Drug Seizures: Using Vehicle & Driver Indicators
In 1988, I was a detective in the NYPD Organized Crime Control Bureau’s Narcotics Division and I was lucky to get assigned to one of the most outstanding drug investigative teams in the United States, or the world for that matter. The team consisted of DEA Agents, New York State Troopers, and NYPD Detectives. We were one of many ‘groups’ in the NY Drug Enforcement Task Force working high-level international drug trafficking organizations in New York City. The hard work of our team resulted, on January 4th, 1989, in the seizure of $20 Million in cash that was hidden in a secret compartment of a 22 foot box truck owned by the Cali Columbia Drug Cartel. That much money in one place, undoubtedly, was an eye-opener for me. We set a cash seizure record that still holds today! Even though that was seventeen years ago, hidden compartments are still being installed in vehicles and used daily by drug traffickers and street level dealers.
During the 1980’s these compartments were commonly called ‘clavos’ or ‘caletas’ in Spanish which referred to a ‘trap’ that is used to hide drugs or other contraband in a vehicle or a residence. Detecting these elaborate hidden compartments is not an easy task but a trained officer can greatly increase his or her chances. As we learned back in the 80’s and drug interdiction officers are experiencing everyday in the streets and highways across the US, specific indicators will exist with most of the drug trafficking vehicles equipped with ‘traps’ that are transporting large amounts of drugs, money, guns, and other contraband. These indicators will be discreet, but can be evident in the vehicle as well as the driver or occupants. Several indicators together will give an officer reasonable cause to believe that drugs, or other contraband, is being transported. These indicators will be identifiable through driving demeanor, structural deviations, driver/occupant actions after a vehicle stop, and other indicators.
Driving demeanor will be obvious in the driver’s actions upon noticing the presence of a police vehicle. The driver may slow down, be careful not to make eye contact with a passing officer, or even get off at the next exit or turn at the next street. Someone driving a vehicle containing drugs or contraband will be extremely cognizant of an office’s presence. The driver will constantly peer into his/her mirrors looking for the officer’s presence or signal lane changes far in advance contrary to the way normal people drive.
Structural deviations of the vehicle could be an overly weighed down trunk from large amounts of contraband, tinted windows to prevent someone from looking in the vehicle, or uneven or misshapen bumpers, airbags, or dashboards that are out of alignment because they have been opened and closed often because they contain a ‘trap’.
Other indicators will be several air fresheners hanging from the window to mask the smell of drugs or driving with the windows open during a cold day to air-out the odor in the vehicle. Driving with large amounts of clothing and other personal items stuffed into the passenger compartment of the vehicle to discourage an officer from searching through the mess. Exposed aftermarket wires, running from the ignition or battery through the car, non-factory trim or mouldings in the vehicle, or trunks that seem apparently shorter than the dimensions of the vehicle are indicative of ‘traps’. Strange mechanical sounds emanating from the vehicle can be an indicator of a ‘trap’ being closed electronically.
The driver and occupants will give indications of illegal activity after a vehicle stop by an officer by nervous demeanor, failure to make eye contact, stepping out of the vehicle abruptly after the stop, or walking away from the vehicle. Drivers and occupants will often move around in the vehicle to push suspicious items under the seat or conceal items in a glove box or center console. These people will have obviously rehearsed answers (using the same language and words) to an officer’s questions or tell a different story after prolonged or detailed questioning. Often, the registered owner of the vehicle will not be the driver or occupant and the driver or occupant will not know enough about the owner to answer questions adequately.
These indicators are frequently encountered by street officers, narcotics investigators and criminal interdiction officers, but are in no way a complete list of what an officer might find. The best way to identify a drug trafficker in a vehicle is by visualizing what you might do or say if you were driving a vehicle loaded with drugs and what might your vehicle look like. Drug trafficking techniques advance all the time but the use of hidden compartments will always be prevalent because of the difficulty to detect. Be observant to the indicators and adhere to safety tactics at all times and you’ll undoubtedly make more seizures than before while making larger seizures of drugs, guns, and other contraband.