by Randall Chase, Associated Press
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) - The police radio crackles, and Sgt. Kyle Rogers steers the van through the narrow streets of the Hilltop neighborhood near downtown Wilmington.
As he rounds a corner, shouts of “Jump-out! Jump-out!” and “Five-Oh! Five-Oh!” ring out from the streets, alerting local drug dealers that police are coming.
“We’re famous now for ‘Five-Oh,”’ Cpl. Alfred “Izzy” Izquierdo says dryly, explaining the reference to the old “Hawaii 5-0" television series.
Izquierdo and other members of the police department’s Corner Deployment Unit, known as the “jump-out squad,” also are famous for something else - snapping photographs of suspects they stop, even those they don’t arrest.
City officials defend the practice as a legal and effective component of fighting drug dealing and street crime.
Critics say the jump-out squad - named for its practice of quickly pulling up to street corners and bursting out of vehicles to question and search suspects - is violating the constitutional rights of innocent people.
In an era when surveillance cameras are ubiquitous, courts have ruled that people can’t expect privacy in public places. Civil libertarians argue that police stopping and photographing people they don’t arrest is an entirely different matter.
“There’s no authority to forcibly photograph someone and enter them into a database when they have committed no crime,” said Barry Steinhardt, associate director of the American Civil Liberties Union. “I’m not aware of any other municipal police department that has engaged in this type of behavior.”
Wilmington Mayor James Baker describes such criticism as “blithering idiocy,” saying police take pains to protect the rights of law-abiding citizens while targeting people “who are killing our neighborhoods, who are killing our people.”
City officials deny that police are photographing individuals they believe are likely to commit crimes in the future. Some media reports have implied as much, drawing comparisons to “Minority Report,” a science fiction movie released this summer in which police identify criminals before they commit crimes.
“It’s not a Gestapo technique, it’s not anything other than a progressive means of policing an urban environment,” said police spokesman Cpl. Stephen Martelli.
Among other things, the photographs can serve as proof that a person arrested for loitering had received a previous warning. The photographs also are kept as “possible evidence for ongoing investigations” to remove drugs and guns from neighborhoods.
Police Chief Michael Szczerba said his department has taken photographs of suspects for years without hearing any complaints.
“We’re acting within the bounds of the law,” said Szczerba, adding that it was “highly improbable” that innocent people were being caught up in the stops.
As of Sept. 17, according to city officials, 658 people had been stopped and questioned since the jump-out squad’s “Operation Bold Eagle” began in June. Of those stopped, 546 were arrested, and 708 charges were filed.
Police believe the other 112 people are involved in criminal activity, even if officers didn’t find enough evidence on a particular day to arrest them. Records show that most are career felons who don’t live in the neighborhoods where they are stopped, officials said.
“Their criminal histories are not relevant to their rights to move freely about on the street,” responds Drewry Fennell, executive director of the ACLU’s Delaware chapter.
City officials met recently with representatives of the ACLU, NAACP and Urban League to hear their concerns about the jump-out squad, and another meeting is scheduled for Wednesday.
Fennell said the ACLU is considering a lawsuit but, so far, no one has come forward with a formal complaint.
Conversely, many residents of crime-ridden areas where business owners close early for fear of being robbed and children are afraid to play outside have welcomed the camera-toting police officers.
Leaders of several community groups rallied Tuesday in downtown Wilmington to support Baker and the police department.
“I would rather have innocent people’s pictures taken than innocent people shot,” said Barbara Washam, president of the Upper Eastside Neighborhood Association.
Baker said the photo policy does not violate the Constitution’s protections of freedom of assembly and against unreasonable searches and seizures. Nor does it violate the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1968 decision in Terry v. Ohio that police may stop and frisk people if they have reasonable suspicion they are engaged in criminal activity, he said.
The state attorney general and chief federal prosecutor for Delaware have also said Wilmington police appear to be acting within the law.
George Thomas, a Rutgers University professor who specializes in constitutional law and criminal procedure, said some people may confuse constitutional rights with common-law expectations of privacy.
“Assuming they have a reasonable suspicion, taking a photograph is not a search, and there’s no way that’s a seizure,” Thomas said. “I’m clear that that doesn’t violate the Fourth Amendment; I’ll take the ACLU on on that one.”
Others disagree, saying Terry allows police only to briefly detain and question suspects, and pat them down if officers fear for their safety.
“They can’t use Terry as a pretext to go out and gather a photographic database of suspects,” said professor Phyllis Bookspan, who teaches constitutional criminal procedure at Widener University law school.
City officials say police exercise discretion.
On a recent Friday night at a corner reeking of stale alcohol, the jump-out squad frisked and questioned six men while investigating suspected drug dealing.
Patrol Officer George Collins questioned one of the men, then pulled an Olympus compact digital camera from his pocket and asked if he could take his picture.
“Can I ask why you’re doing this to me?” replied the man, who showed identification and told police he just was walking to the store.
“If you’re not a criminal, you don’t have anything to worry about,” Collins answered. “It’s for future reference.”
Eventually satisfied with the man’s identification and story, Collins pocketed his camera without taking a picture.
“He was a resident, so I gave him the option,” Collins explained later.