HOOSIER POLICE USE FAKE CHECKPOINTS TO FLUSH OUT DRUGS

INDIANAPOLIS - Police have begun pretending to use checkpoints in an
effort to flush out people carrying drugs, a tactic that has drawn the
attention of the state's top civil liberties group.

A fake checkpoint went up Wednesday and Thursday on southbound
Interstate 65 near the Marion County line north of downtown, netting
at least one driver who police said had marijuana.

A multiagency law enforcement team set it up so that any drivers
hoping to avoid the bogus checkpoint would have to make an illegal
U-turn or try to make an unsafe exit. Either way, officers were ready
to pull them over.

Authorities say they will let drivers go who have committed no crime -
but believe they'll catch their share of drug dealers and at least
deter drug traffickers.

"All we're doing is observing any conduct," said Maj. Scott Robinett
of the Marion County Sheriff's Department. "We set up traffic
enforcement zones to interdict any illegally transported narcotics."

Attorneys said the ruse was legal before officers moved ahead with the
plan, Robinett said.

But the approach concerns John Krull, executive director of the
Indiana Civil Liberties Union.

"What they're threatening to do is something illegal, in the hopes of
pushing people to do an illegal activity," Krull said. "Obviously, I'd
like to see our legal staff take a look. It might meet the letter of
law, but it clearly violates the spirit."

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that drunken-driving roadblocks and
random drug testing are allowed under the U.S. Constitution. But three
years ago the country's highest court, ruling in an Indianapolis case,
refused to expand those roadblocks to include random checks for drugs.

Nationwide, fake drug checkpoints aren't new. News reports show they
occurred in places such as Chattanooga, Tenn., in 1997 and southern
Louisiana in 1994. And in 2002 the Missouri Supreme Court approved the
use of phony roadblocks to catch drivers in possession of drugs.

In Marion County's operation, drivers come upon a sign reading
"Narcotics checkpoint ahead" in both English and Spanish.

Marion County sheriff's deputies and park rangers, in marked and
unmarked cars, wait for drivers to make illegal U-turns or commit
other traffic violations in a two-mile stretch between 71st and 86th
streets, giving police "probable cause" to make a stop and search the
motorist's vehicle.

An officer in an all-terrain vehicle also regularly scoots along the
interstate shoulder to see if anyone has thrown out drugs before
getting to the checkpoint.

Robinett, who commands covert operations for the Sheriff's Department,
said he hopes the public will see the stops as a benefit. Law officers
involved are asking for consent to search vehicles when they feel they
have probable cause to suspect a crime, he said. More fake checkpoints
are in the offing along both I-70 and I-74.

This week deputies set up the bogus checkpoints in northwestern Marion
County and parts of Boone and Hendricks counties along the key artery
from Chicago, a potential source of illegal drugs headed to Central
Indiana.

In three hours Wednesday, police stopped 16 vehicles. Officials said a
39-year-old Lafayette woman was arrested on a preliminary charge of
marijuana possession and received tickets after a deputy said he saw
her drive south down I-65, see the signs, cross the median and turn
into the northbound lanes.

A handful of other motorists also were given traffic
tickets.

Numbers for Thursday's enforcement effort weren't immediately
available.

Ann Stickford, project director for the Marion County Traffic Safety
Partnership, which helps coordinate once-a-month driving under the
influence checkpoints, said she believes the public is getting used to
the idea. "They don't want impaired drivers on the road because they
are a danger," she said. "Nobody has said, `We wish you wouldn't catch
drunk drivers.' "