Police Use Warning Letters in War on Drugs : Law enforcement: Deterring motorists from areas known for street sales is the goal. But the tactics raise civil liberties questions.

Using tips from volunteers armed with binoculars and camcorders, Los Angeles police in the San Fernando Valley are sending warning letters to car owners whose vehicles have been seen in areas where drugs have been sold.

Officers in three of the Valley’s five divisions have initiated similar programs but none on the scale of the Devonshire Division, where on a recent night about 20 volunteers scouted for drug deals from apartments and rooftops at Nordhoff Street and Langdon Avenue in North Hills.

The letters do not accuse the driver of buying drugs, but describe the vehicle and its license number and the location where it was seen. Using information from the Department of Motor Vehicles, police mail letters to the car’s registered owner.

The form letter, written by Patrol Capt. Kenneth W. Small, states: “This location is frequented by narcotics dealers and buyers, and has also been the scene of numerous street robberies. If you have any information which would assist us in our war on drugs, please contact me.” It lists his telephone number.

“We want them to read this and not buy drugs anymore,” said Capt. Vance Proctor, commander of the Devonshire Division, which extends along the northwestern edge of the Valley.

Police have sent 65 letters since the program began in April. Proctor said he expects the division to send out hundreds more as the program expands.

Several people have called police, including an upset mother whose son apparently borrowed her car to buy drugs; a confused employer whose worker apparently drove a company vehicle to a drug area; a distraught husband whose wife took the family car on a cocaine binge, and an angry man who insisted that police had made a mistake and hung up.

“Any parent or employer who received this letter should have a serious sit-down conversation with someone about this,” Proctor said. “If the user receives the letter, they may think twice about buying their drugs in that neighborhood.”

Proctor concedes that the program does not stop drug sales. After several weeks of surveillance operations at Nordhoff and Langdon, the street dealers apparently moved several blocks west. But Proctor said the program is one tool designed to make it harder for dealers to operate their business. The program seems popular with residents of drug-plagued areas.

“Dealers and the gangs used to run my street, now they’re all gone,” said Art, a resident near Langdon and Nordhoff. He was shot in the stomach outside his home by a suspected dealer last year. He would not give his full name because police have conducted surveillance operations from his home.

“I’d like to see them all in jail. If they can’t put them away, at least they chase them away,” he said.

Despite police precautions, some law enforcement experts are skeptical of the tactics, describing them as a possible breach of civil liberties.

“There’s something tasteless about this whole business. I don’t really like this,” said Jerome Skolnick, a UC Berkeley law professor who has written several books on community policing techniques. “It’s a form of harassment that, legally, is right on the borderline.”

In the West Valley and Foothill divisions, police officers have used similar tactics based on their observations and tips from volunteers. West Valley Officer Stephanie Tisdale has sent about 300 letters to vehicle owners whose cars were seen in parts of Reseda known for drug sales. Her letters also ask recipients to call her but she said only five have.

“One guy told me he was just there picking up a day laborer,” Tisdale said. “It just so happened that I was the one who saw him pick up a guy and then drop him off a minute later just down the street. I told him what I saw and asked what this ‘day laborer’ was doing. He shut up and got off the phone real quick.”

Tisdale said the program was an effective way to fight drug sales in the face of reduced city budgets.

“We can’t send undercover officers out to every drug location in the Valley every night, but we can harass the buyers and drive them out of our division,” Tisdale said. “Cocaine users are already paranoid. We want them to think we’re following them around so they better quit or get out of town.”

Similar programs have been used in Florida and elsewhere for several years, often in conjunction with other anti-drug operations. The only other time this tactic was used by Los Angeles police was in the Oakwood neighborhood of Venice in 1989, said Capt. Jan Carlson, commander of the Pacific Division. She said the program lapsed a year later when she was transferred.

Devonshire’s program differs from the others in that officers do not only ask neighbors to report drug sales they see. Instead, officers use organized teams of residents trained in surveillance techniques.

During a surveillance operation, volunteers may notice a car stopped beside or driving slowly past suspected dealers, but they are trained only to give police the license numbers of cars that appear to be involved in a transaction.

“That guy keeps going by and I have his number, but he hasn’t done anything illegal,” said volunteer Brenda Shaw, as she stood on a roof watching the same tan pickup truck make several passes on Nordhoff. “We take down the numbers but have to see them make a buy.”

Skolnick concedes that the letters may deter some drug activity but said the tactic may violate civil liberties in that someone could become a suspect based solely on the perceptions of another citizen.

“Technically, you and your car are in public, and police have always used tips from citizens, but I’m concerned that there is no independent verification of this activity by police before they invoke their authority to send these letters,” Skolnick said. “Should police be delegating their authority to private citizens in this way?”

But police defended the program, saying that it is mainly targeted at recreational and occasional users, who may get shocked by a brush with the law.

“A kid called to thank me for sending him the letter. He admitted he had a cocaine problem and said he was in treatment. He apologized for causing any problems,” Carlson said. “That one call made it all worth it for me.”