CUSTOMS SERVICE LOOKS INTO BIAS COMPLAINTS

Faced with a growing chorus of racial-bias complaints, the U.S.Customs
Service created an independent panel Thursday to review the policies
and procedures used by inspectors looking for airline passengers who
might be smuggling drugs.

Customs Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly pledged that the commission,
composed of officials from other government agencies and headed by
Smithsonian Institution Undersecretary Constance Newman, will have
"unfettered access" to the agency's records and personnel during its
three-month investigation.

The Customs Service is facing numerous lawsuits over body searches,
including an effort by almost 100 black women to file a class-action
suit in Chicago alleging they were singled out because of their race
and gender.

Kelly insisted that racial profiling - selecting passengers for search
based on their race - is not Customs policy, but, "We want to see if
in fact, maybe it's developed into a practice that we want to stop."