FAKE DRUG CHECKPOINTS NOT LIKELY IN SUMMIT

SUMMIT COUNTY - In the ongoing battle against drugs, courts recently
have given law enforcement agencies another trick in the trade of
snagging offenders.

To wit: It's illegal for police to set up a checkpoint searching for
narcotics, but it is legal for police to make you think you're
approaching such a checkpoint and arrest you based on how you react.

Summit County Sheriff Joe Morales, however, said Friday that such
tactics would not likely be used on his watch.

Colorado's Court of Appeals ruled Thursday in a case stemming from an
arrest at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival in 2000. The sheriff of San
Miguel County, where Telluride is located, is known for his
libertarian views on drug enforcement.

Nearby Dolores County is not. Dolores County agencies set up signs
saying ""Narcotics checkpoint, one mile ahead'' and ""Narcotics canine
ahead'' on intercounty roads. One officer would watch for cars turning
around or throwing objects out the window, then radio another officer
down the road to stop vehicles seen doing so.

In one instance, police arrested a 60-year-old man after an officer
observed him throw what appeared to be a pipe out the window. A search
of the man's car turned up a marijuana pipe and mushrooms. He appealed
his conviction on possession of drug paraphernalia.

According to the courts, drug checkpoints are illegal because they
stop people at random without suspicion of committing a crime. Fake
drug checkpoints are legal because, well, there is no checkpoint.

In a similar vein, agencies can conduct sobriety checkpoints, and case
law stemming from DUI checkpoint arrests and convictions is extensive.
Police must adequately advertise the sobriety stops and also must give
drivers an alternative route that does not pass through the checkpoint.

"These days, with drugs, it's about who can out-fox the other,"
Morales said of the tactic. Morales' agency oversees a drug task
force, a cooperative effort of the county's police agencies to root
out large drug operations. But the sheriff said fake drug checkpoints
probably wouldn't be put to use. "It'd probably be just as effective
doing regular interdiction work on Interstate 70."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.