SCANNERS TO TARGET AIRPORT SMUGGLING

WASHINGTON--U.S. Customs Service agents at O'Hare and five other
international airports will soon be using low-level X-ray machines to
scan the bodies of suspected drug smugglers arriving here, officials
said Thursday.

Customs Service Commissioner Raymond Kelly made the announcement as he
introduced the members of an independent Personal Search Review
Commission who are to determine whether racial bias plays a role in
determining who is searched.

Complaints about race-based strip searches surfaced last year at
O'Hare and more recently at Atlanta's Hartsfield International Airport.

"If bias exists, whether perceived or real, it is paramount that we
find the cause and eliminate it," Kelly said.

In a new pamphlet to be handed out at O'Hare and other airports, the
service says, "Since all cases of smuggling vary, there is no
`profile' of a smuggler."

Body-scanning machines, which can detect objects under clothes,
already are in use at Kennedy Airport in New York and in Miami.

Chicago will get a body-scanning device in May; the devices also will
be installed at airports in Atlanta, Los Angeles, San Francisco and
Dulles in Virginia.

A passenger to be searched will have a choice of whether to go through
the scanner or be subjected to a frisk or a pat-down.

Last year, Senators Dick Durbin and Carol Moseley-Braun (both D-Ill.)
called for a customs service review after at least 50 innocent black
women were subjected to a search and after an expose by WMAQ-Channel
5.

Durbin said, "Over the past year I have heard horror stories from
African-American women nationwide who believe they were unfairly
targeted for strip searches based on their race. It is time the U.S.
Customs service stops the discriminatory practices of their agents and
restores the confidence and trust of the American public. This
commission is a good start."

Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) asked for an investigation into discrimination
after an Atlanta television station last month found blacks were more
likely to be detained than whites.