ZONED OUT

You've just scored a quarter ounce of Hydro from the bedroom garden of
your local pusher. Cruising across south Tampa, you puff on a joint --
got to try out the goods.

Dang. In the rear view mirror, a revolving blue light says trouble has
found you. Should have gotten the vehicle registered yesterday instead
of hitting the beach. The stench of pot wafts out to greet the officer
when you roll down the window.

And that is how you wind up with a probation officer and a list of
do's and don'ts that will guide your life on probation. Can't go
anywhere where alcohol is served. No more nights at Club 1509. Can't
go where drugs are used or sold. To help you with that last stricture,
your probation officer hands you a list. It designates zones of the
county that are off limits to stoned toadies like yourself. Wait a
minute, here. Can't take my dog for a walk on the beach at Davis
Islands? No more hanging out on the green couch at the Atomic Age
Cafe? What about Sunday dinners with the progenitors at their Beach
Park pad? I already have tickets to Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da
Funk. Where am I supposed to get hormone-free milk if I can't shop at
Nature's Food Patch?

Well, you could be in jail.

The above scenario is a spoof, of course. But Hillsborough County law
enforcement agencies have for the first time delineated 47 areas of
the county off limits to the 2,200 county residents on probation for
drug offenses, mostly possession.

The authority to give people on probation maps is based upon a 1993
Supreme Court ruling that prohibits drug offenders from frequenting
defined dealing areas. The 47 areas -- 42 are within the city limits
- -- mark off zones where the police have recorded high drug activity.
Not to worry if you are an upper-middle class white hipster. You
probably won't be inconvenienced much. The Atomic Cafe, Davis Islands
and the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center aren't within the county's
crime zones. Predictably, the county's poor white, Latin and black
neighborhoods are.

All of College Hill, Robles Park, Ponce De Leon, and Riverview Terrace
housing projects are off limits. So are parts of Seminole Heights and
Tampa Heights, the Interbay area and Suitcase City near the University
of South Florida.

The problem is that within those boundaries, there are not just crack
houses or drug holes. There are also churches, beauty salons,
restaurants, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, whole
communities.

If your mother lives within a crime zone, that means no Sunday dinner
with Mom. No barbecue at Big John's Alabama Barbecue on 40th Street.
It's within crime zone area 12. Nor can you attend a church service at
the Brown Temple Church of God in Christ, 2317 27th Ave. E., near
College Hill. It's in crime zone area, too.

Well, you could be in jail.

When people are on probation, the state can completely deny their
right to go anywhere. That is why state officials assume they have the
right to release people from jail, but restrict where they can and
cannot go, said Mark Brown, professor of law at Stetson University.
Someone on probation is usually restricted from leaving the state, for
instance.

Still, the Hillsborough County maps skirt the boundaries of civil
rights protections guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. Although the
police say that they drew the lines based on the incidence of crime,
if the areas are mostly within black or Hispanic or mixed
neighborhoods, one could argue that there was race-based motivation in
drawing the lines, Brown said. That would violate the Equal Protection
Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

"They would argue they have a neutral basis for drawing the lines
based on high crime, but still the impact falls on the African
American community. Even though impact doesn't violate the Equal
Protection Clause, you are one step closer to doing that," he said.
"If every area is black or Hispanic, you can infer from that that race
or ethnicity is the true reason."

Restricting people from seeking work, worshipping at the church of
their choice or visiting family also steps on sacred constitutional
rights, Brown said.

While someone who lives or works in one of the areas can continue to
do so, a drug offender would not be allowed to seek work or to move
into a home in one of the areas, said Don Waldron, circuit
administrator for the Florida Department of Corrections.

Establishing conditions of probation that are so difficult to figure
out that people can't be sure whether or not they are in violation is
also a problem, Brown said. It has to be clear to people whether and
when they are breaking a law or violating their probation.

With 42 zones within the city limits, figuring out which areas are off
limits and which aren't is a chore. Community activist Connie Burton
spent three hours riding around the crime zones near the city's public
housing projects with the map and a Hillsborough County street finder
trying to figure out what areas the boundaries encompassed. That
involved frequent stops at the side of the road to scrutinize the
streets that make up the boundaries of the 47 areas.

While Brown didn't go so far as to say that the maps are one more way
to control the black community, it feels that way to Burton, who is
the resident council president of the public housing project Robles
Park Village.

"What it does is criminalize the entire community," Burton
says.

To Margaret Wilson, it's an insult to label the neighborhood she calls
home a crime zone.

"They don't sell or deal drugs off the back of my car. I don't see
them selling drugs on my corner. I don't see it," said the 54-year-old
Wilson, who moved into a house on Virginia Avenue across the street
from Robles Park three years ago. "I don't have any problems with
drugs or with anyone trying to break in."

Wilson said she feels safe in her home. To her, it sounded like the
maps were just another reason for police to stop youth in her
community and question them.

"Every child in Robles Park is not using or selling drugs," she
said.

At a press conference in mid-February, representatives from the
Florida Department of Corrections; the Plant City, Temple Terrace and
Tampa Police departments; the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office;
and the State Attorney's Office unveiled the maps.

The new restrictions will be in force for anyone placed on probation
after February 12. No one has yet been found in violation of probation
due to being in one of the restricted areas, said state corrections
administrator Waldron. If someone on probation for a drug offense were
found in one of the areas, the police officer at the scene would
notify the person's probation officer, who would notify the judge, and
a hearing would be held to determine if a probation violation occurred.

The notification process protects people on probation from getting
picked up off the street and thrown into jail, and gives them a chance
to explain what they were doing in the area, said Assistant State
Attorney Pam Bondi. Police officers won't be out on the street looking
for people who are visiting their child, she said; they will be
looking for someone who is standing on a corner in one of the areas
selling drugs, she said.

"That is where good law enforcement work is real important," Bondi
said.

Such power, though, leaves a lot of discretion to the law enforcement
officer.

"If the police have unbridled discretion in how to enforce this, that
is a problem all by itself," Brown said. "The police can't have
unbridled discretion in how to go about enforcing a law. The danger is
that the state might simply pass a law that makes everyone a criminal
and then leave it to the police to pick and choose. You don't want
them to do that. The police then have a blank check. You want the
state to be fairly specific about what is allowed and what is not."

Police say the maps will help them deal with a frustrating Catch 22 in
their war against drugs. Although officers make drug arrests, as soon
as the offenders can, they go right back to the area where they sold
or bought drugs, said Major Al Perotti Jr., of the Hillsborough County
Sheriff's Office.

"Most criminals want to do crime where they are comfortable, where
they know the lay of the land, where they know their clientele,"
Perotti said. "Hopefully, this will force them into doing something
legitimate rather than something criminal."

Some residents within the zones say they are glad drug offenders will
be kept out. "If they got a drug offense, they don't need to be here,
period," said Clareatha Johnson, resident council president for Ponce
De Leon Courts public housing project.