CITY LOITERING RULE WILL BE MISSED AS ANTI-DRUG TOOL

Police officials say the expiration of the city's loitering ordinance will
hamper efforts to control the outdoor drug dealing that often leads to
violence and gunfire.

City Council members intend to introduce another version of the law in April.

"We're certainly going to miss that as a tool," said South Police District
Capt. Randy Gaber. "We'll probably see people try to set up their
operations when the weather starts changing and it's imperative we use
every tool at our disposal."

Gaber has reason to lament the passing of the law - 83 percent of the
citations last year were issued in his district.

The ordinance has had a rocky four-year run, with critics saying the law
unfairly targets blacks, who received 80 percent of last year's citations.
Police Chief Richard Williams, who is black, has argued that the racial
disparity exists because open-air drug dealing in the city's most
challenged neighborhoods is primarily conducted by blacks.

The ordinance, enacted in 1997, makes it illegal to loiter for the purpose
of illegal drug activity, allowing police to issue citations on the basis
of behavior that appears to stem from drug dealing, even if no drugs are found.

The City Council had originally passed the law with a sunset provision,
then renewed it in 2000. Last month the council voted to make the law
permanent, but Mayor Sue Bauman vetoed the move, saying the law has been
divisive and has not effectively curtailed illegal drug activity.

Council members say they expect to re-introduce the law in April with
another sunset provision that directs the Police Department to come up with
an alternative strategy while it is in place.

Bauman has said she would approve an ordinance with those conditions.

Some residents suggested that measures such as speed bumps to discourage
nonresidential traffic and convincing landlords to improve lighting in
parking lots where drug sales take place would be more effective than the
ordinance.

Jackson Tiffany, an Allied-Dunn's Marsh Neighborhood Center board member,
said the loitering law has become a mechanism for some officers to harass
people unconnected with drugs or any other illegal activity.

Just a few weeks ago, he said, he spoke with a woman who said she was
stopped and questioned while she was on the way to the grocery store.

"We understood that the enforcement was supposed to be done by people with
specific training, used only by police who had prior documented knowledge
of drug use," he said.

Council President Gary Poulson, who with Ald. Dorothy Borchardt
co-sponsored the original law, said he was concerned about reports of misuse.

But he said he would support resurrecting the law with stepped-up oversight
of its use by police.

"We have to be absolutely clear with what we want back from them," he said.
"I guess I would prefer to see it come back with a longer sunset period,
and during that time somehow do some thinking about alternatives to dealing
with outdoor drug dealing."

According to Allied neighborhood officer Carren Corcoran, neighborhood
officers and Dane County Narcotics and Gang Task Force members have been
trained and authorized to issue loitering citations. According to police
statistics, only one citation was handed out by a patrol officer last year.

Corcoran, who issued two loitering citations last year, said the law gives
officers a way to address behavior that is indicative of illegal drug
activity. The law, she said, allows officers to contact people who are
acting in a suspicious manner. If a suspect can explain their behavior, no
ticket is issued.

"Losing the loitering law is certainly going to make my life more
difficult," she said.

Corcoran disputes reports that officers use the law to harass residents,
saying that officers use the law judiciously.

"I think it's totally invalid," she said of claims of misuse.