[wordup] Amtrak shares passenger info with DEA for drug prosecutions

[Adam Shand]

as todd says ... "smells like big brother ...".  yum, good with ketchup.
thanks also to robert for sending this in:

From: Herr ToddoT Nagengast <todd at gnosh.net>
From: Robert Tarrall <tarrall at xxxx.neighborhoodlink.com>
URL:  http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/15/weekinreview/15BOXA.html

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 11 Apr 2001 14:05:08 -0700
From: Declan McCullagh <declan at well.com>
To: politech at politechbot.com
Subject: FC: Amtrak shares passenger info with DEA for drug prosecutions

[For non-U.S. readers, Amtrak is the government-created rail service. It's
about 30 years old, does not make a profit, and is heavily subsidized by
the Feds by about $100 per passenger. See:
http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-266.html --Declan]

**********

http://www.abqjournal.com/news/301438news04-11-01.htm

Wednesday, April 11, 2001

Amtrak Helps DEA Hunt Drug Couriers

By Jeff Jones
Journal Staff Writer
Copyright © 2001 Albuquerque Journal

Amtrak is providing federal drug police in Albuquerque with ticketing
information about passengers - and Amtrak police get 10 percent of any
cash seized from suspected drug couriers at the Downtown station.

As part of what officials describe as a one-of-a-kind arrangement, a
computer with access to Amtrak's ticketing information sits on a desk in
the Drug Enforcement Administration's local office.

It can provide drug agents with information such as passengers' last
names, where they're coming from, where they're headed, whether they paid
for their tickets with cash or credit and when they bought their tickets.

A local DEA agent talked about the arrangement during pretrial interview
in a court case last month.

"I met with Amtrak probably two or three times in the early '90s to
discuss use of the computer because I realized the computer was the key in
catching ( drug couriers )," agent Kevin Small said. "And our agreement is
anything we seize off the train, they get 10 percent."

Information obtained from Amtrak helps drug agents narrow down who they
want to speak with - and therefore whose luggage could eventually be
checked by a drug-sniffing dog - when the agents board the trains that
roll into Albuquerque.

That team of law officers includes an Amtrak police detective.

Small said the arrangement is vital to catching drug couriers, adding that
tips are passed out "all over the country."

Steven Derr, assistant special agent in charge of the DEA's Albuquerque
office, said Tuesday he didn't know offhand how many arrests the team has
made at the Albuquerque train station or how much alleged drug money has
been seized. But he said both numbers are "substantial."

Constitutional Concerns

Critics say the practice could lead to targeting people based on their
ethnicity or financial status. And they question whether it violates the
U.S. Constitution, which prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures.

"This would disturb anybody - you buy a ticket, and the DEA is looking
over your shoulder," said Albuquerque defense attorney Randi McGinn. "It
stinks. What they're trying to do is get around the Fourth Amendment."

Peter Simonson, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union
of New Mexico, called the arrangement "an insidious alliance" between
Amtrak and the DEA and said the ACLU is now pondering whether to take
legal action.

[...]

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