SEARCHING BIG RIGS COULD TURN UP DRUGS

Ever get the feeling that someone is pulling a fast one on
you?

That's how I felt on a recent night when I rode with some of the
Orange County deputy sheriffs who patrol Florida's Turnpike, searching
for drug traffickers.

I don't think those deputies meant to trick me. They seemed very
diligent as they went about their job, stopping cars for violations --
such as speeding -- and searching some of them for drugs. The deputies
came up with a blunt (cigar stuffed with marijuana) here and a $10 bag
of marijuana there.

But while I watched the deputies, I couldn't help wondering about the
tractor-trailer rigs blowing past us.

No doubt the overwhelming majority of those truckers never would
consider transporting illegal drugs. But I had an uneasy feeling that
among those truckers, a few outlaws passed us and had a good laugh,
because police seldom search the big rigs.

And that could pose a big problem because, according to a letter sent
to me recently, ``America's drugs move by truck.''

The writer didn't sign the letter, but based on some of the
information he included, I can assume that it was written by an
insider -- either a trucker or a cop. Local, state and federal
officials said they suspect that big rigs carry a major portion of the
cargo destined for drug traffickers.

Yet drug-trafficking truckers get -- for the most part -- a free
ride.

Or, quoting from the letter sent to me: ``Contrary to popular belief,
black people do not move the big drugs -- it's true that many blacks
deal small amounts to make ends meet, which makes them easy to catch
- -- but the big drugs are moved initially by South Americans, then by
whitey sitting up there in his cab. He's from Maine, or Pennsylvania,
or wherever and he's getting about 20 grand for moving about a half
ton, and his chances of getting caught are slim.''

A federal transportation official who would be interviewed for this
column only if he were not identified confirmed some of the details
contained in the letter. He also acknowledged that efforts to stop
trucking drug traffickers barely scratch the surface.

Statistics provided by the federal Department of Transportation show
that local, state and federal officials seized 300,000 pounds of
marijuana, 6,000 pounds of cocaine and $22 million in drug money from
truckers since 1989. The DOT official said that amount represents only
a fraction of the drugs his agency and other law-enforcement officials
believe is shipped by trucks.

Trucks coming across the border from Mexico into Arizona and Texas
actually seem to receive more scrutiny than do the rigs on U.S.
highways. The federal Customs Service has built huge X-ray machines
that can scan many of the trucks crossing the border. In addition, the
federal DOT has a program to teach state and local police techniques
how to crack down on trucking traffickers.

The state Department of Transportation, which has officers dedicated
to monitoring truckers, doesn't focus on drug interdiction. It has
given only a portion of its 250-officer force thorough training in
drug-detection techniques. Officers spend most of their time enforcing
safety and weight regulations that govern truckers. DOT doesn't even
have its own drug-detection dogs at weigh stations, where truckers
must stop -- an obvious opportunity to sniff out drug haulers.

Despite those shortcomings, state DOT officers have made some busts,
but imagine how effective those efforts could be if the issue received
more attention.

Officials offer this explanation: Searching trucks takes lots of time.

Unloading 30,000 pounds of cargo for a search is a hassle. If you stop
and search a rig and don't find any drugs, you're bound to get angry
calls from lawyers representing trucking companies and businesses
whose shipments the searches delay.

Common sense dictates that major drug traffickers know that many
police agencies don't like to search trucks for drugs. That makes
trucking an attractive way to move drugs across the country.

It seems that if the government really wants to stop drugs, officials
would agree to take the heat.

Concentrating so much effort on stopping cars is easy but not very
effective. It's difficult to believe that all the users in New York
City get their drugs from a couple of guys carrying a pound at a time
in a Pontiac.

One tractor-trailer rig can carry tens of thousands of pounds of
drugs. Think of all the misery that law enforcement could prevent if
it invested more energy in stopping drug-trafficking truckers.

Checked-by: (trikydik)