Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 6, 1990 TAG: 9006060241
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: By LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Even though the temperature was almost 70, she wore a loose-fitting, multicolored jacket that was zipped up all the way to her chin.
She seemed conspicuously young to be traveling alone, and no one was waiting at the airport to greet her as she walked hurriedly down the concourse.
Not far away, three undercover police officers were carefully watching each passenger who stepped off USAir flight 1412 from LaGuardia Airport in New York.
The young girl fit a description they were looking for - a drug-courier profile that police are now using to stop potential cocaine smugglers for questioning.
After police approached the girl and questioned her briefly, she agreed to be searched. In an airport restroom, police found 12 ounces of crack cocaine stuffed in her panty hose.
A judge in Roanoke Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court ruled Tuesday that the girl, a Bronx teen-ager facing her first arrest, should be tried as an adult on a charge of possession of cocaine with intent to distribute.
The crack taken from the girl had a street value of about $90,000. At the time, it was the largest amount seized by Roanoke police.
To make that arrest and others like it in recent weeks at the airport, Roanoke police have employed a new weapon in their fight against drugs - a type of surveillance that targets suspects who meet certain descriptions and act in certain ways.
The practice, which has created controversy and court challenges since it was initiated about 10 years ago, is often referred to as a drug-courier profile.
But as Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Jeff Rudd pointed out, police use more than just someone's appearance to justify approaching him or her for questioning.
Under the profile method, police can approach someone who looks or acts suspicious. However, they cannot arrest or detain the person based solely on their appearance. But police are allowed to question the suspect - a procedure that often leads to an arrest eventually being made.
Several Supreme Court decisions have upheld the use of profiles to temporarily delay suspects for questioning, Rudd said.
"There's nothing unconstitutional about a police officer coming up to you and having a conversation in a public place," he said.
If a suspect's responses give police a reasonable basis to believe that the person is carrying drugs, they are entitled to temporarily detain the suspect for questioning and further investigation.
An underlying principle in Supreme Court decisions upholding the profiles has been to strike a balance between society's interest in eliminating drug trafficking and the suspect's constitutional rights against unlawful search and seizure.
The courts have ruled that "a temporary delay is justified, under certain circumstances, to dispel the suspicion of whether drugs are being carried," Rudd said.
In many cases, suspects who meet the profile are questioned and then allowed to go if police are unable to obtain enough evidence.
"There is no litmus test for determining when a basic stop turns into an arrest," Rudd said. "It's got to be decided based on the facts and circumstances of each case."
Rudd and Roanoke police declined to elaborate on what specific characteristics are used to profile suspects at the city airport.
But in the arrest of the 15-year-old, police had observed at least nine factors that led them to suspect the girl was carrying drugs before she consented to a search.
The girl was flying in from New York, a known source of crack for Roanoke. She had a one-way ticket that had been purchased that day with cash - all factors that made police suspicious, vice officer K.L. Wood testified Tuesday.
But in asking that the evidence against the girl be struck, Assistant Public Defender Roberta Bondurant argued that police did not have sufficient reason to approach the girl.
Judge J. English Ford denied the motion and ruled there was probable cause to support the charges. The girl is not being identified because Bondurant plans to appeal the decision to have her tried as an adult in Circuit Court.
Citing the girl's potential for rehabilitation and her lack of a prior record, Bondurant argued that there was no reason to transfer the case to Circuit Court.
Although the girl faces a maximum punishment of 40 years in prison, a Circuit Court judge could also choose to sentence her as a juvenile and impose an indeterminate sentence in a juvenile detention home.
The girl's mother testified Tuesday that while her daughter has had problems recently, she is a compassionate person who has done volunteer work for her church, participated in a Harlem dance troupe and is especially good at working with children.
"All the little children cling to her," the mother testified.
Bondurant said her client was nothing more than a "mule," or a courier who is paid by drug dealers to transport crack. Dealers often tell vulnerable youth that if they are caught with drugs, they will not be seriously punished because of their age.
Bondurant attributed the crime to "the lure of money that was placed under the nose of a 15-year-old." She suggested that police should be more concerned with catching the major dealers who employ the mules.
But in asking that the case be sent to Circuit Court because of its seriousness, Rudd argued that anything less would "undercut the interest of society."
"The consequences of bringing $90,000 worth of crack into Roanoke cannot be overemphasized," he said. "I cannot begin to describe the impact that amount of cocaine can have on the Roanoke Valley."
In deciding that the 15-year-old should face adult punishment, Ford said he was most concerned about the mother's testimony that the girl had a way with young children.
"What do you think of the children mixing with this?" Ford asked the mother as he held up two plastic bags of crack seized from the 15-year-old.
"Children flock to her," he said, "and here she is delivering this poison to the area."
by CNB