PEOPLE v. WALTERS

Ordered that the judgment, as amended, is affirmed

On May 24, 1988, police officers, executing a search warrant based upon information supplied by a confidential informant, entered the defendant's apartment and recovered, among other things, eight and one-half ounces of cocaine. On appeal, the defendant contends, among other things, that the Aguilar-Spinelli test, concerning the reliability and the basis of knowledge of the confidential informant, was not sufficiently satisfied by the warrant application submitted by the police officer (see, Aguilar v Texas, 378 U.S. 108; Spinelli v United States, 393 U.S. 410).

With respect to the determination of whether or not an informant is reliable, the courts may consider a number of factors (see, People v Rodriguez, 52 N.Y.2d 483). In the case at bar, the informant was a registered police informant who had previously, on at least one other occasion, provided reliable information to the same officer who obtained the instant search warrant, resulting in a seizure of a large quantity of narcotics. The defendant's contention that this one prior tip is insufficient to establish reliability is without merit (People v Proctor, 155 A.D.2d 624, 625). "Applying a quantitative rather than a qualitative analysis of an informant's reliability places a burden on the police in using confidential informants not contemplated by the standard articulated by the Court of Appeals of `some minimum, reasonable showing that the informant was reliable'" (People v Proctor, supra, at 625, quoting People v Griminger, 71 N.Y.2d 635, 639).

We also reject defendant's contention that the search warrant affidavit fails to establish the basis of the informant's knowledge. Generally, an informant's personal observations are sufficient to establish a basis of knowledge (see, People v Bigelow, 66 N.Y.2d 417; People v Johnson, 66 N.Y.2d 398). Since the informant related that he "has observed a large amount of narcotics in this location," a common-sense interpretation of the language leads to the conclusion that the informant's knowledge was based upon personal observation (see, Illinois v Gates, 462 U.S. 213; People v Johnson, 66 N.Y.2d 398, supra). Therefore, we conclude that the search warrant application was sufficient to satisfy the Aguilar-Spinelli test and, accordingly, the court properly denied suppression of the evidence.

We find that the sentence imposed was neither harsh nor excessive (see, People v Suitte, 90 A.D.2d 80).

We have considered the defendant's remaining contentions and find them to be without merit. Rosenblatt, J.P., Ritter, Pizzuto and Santucci, JJ., concur.