DRUG CHECKPOINTS MAY END

Drug Roadblocks Major Source Of Money For Local Task Force

Drug checkpoints along Interstate 185 may have reached a dead end with
Tuesday's ruling by the U.S. Supreme to ban anti-drug roadblocks used by
the Metro Narcotics Task Force.

"That's a tool we've used as part of the Metro Narcotics Task Force, and
apparently it's a tool we won't have anymore," said Russell County District
Attorney Ken Davis, whose jurisdiction includes the task force.

In a 6-3 ruling, the high court ruled that Indianapolis' use of
drug-sniffing dogs to check all cars pulled over at checkpoints violated
the Constitution's Fourth Amendment involving unreasonable searches.

However, citing "an obvious connection between the imperative of highway
safety and the law enforcement practice at issue," the court upheld the law
enforcement practice of operating checkpoints for driving under the
influence and driver's licenses.

Davis called the ruling "unfortunate" and said it would have a "very broad
effect" on the operations of the task force. He said prosecutors with
pending cases involving drug checkpoint-related arrests face the real
possibility that those cases will be thrown out of court. Davis said he had
no such cases pending.

"That's unfortunate," Davis said of the high court ruling. "I think it's a
small incursion on privacy rights, but a necessary incursion."

The Metro Narcotic Task Force, which was established in 1994, is a
multi-jurisdictional law enforcement unit composed of about 20 agents from
the Columbus and Phenix City police departments and sheriff's departments
from Russell, Muscogee and Harris counties.

The force provides its own budget through drug-related property seizures.
Though the amount was not available Thursday, police officials have said
that a large portion of its budget is generated from its annual
spring-break drug checkpoint on I-185.

In March, the checkpoint yielded the arrests of 80 people and the seizure
of six cars. During an Oct. 28 auction of seized property, the task force
raised $77,934. The force's fiscal year 2001 budget is $239,473, said a
spokeswoman with the Columbus Consolidated Government's Finance Department.

Three local law enforcement officials said Thursday they had not yet
reviewed the ruling and could not say how - or if - the ruling would affect
anti-drug operations.

Columbus Police Chief Willie Dozier, who said he had read only press
accounts of the decision, said he did not think it would affect the way the
task force operates its checkpoints.

"As far as what I've read so far it won't affect our operations," Dozier
said. "But you've got to have the specifics of it. If there is something in
the case that affects us, then we'll make the adjustments."

Russell County Sheriff Tommy Boswell said his department has no immediate
plans for conducting drug checkpoints and said the county would review the
opinion before others are planned.

Muscogee County Public Defender Richard O. Smith hailed the ruling as
victory for civil liberties.

"I think that one thing that will stop is the harassment along I-185," he said.

Smith, whose clientele have been among those stopped at drug checkpoints,
said most of them have received "soft treatment" - mostly fines and
probation sentences - because judges have not been comfortable with the
constitutionality associated with their arrests.

A spokesman for Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker said the office is
reviewing the decision and has not yet determined how state anti-drug
efforts will be affected.

"Other law enforcement officers should be reviewing it as well to see if
they are complying with the law," said Baker spokesman Jeff DiSantis.

RICHARD THOMASON

Ledger-Enquirer

Motorists coming into Columbus on I-185 March 2 were met by police
conducting drug searches. Police conduct these at various times and
locations to help stem the flow of illegal drugs into the area.

U.S. Supreme Court ruling

Here are excerpts from the Supreme Court ruling that banned drug
checkpoints. The ruling was in response to the City of Indianapolis v.
Edmond case.

Background: In 1998, Indianapolis conducted six drug checkpoints between
August and November. Law enforcement officers stopped 1,161 vehicles and
made 104 arrests. Fifty-five of the arrests were for drug-related offenses
while 49 were for offenses unrelated to drugs.

What the U.S. Supreme Court said:

"Because the primary purpose of the Indianapolis narcotics checkpoint
program is to uncover evidence of ordinary criminal wrongdoing, the program
contravenes the Fourth Amendment."

"(I)n determining whether individualized suspicion is required, we must
consider the nature of the interests threatened and their connection to the
particular law enforcement practices at issue. We are particularly
reluctant to recognize exceptions to the general rule of individualized
suspicion where governmental authorities primarily pursue their general
crime control ends."

"We cannot sanction stops justified only by the generalized and
ever-present possibility that interrogation and inspection may reveal that
any given motorist has committed some crime."