>From: [j paff 1] at [genie.geis.com]
>Date: Fri, 17 Sep 93 01:56:00 BST
>To: [l--er--t] at [Dartmouth.EDU]
>Subject: Dog Sniffs: Write to Editor

Dear Libernet subscribers:
 
Keep your eyes open for local newspaper articles that report on
 cash being confiscated because a police dog sniff revealed trace
 amounts of narcotics on the currency.
 
If you locate such an article, consider writing a letter to the
 editor similar to the one that follows.
 
If you have any questions, or would like more information on our
 organization, message me at [j paff 1] at [genie.geis.com] or write to us
 at P.O. Box 5424, Somerset, NJ  08875-5424.
 
Thank you.
 
John Paff
 Forfeiture Endangers American Rights (F.E.A.R.)
 
       ***************************************************
 
To the editor:
 
According to a front page article by John Barna in July 14th's
 Today's Sunbeam, Salem County Prosecutor Ronald Epstein has filed
 a forfeiture complaint against $1.9 million in cash found in a 1992
 Ford pickup truck pulled over on the turnpike for speeding.
 
Evidently, the police seized the cash when "Buddy," a state police
 narcotics dog, "reacted positively to the currency, indicating the
 presence of narcotics," on the money.  The apparent inference is
 that the presence of trace amounts of narcotics on currency proves
 that the cash is the fruit of drug trafficking.
 
The government's use of dog sniffs to support the seizure of
 currency was sharply criticized by the Federal District Court of
 the Middle District of Tennessee in an April 21, 1993 decision
 (Jones v. U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration 819 F.Supp 698, 719-
 721, (M.D. Tenn 1993)).  According to the court's analysis, the
 belts used by the Federal Reserve Banks to sort currency spread
 microscopic amounts of cocaine from one bill to another, and that
 a dog's sense of smell is so acute that even one billionth of a
 gram of cocaine on a bill is enough to cause a police dog to react.
 
After citing several academic studies showing that between 33% and
 97% of all currency in circulation has enough cocaine on it to
 trigger a dog alert, the court concluded that
 
     "[T]he continued reliance of courts and law enforcement
     officers on dog sniffs to separate 'legitimate' currency from
     'drug-connected' currency is logically indefensible."
 
Given this information, I find it distressing that Prosecutor
 Epstein, in a forfeiture complaint filed nearly three months after
 the Jones decision was made public, is still relying on these
 discredited dog sniffs to support his cash seizures.
 
Hopefully, the Prosecutor will immediately discontinue basing cash
 forfeitures on dog sniffs.  For him to do otherwise would make it
 crystal clear that he is more interested in pursuing cash than
 justice.

---- end forwarded article ----
 
rgds-- TA  ([m 1 tca 00] at [frb.gov])
[implied disclaimer]

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