December 14, 2001

San Francisco Chronicle

By John Koopman, Kelly St. John and Ryan Kim

It might be a good idea to leave the doobies at home if you plan to ride BART anytime soon. Officer Millie is roaming BART trains sniffing for riders who might have thought the train was an easy way to transport narcotics. While Millie, a black labrador retriever, is supposed to find drug dealers and big stashes, she also knows when you've got a baggie or even a joint.

"Here at BART we have a zero tolerance policy," said BART police Cmdr. Wade Gomes. "We want the bad guys to know we're out there, and we'll get you no matter how much you're carrying."

The drug sniffing dog started work Wednesday night as part of a new drug enforcement program by BART and U.S. Customs Service. The first day's work resulted in four arrests. Three were minor citations, police said; one was a man carrying 13 baggies of pot.

Officer Millie was out last night, too, and her efforts resulted in nine more citations being issued for possession of marijuana.

Gomes said BART police had been told by many local police departments that the trains were used to transport drugs. So, he said, the BART police wanted to look for a way to stem that flow, which might become even more important after BART completes its new station at the San Francisco International Airport.

BART police got together with U.S. Customs, he said, because the federal agency has a "passive narcotic canine program." Which is a bureaucratic way to say they use nice, friendly dogs to do the searches.

Instead of the tough, sometimes ferocious German shepherds that are usually used by police, Customs uses smaller dogs, black Labrador retrievers and golden retrievers, for this kind of work.

It works like this, Gomes said: two Customs agents and three BART officers board a train. Three of the group station themselves at either end of the car and two go with the dog. The canine walks along and sniffs around the passengers. When the dog smells drugs, it simply sits next to the suspect and looks at him or her.

That's what police call ''an alert." It gives the officer reason to search the person. Most of the time, Gomes said, the officers first ask the person to simply hand over their drugs, and so far they have.

Dale Gieringer, coordinator of the California chapter of NORML, the National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws which supports legalizing marijuana called a BART drug sweep a waste of time and money.

"This is penny ante stuff. It sounds like a penny ante crime creation program by cops who don't have anything better to do," Gieringer said. "I thought this country had a war on terrorism. Are smugglers taking BART from Thailand to the Embarcadero?"

Gieringer said people who use marijuana for medical purposes might also unfairly be caught and cited.

"They should let people go if they just have a joint or two," Gieringer said. "That's causing no threat at all to the public."

Sean Sloane, a 37-year-old San Francisco computer consultant, said the move further promoted an extreme police state. He also questioned spending resources for a problem he does not consider to be that serious.

"It's intrusive, and they're wasting their time," said Sloane. "It will just be petty."

But many others said the dogs made sense. Michele Battise, a Nordstrom saleswoman from Oakland, said there were plenty of shady characters riding BART who she suspected could be carrying drugs.

"I'm for it as long as they don't target people," said Battise. "If this discourages people from transporting drugs, I'd encourage it."

Note: 13 arrests on trains on first two nights.