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Bluelight Crew
Syracuse police fight trend of swapping cars for drugs
18 April 2006
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) _ In March, Michael Adornato called police to say a man had carjacked him at gunpoint outside a convenience store.
A few days later, police charged Adornato with falsely reporting an incident. The truth _ according to police _ was that Adornato had loaned his car to a drug dealer in return for drugs. He called police only after the dealer failed to return the car.
Syracuse police say they see it all the time: Suburbanites coming into the city, temporarily trading their vehicles for drugs, then reporting the vehicle stolen when the dealer doesn't show up to return it.
"You'd be amazed," said Detective Al Wilson, a stolen vehicle investigator for the Syracuse Police Department. "People ... tell us they traded their car for drugs, then demand that we go find it."
The results: Officers waste time taking reports on cars involved in a drug trade. Drug dealers get easy access to untraceable vehicles. And insurance fees for drivers who obey the law spike to cover damage done to swapped cars.
Worse, police said, people who readily admit to taking part in the drug trade often can't be charged with a crime. A person merely admitting he or she swapped a car for drugs breaks no law, Wilson said. He said officers need to seize the actual drugs or catch the person in a lie to make a case.
"These people are literally taking part in the drug trade. They admit to taking part in the drug trade, and we can't arrest them. We tried working with the DA's office to find a crime to charge them with. But essentially, it's a violation of a verbal contract, and that's a civil matter. I think it falls through the cracks of the legal system," Wilson said.
In the Adornato case, police were able to charge the 58-year-old Cicero man only because officers asserted that he continued to lie about being carjacked for several days, Wilson said. Through his lawyer, Adornato declined comment.
People have been swapping cars for drugs in Syracuse since about 2000, Wilson said.
For many years, city police reported the cars stolen. But with car-for-drug incidents peaking at more than 200 in 2004, police officials switched gears. Wilson said too many people used the police department as a vehicle-recovery service, reporting their cars stolen monthly or even weekly, then demanding officers find the cars.
Often, cars swapped for drugs become vehicles for crime. Dealers use the cars to sell and deliver drugs. Criminals make them their disposable getaway cars. Police find them at the scenes of assaults, stabbings and shootings.
Most of the cars resurface eventually. Police find them ditched in parking lots, abandoned on city streets and stalled in driveways. Wilson said police have failed to find only one swapped car since 2000.
Link
18 April 2006
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) _ In March, Michael Adornato called police to say a man had carjacked him at gunpoint outside a convenience store.
A few days later, police charged Adornato with falsely reporting an incident. The truth _ according to police _ was that Adornato had loaned his car to a drug dealer in return for drugs. He called police only after the dealer failed to return the car.
Syracuse police say they see it all the time: Suburbanites coming into the city, temporarily trading their vehicles for drugs, then reporting the vehicle stolen when the dealer doesn't show up to return it.
"You'd be amazed," said Detective Al Wilson, a stolen vehicle investigator for the Syracuse Police Department. "People ... tell us they traded their car for drugs, then demand that we go find it."
The results: Officers waste time taking reports on cars involved in a drug trade. Drug dealers get easy access to untraceable vehicles. And insurance fees for drivers who obey the law spike to cover damage done to swapped cars.
Worse, police said, people who readily admit to taking part in the drug trade often can't be charged with a crime. A person merely admitting he or she swapped a car for drugs breaks no law, Wilson said. He said officers need to seize the actual drugs or catch the person in a lie to make a case.
"These people are literally taking part in the drug trade. They admit to taking part in the drug trade, and we can't arrest them. We tried working with the DA's office to find a crime to charge them with. But essentially, it's a violation of a verbal contract, and that's a civil matter. I think it falls through the cracks of the legal system," Wilson said.
In the Adornato case, police were able to charge the 58-year-old Cicero man only because officers asserted that he continued to lie about being carjacked for several days, Wilson said. Through his lawyer, Adornato declined comment.
People have been swapping cars for drugs in Syracuse since about 2000, Wilson said.
For many years, city police reported the cars stolen. But with car-for-drug incidents peaking at more than 200 in 2004, police officials switched gears. Wilson said too many people used the police department as a vehicle-recovery service, reporting their cars stolen monthly or even weekly, then demanding officers find the cars.
Often, cars swapped for drugs become vehicles for crime. Dealers use the cars to sell and deliver drugs. Criminals make them their disposable getaway cars. Police find them at the scenes of assaults, stabbings and shootings.
Most of the cars resurface eventually. Police find them ditched in parking lots, abandoned on city streets and stalled in driveways. Wilson said police have failed to find only one swapped car since 2000.
Link
