BUYERS FEEL 'STING' OF CRACKDOWN

APD Undercover Operation Results in Eight Drug-Possession Arrests

A man dressed in black with old English letters on his shirt waves a
white towel to oncoming traffic, whistles at them and asks "What do
you need?" He is a crack dealer with rocks in his pocket looking for
a customer - and he's a cop.

In an effort to suppress Austin's crack cocaine market, the Austin
Police Department made eight drug possession arrests Thursday night
during a sting operation in the Georgian neighborhood of North Austin.

APD's tactical units conduct drug sting operations, which encompass
weekly buy operations that target dealers, and reversal operations
that target buyers two to three times a year.

"It gains control back of the neighborhood that essentially is under
siege," said APD Sgt. Eric De Los Santos. "The goal of this is to
make sure or try to recapture that neighborhood from [crack users and
dealers] and spread them out so these families and this neighborhood
can have some normal semblance of life."

De Los Santos supervised the operation that was run by approximately
50 officers in surveillance, processing and undercover roles.

He said that on Wednesday officers observed about 40 dealers on the street.

Officers began the operation around 7 p.m. Thursday night by first
clearing the street of any persons who might have potentially
interfered, including other drug dealers.

Undercover officers were appropriated into two groups: one stood at
the opening of the street, flagged potential customers and directed
them to an officer of the second group selling crack cocaine.

A hidden camera coupled with several microphones recorded the deals.
Once the transaction finished and the customer had the crack in his
possession, officers leapt out and arrested the individual for
possession of a controlled substance.

In less than five minutes, officers cleared the area and prepared for
the next customer.

Norrell said the audio and video of the transaction provides adequate
evidence for prosecutors to prove that a person willingly purchased
and possessed crack.

During the operation, two men in a white Buick offered crack to
undercover officers. Two minutes later, uniformed officers within the
operation stopped the vehicle a block away. The driver was found in
possession of crack and arrested. Although the passenger did not have
any drugs on his person, he, too, was arrested for attempting to sell.

Police made a total of 16 arrests Thursday night, encompassing
paraphernalia possession, interference charges, outstanding warrants
and evasion attempts.

"Whether we make lots of arrests or few arrests, when the citizens
see police presence out there, they are more intent to call the
police and report crimes," said Senior Police Officer Lawrence Davis,
who is APD's district representative for the Georgian neighborhood.
"They know we are actually backing them up and listening to them."

But some groups believe APD's reversal operations may be a form of
entrapment and that criminal records simply add another burden to
individuals with drug dependency problems.

"Reducing recidivism should be a priority," said Matt Simpson, ACLU
Texas policy strategist. "Crack is more often a symptom of larger
problems, and just punishing someone for possessing a [personal-use]
amount is obviously not going to address those underlying problems."

Jerry Epstein, Drug Policy Forum of Texas president, said drug sting
operations are a bad use of limited APD resources that produces
questionable results.

"Are we doing this effectively, or are we, in fact, creating more
problems than solving when we pick up users and create an atmosphere
that, if they don't have a problem, we are creating one?" Epstein
said. "If they do have a problem, we need to make treatment available
non-coercively."

If the person charged with a drug offense is simply a user and does
not have a history of violence but shows sign of drug dependency,
they may be eligible to be processed through the Travis County Drug
Diversion Court.

Corinne Hernandez, a social service program coordinator at the court,
said the court provides a program that is geared to help users lose
their dependency. If users succeed without any violations, their
cases may be dismissed.

The court receives five to 11 referrals a week that must be screened
for eligibility for the program. Hernandez said only 51 percent of
people in the program complete it successfully and that whether or
not individuals are entrapped by APD with sting operations is not her
program's concern.

"If [users] have an addiction at all, and they are so fed up that
they are going to be taken in by an undercover cop, then maybe there
is a problem there," Hernandez said. "I am here to help them address
that problem, fix that problem and help them move on with their lives."

Austin City Councilman Bill Spelman said the operations are not a
form of entrapment and the council's major concern is the
effectiveness of police action and the rehabilitation of users.

"It's something that needs to be dealt with, but the sky isn't
falling," Spelman said. "It's within manageable levels, and the kind
of thing the police officers were doing [Thursday] night is an
important part of keeping it in manageable levels - not letting it
get out of hand."