DRUG OFFENSES

LEARNING OBJECTIVES: Explain the investigative considerations regarding illicit drugs. Describe the apprehension of drug violators and the processing of drug evidence.

Local, state, and federal law enforcement organizations are making a concerted and aggressive effort to halt the flow of illicit drugs into the United States. This effort involves obtaining aid from other governmental agencies and governments of foreign nations. The point of the effort is to identify, apprehend, and convict the major suppliers of drugs. The connection from the individual street abuser to the head of a drug supply ring is extremely long and disguised. Obviously, the drugs abused by the military are obtained from a system that is international in scope.

INVESTIGATIVE CONSIDERATIONS

This section deals with investigations of drug abuse and abusers in the military. These abusers are usually at the user level and perhaps very low on the supplier or pusher level. However, the exploitation of the information these abusers might provide may lead to drug supply rings. Close and frequent liaison and coordination with civilian drug enforcement personnel are required.

One of the means of tracing illicit drug sources is to determine supply outlets. This can be accomplished in many ways, such as through review of completed reports of investigation, undercover investigations, informant information, or from surveillance and direct efforts to purchase drugs.

Direct Purchase

Direct purchases of drugs will be accomplished by the NCIS for your area. You may, however, coordinate, and assist NCIS agents in the investigation.

Informant Purchase

This type of purchase is setup by the NCIS when a dealer will sell only to a individual that he or she knows and not to the undercover NCIS agent. This type of individual is known as an informant.

The informant must be strip-searched before the sale for money or narcotics. Any money found on this person should be removed and be returned upon completion of the purchase. The informant should be searched again immediately after the sale to assure his or her integrity. At this time, the informant's own money should be returned. Between the two searches, the informant must be kept under constant surveillance so his or her testimony can be corroborated.

Evidence obtained through these informant buys will probably be admissible in a trial by court-martial, but the testimony of the informant may be required. The judge advocate should be consulted concerning the adequacy of a surveillance during an informant buy when the informant is lost from view, as when entering a building where the actual sale is transacted. All exits of the building should be kept under surveillance while the informant is inside.

APPREHENDING DRUG VIOLATORS

With some notable exceptions, the precautions taken and procedures used for the apprehension of any dangerous criminal apply equally to the drug violator. The seriousness of drug laws is best evidenced by the penalties invoked for their violation. The Table of Maximum Punishments in the MCM, 1984 (Rev.) provides maximum penalties for drug offenses.

Apprehension

The apprehension of a drug violator should be done as unobtrusively as possible to prevent the knowledge of the apprehension from reaching his or her collaborators. In many cases, the investigation may benefit from the discreet apprehension of the violator. The suspect should be read his or her rights as soon as possible.

When approaching a drug suspect, pay particular attention to the suspect's hands. The user may attempt to dispose of the drugs by dropping, throwing, flushing, eating, or otherwise disposing of the contraband. If the drug should be found on the ground, some distance away from the suspect, it may be

Figure 7.29.-Illicit clandestine laboratories.

extremely difficult, if not impossible, to connect the drug with the suspect:

Since addicts can be dangerous, unpredictable, and uncooperative, attention should be given to the possibility of a weapon in their possession. As soon as possible after apprehension, suspects should be required to place their hands directly in the air or behind their heads to prevent further disposal of evidence.

You must be sure drugs taken from the custody of a person suspected of narcotics abuse have not been prescribed by medical authorities for the health and well-being of the suspect. In the event that the suspect alleges that certain seized drugs are necessary for health reasons, a medical officer's opinion must be obtained before allowing any administration of the supposed medication. The mere possession of a prescription for the drug should not, by itself, be used as justification for not seeking the opinion of a medical officer.

You should be very careful in questioning heroin addicts and should seek medical help if withdrawal symptoms begin. Failure to use these precautions could easily be considered duress by the courts and any information obtained under these circumstances could be ruled inadmissible. It should be recognized, however, that the addict will frequently feign an excessive degree of suffering to elicit sympathy and treatment. Since true withdrawal symptoms create real pain, the detainee should be taken to a medical facility for proper treatment.

If it is unknown whether the detainee is a true addict, or one who only occasionally uses a drug, a medical officer may be able to determine the degree of narcotic addiction.

Search

A thorough search should be made of the suspect, the suspect's clothing, and the area within the suspect's immediate control immediately after apprehension, or as soon as possible thereafter. You should record names, addresses, telephone numbers, and so on, from any notes or lists the subject possesses. This information may be of value in identifying dealers or persons who buy from dealers.

The small packages in which illegal drugs are usually dispensed can be easily hidden in very small spaces. Possession of even the minutest of particles may be sufficient for a conviction. You must be alert to the presence of all tablets, capsules, small pieces of paper, and liquids, as well as the more conspicuous types of equipment such as syringes, needles, medicine droppers, and bent and/or discolored spoons.

If it is necessary for a narcotics violator to be apprehended in a building, an MA should attempt to be in a position between the suspect and the bathroom or any sink. Toilets, drains, sinks, basins, bathtubs, and showers are favorite hiding places for narcotics since they offer a quick and easy destruction capability.

Another favorite method of operation is to hang the drugs out a window by a string held in place by the closed window. Merely opening the window releases the cache and permits it to fall to the ground. Unless the drugs are seen falling from the window, the possibility of connecting the suspect to the cache is remote.

Religious artifacts should be checked thoroughly when a search is made for hidden drugs. The artifacts are often used as hiding places for drugs in hopes that searching investigators will overlook them,

The variety of hiding places for narcotics is limited only by the ingenuity of the violator. A list of common hiding places for drugs on the person follows: