Security Firm's Use Of Handcuffs, Searches For Drugs Raise Questions

Apartment Resident Says That With Company, 'I Have No Rights'

A well-known security company that monitors dozens of Milwaukee apartment
buildings has been handcuffing people, subjecting them to personal searches
and scouring their homes for drugs -- all without search powers and law
enforcement status.

Authorities say the tactics used by Lucas Security raise serious questions
about whether the company has been overstepping legal boundaries designed
to protect people from false imprisonment and unlawful searches.

"(Security guards) don't have any authority above and beyond a regular
citizen as far as depriving someone of their liberty, confining them or
searching them," said Robert Ganch, staff attorney at the state Department
of Regulation and Licensing, without referring specifically to the security
company.

"A citizen does have the right to arrest another person, but that appears,
according to case law, to be only in situations where a felony has been
committed in their presence, or a misdemeanor which is a breach of the peace."

Richard Lucas, president of Lucas Security, said he handcuffs people while
confronting them with allegations of using drugs or selling drugs from
their apartments for his own safety.

"Some say it's illegal to do it. Some say it is legal," Lucas said. "We've
never had any problems with it."

Lucas Security, one of the largest security firms in Milwaukee, has about
50 employees and contracts to provide security for about 100 apartment
buildings throughout the city. Some of the buildings are low-income housing
or housing for people with disabilities. The company also has contracts
with the state crime lab and the State Office Building.

During a recent patrol in the presence of a reporter, Lucas and two armed
security guards handcuffed a half-dozen people while checking out
complaints that they were using or selling drugs. The trio also searched
the people and looked through one of their apartments.

"I'm gonna 'cuff you every day," Lucas told a 51-year-old resident
identified as Spence.

"I don't understand," Spence said in an interview after the incident.
"Police won't put handcuffs on me. But with Lucas, I have no rights."

Spence said Lucas has handcuffed him and searched his apartment without his
consent on several occasions. Asked whether he reported Lucas to
authorities, Spence laughed and said, "Who the heck can I tell?"

Lt. Earnell Lucas, a public information officer for the Milwaukee Police
Department, said people who think they have been handcuffed illegally
should call the police.

"Under Wisconsin law, it is a crime for anyone to intentionally confine or
restrain another person with knowledge that he or she has no lawful
authority to do so," said Lucas (no relation to Richard Lucas), without
referring specifically to the security company.

Ganch said "confining" someone includes placing a person in handcuffs.

John Temby, administrator of the Regulation and Licensing Department's
Division of Enforcement, which investigates wrongdoings by security guards
and private detectives, said the state has no record of complaints against
Lucas Security.

"We wouldn't know about it unless someone made a complaint," Temby said.

Temby said people should call the state Department of Regulation and
Licensing if they think they have been illegally handcuffed. The department
is responsible for licensing security guards and private detectives.

On the evening in which Spence was handcuffed, three other visitors inside
his apartment in the 800 block of N. 35th St. also were handcuffed.

Spence had opened his door after one of Lucas' employees knocked on it and
pretended to be "Peaches," a known area prostitute. "You know the
procedure," Lucas then announced to the group.

Lucas and his security guards searched the men and the apartment. They
found two crack pipes and some steel wool -- used to smoke crack cocaine
through the pipes -- prompting Lucas to call police. They arrived in
minutes but did not make any arrests.

Later the same day, Lucas and his security guards showed up at the
apartment of Betty Vance, 35, in the 2600 block of W. Juneau Ave.

Vance let Lucas and his employees enter her apartment after Lucas, who was
suspicious of drug traffic in her apartment, asked to talk with her and her
live-in companion.

While they talked, the apartment buzzer went off, announcing that someone
wanted to come up. Lucas took it upon himself to buzz back, allowing the
visitor in.

When the visitor arrived at the apartment, Lucas opened the door, and a man
was standing there holding a $10 bill in his hand. Lucas ushered him in,
ordered him up against the wall and handcuffed him. He also handcuffed
Vance's companion.

"People just happen to buy drugs with $10 bills," Lucas told the visitor as
he instructed one of his employees to call police.

The man with the $10 bill said he was just returning the money Vance's
companion had given him to buy $40 worth of food stamps on the street.

When police arrived and asked Lucas why he summoned them, Lucas told them
he had "squashed it," as if he had taken care of the situation and the
police were no longer needed.

Vance refused to allow Lucas' security guards to search her apartment
because they had no search warrant. And she said after the incident that
she thought the guards -- who were wearing uniforms that bear a striking
resemblance to Milwaukee police uniforms -- were real police officers.

"It was just totally wrong," Vance said after the incident. "They had no
reason to handcuff him," she added, referring to her companion.

Although the owner of the building where Vance resides could not be
reached, maintenance manager John Washington said he has seen Lucas
handcuff and search people on several occasions.

"If you're not thinking fast, he'll have you up against the wall in a
minute," Washington said.

Washington said Lucas and his security guards even looked around his
apartment for drugs once after he called them to check out something else.

"He comes looking for trouble," Washington said of Lucas. "Sometimes, it's
nice to see him come. Sometimes, it ain't."