DRUG CHECKPOINT MESSAGE TAKEN OFF I-94 BOARD

Baldwin Denies Use Of Profiling, Says Drivers Misinterpreted Sign

An electronic message board warning drivers on I-94 northbound near Howell
Ave. of a "drug check point ahead" was erased Friday morning after
Milwaukee County Sheriff Lev Baldwin said some drivers misinterpreted the sign.

Baldwin and the sheriffs of Kenosha, Ozaukee, Waukesha and Racine counties
drew public criticism Thursday and Friday after some people interpreted the
sign to mean that drivers would encounter a checkpoint, at which drivers
selected randomly would be pulled over based on a probable drug dealer's
profile.

Baldwin said he and other sheriffs were simply conducting an ongoing highway
safety and aggressive driving campaign. Details of the campaign will be made
available Tuesday at a news conference in Kenosha.

Baldwin said he didn't know the sign had been put up. But he said no driver
profiling, including of a racial nature, was used Thursday.

"I'll take full responsibility for the sign going up in the first place,
because it happened in my county," Baldwin said, "but in no way did it mean
that we were randomly or arbitrarily stopping drivers. The sign did not mean
for example, 'If you're short and bald and weigh 180 pounds, you fit a drug
trafficker's profile and will be picked out.' On the contrary, it meant
that we were stopping traffic violators, speeders, and when we did we were
asking drivers if we could check for contraband or drugs.

"We want to keep the highways safe and drug traffickers off the road, but we
made certain to tell each traffic violator that was stopped that he was not
obligated to allow us to check his vehicle."

The only method used to determine which drivers to stop was simple speed
detection using laser guns, Baldwin said.

Christopher Ahmuty, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union
of Wisconsin, questioned the validity of the entire program.

"The ACLU is against profiling of any sort, but (sheriff's officials) say
they're not doing profiling," Ahmuty said. "Sheriff Baldwin has assured me
that they don't do profiling. But if they don't have anything to hide about
this operation, why aren't they being more forthcoming?"

Baldwin also questioned comments, reported in Friday's Journal Sentinel,
from a lieutenant in one of the participating departments saying that
deputies were "looking for cars that obviously fit a profile." Baldwin
suggested that either the lieutenant in question spoke out of turn or his
comments were misinterpreted.

Kenosha County Sheriff Larry Zarletti agreed, saying police are sensitive to
issues such as profiling. "To the best of my knowledge there's not a sheriff
among us who condones or allows profiling of any sort."