REPORT ALLEGES RACIAL DISPARITIES IN SEATTLE DRUG ARRESTS

Drug dealers arrested by Seattle police are most often black, even
though whites dominate the drug-dealing trade and constitute the
majority of users, according to a report being released today.

The 78-page report was written by Katherine Beckett, an associate
professor of sociology at the University of Washington, as part of
pending litigation against Seattle police.

The report, as well as the civil lawsuit, contends police drug-
enforcement tactics target racial minorities, who the report says
represent a relatively small percent of those selling drugs in Seattle.

The Police Department maintains its practices are not influenced by
race or ethnicity.

Beckett analyzed Seattle police data between January 1999 and April
2001 to determine the race of those arrested for selling heroin,
cocaine, methamphetamine and Ecstasy: 63 percent were black, 19 percent
white and 14 percent Hispanic. Asians, Native Americans and 17 arrests
in which race or ethnicity wasn't recorded accounted for the remainder.

Beckett then used various factors to estimate the race of drug
dealers. She looked at the racial breakdown of drug users; made
observations at two outdoor drug markets downtown and on Capitol Hill;
and used data from a Seattle Needle Exchange survey and research that
shows users usually buy drugs from people of their own race.

Her conclusion: A majority of dealers are white.

The racial breakdown of drug dealers, Beckett acknowledges, is not
based on hard data. But it is statistically reliable, akin to how
other types of illegal behavior -- illegal immigration, for example --
are determined using related data, she said.

"When you're trying to estimate something that's illicit, it's
challenging," Beckett said. "But those challenges aren't
insurmountable."

Intravenous drug users were surveyed over two weeks in April 2002 at
five needle-exchange sites in Seattle. Respondents were asked their
race, the drug used in the needle they were exchanging, whether they
had gotten the drug in Seattle and the race of the dealer.

Survey results showed one-half of the dealers were white and 14
percent were black.

Beckett then used arrest figures to measure the probability that
someone white versus someone black would be arrested.

"Black heroin deliverers are more than 22 times more likely than white
heroin deliverers to be arrested," the report says. "Black
methamphetamine deliverers are over 31 times more likely than white
methamphetamine deliverers to be arrested."

Stephen Larson, a Seattle attorney representing the police, said he
hadn't seen the full report but suggested the methodology and
conclusion relied on "an extrapolation."

Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske issued a brief written statement, saying
his department had received the report and that the drug arrests had
been made based on probable cause that a crime had occurred.

"I am personally dedicated to ensuring that drug dealers are lawfully
arrested and held accountable in the courts," he said. "This agency
has a well-deserved reputation for professionalism and responsiveness
to the community."

A department spokeswoman added that "race was not the determining
factor" in the arrests.

The study arrives at a time when just about every facet of law
enforcement continues to be scrutinized for racial disparity and
racial bias. Looking at data through the prism of race is the only
way, some people say, to ensure the criminal-justice system is
operating equitably.

In 2000, the Washington state Minority and Justice Commission,
prompted by a dramatic rise in the number of racial and ethnic
minorities serving prison sentences for drug offenses, looked at how
drug cases are processed through the system.

A commission study found no racial bias. But it noted that offenders
arrested in undercover buys were more likely than other offenders to
be convicted of the most serious drug charges. It recommended further
analysis.

In an April 2001 study, researchers at Harvard University looked at
whether the drug-arrest rate for minorities in Seattle was linked to
drug-enforcement tactics. The study was made at the request of the
Racial Disparity Project, an undertaking of the Seattle/King County
Public Defender Association.

The Harvard study used Seattle police-precinct data to determine the
race of those arrested for drug offenses. It then looked at who was
being convicted for heroin and marijuana offenses. It analyzed rates
of drug use and abuse among various racial groups based on a state
Department of Social and Health Services study.

It noted which areas of the city generated the most citizen complaints
to police about drug activity: the West Seattle, Duwamish and Rainier
Valley areas. And it relied on additional drug studies as well as more
than 30 interviews with treatment providers, judges, prosecutors and
Seattle police officers to paint a portrait of the local drug scene.

Researchers concluded that police focused on downtown street sales,
which disproportionately involve racial minorities and didn't reflect
the entire drug market -- drug sales on Capitol Hill, for example, or
those occurring inside homes and restaurants.

They suggested the department revamp its narcotics-enforcement
strategy, including paying more attention to those purchasing the drugs.

Seattle police drug-enforcement tactics have since wound up in court.
And so will Beckett's report, which is a first-of-its kind analysis of
department arrest data by race, by drug, census tract and police tactic.

The Racial Disparity Project, which commissioned the report, has
alleged police drug enforcement targets racial minorities while
allowing white dealers to remain a "phantom population" with "defacto
immunity from the criminal justice system."

In litigation filed in April 2001, Racial Disparity Project attorneys
pointed to the arrests of 19 people, all black or Latino, who were
seized as part of individual undercover buys at three locations
downtown. Each was arrested for selling cocaine or heroin.

Eighteen criminal cases were consolidated into one by King County
Superior Court Judge Richard Jones. One-half of the defendants have
since dropped out of the suit, having resolved their cases, but nine
defendants remain and have asked the court to dismiss their drug charges.

The police data that Beckett analyzed were secured as part of the
discovery process in that suit. Both the police department and the
King County Prosecutor's Office had argued the data and portions of
the report should not be released to the public. Judge Jones denied
their motions last month.

The drug-enforcement case is expected to go to trial early next year.
In the meantime, there is no disagreement over the location of the
illegal drug market. Both sides say known "hot spots" extend beyond
Second and Pike, what many still call "Penney's Corner" because a J.C.
Penney store once stood there.

Twenty bucks these days, say those in the know, might get you a bag of
meth or a rock of coke at Broadway and John, 50th and University, 23rd
and Madison, Third and Bell, Pioneer Square and parts of the Chinatown
International District.