CHECKPOINTS PHONY, BUT ARRESTS REAL

Ruse Targets Drugs, Raises Legal Questions

Police have begun pretending to use illegal checkpoints in an effort to
flush out people carrying drugs, a tactic that is drawing attention from the
state's top civil liberties group.

A fake checkpoint went up Wednesday and Thursday on southbound I-65 near the
Marion County line on the Northwestside, 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 must make an illegal U-turn or try to make an
unsafe exit. Either way, officers stand 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, Robinett said, before officers moved
ahead with the plan.

But the approach bothered 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 ATV 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 received 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 DUI 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.' "