain passengers for long periods of
time without court approval.

Under the change effective Monday, U.S. attorneys "will become involved in
reviewing passenger detentions at any point in the process, but no later
than eight hours from when the search began,'' the Customs Service said in
a release announcing the change.

This is how the service described the new procedure:

If the U.S. attorney does not believe "reasonable suspicion'' exists to
continue holding a passenger, then the person will be released. In a case
with "probable cause'' that a crime has been committed, however, the U.S.
attorney can seek an arrest warrant from a magistrate. And where probable
cause doesn't exist, but there is reasonable suspicion to continue the
search, "Customs will decide how best to proceed with the search.''

Under the plan announced in August, the service proposed seeking approval
from a federal magistrate any time it wanted to hold an airline passenger
for more than four hours. Customs would have had to convince a federal
magistrate that it had "reasonable suspicion'' for continuing to keep the
passenger in custody.

At the time, the American Civil Liberties Union expressed misgivings that
the reasonable suspicion standard was too easy for law enforcement to
satisfy. It preferred the tougher "probable cause'' standard. A message was
left for the ACLU to comment on the latest change.

A law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the
Justice Department had some concerns with custom's earlier proposal. The
new policy reflects negotiations between the two law enforcement agencies,
the official said.

Kelly, who took over the Customs Service last year, has acted repeatedly to
respond to the criticism over its searches.

Customs is facing numerous lawsuits from people alleging they were singled
out for body searches because of their race or sex. The allegations first
were reported by The Associated Press in December. In May, the service
changed its policy so a person detained for at least two hours could make a
telephone call. The agency also has clarified criteria for conducting
searches, is retraining officers, has tightened the approval process for
personal searches and pledged to help passengers whose travel plans were
disrupted if they were detained but found not to have smuggled drugs

An independent panel has been looking at complaints of racial bias by
customs inspectors involving personal searches and is expected to report
its findings before the end of the year.