FIGHTING THE DRUG WAR

Truckers association urges travelers to reject officers' requests to search
vehicles

A national truck drivers association has begun a billboard campaign advising
I-20 travelers headed into East Texas from Louisiana to "just say no" when
police officers ask to search their cars and trucks for drugs.

An association spokesman said the campaign was inspired by a West Texas
lawyer who erected a similar billboard last year when an Abilene-based drug
task force began searching vehicles during traffic stops.

J.D. Davis, founding director of the American Drivers Association in
Longview, said the billboard was put up two weeks ago along Interstate 20.
Westbound travelers can't miss the brightly colored sign that says, "Just
say no to Vehicle Searches. Protecting your rights. American Drivers
Association."

The message includes the association's phone number. Callers are advised to
tape-record their traffic-stop encounters and to refuse officers' request to
search their vehicles.

Mr. Davis said he began the campaign after several association members
complained about state troopers searching their trucks for no apparent
reason during traffic stops.

"We believe these are retaliatory searches, and they're done because someone
doesn't just say 'yes sir' and 'no sir' or they have the audacity to tell
the officer they don't believe they were speeding," said Mr. Davis, whose
group counts 86,000 members.

"Our members are like most people," he said. "They don't know they have a
constitutional right to say no when an officer asks to search."

Mike Cox, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety in Austin,
declined to comment on the campaign.

"We don't want to accuse anybody of meddling," he said. "It's anybody's
right to put their opinion on a sign."

Mr. Cox said a trooper needs one of two things to search a vehicle for drugs
during a routine traffic stop: the driver's permission or probable cause to
believe a crime is being committed.

"Our troopers are highly trained, and they won't do anything contrary to the
law or DPS policy," Mr. Cox said. "A person always has the ability to say no
to a search if the officer doesn't have probable cause."

Mr. Cox said state troopers have made an impressive number of drug busts
during roadside traffic stops. Last year, troopers confiscated 21 tons of
marijuana and 2,600 pounds of cocaine during traffic stops on Texas
highways, Mr. Cox said.

"That translates into $48 million worth of illegal drugs taken off the
streets," he said. "We think we are doing good things for Texas and the
nation in general."

Mr. Davis said truckers support drug enforcement, but many doubt that
roadside searches are an effective tool. He said Texas police agencies
conducted an estimated 110,000 vehicle searches in 1998. About 1,000 of
those searches, or less than 1 percent, yielded illegal drugs, he said.

"It's clear the vast majority of these searches occur when the officer
doesn't like your looks or you might argue about the traffic violation," he
said.

Mr. Davis said he believes state troopers should advise motorists they are
entitled under the Fourth Amendment to refuse a search request, but legal
experts say officers have no such obligation.

Ted Wilson, a criminal law expert in Houston, said officers who lack
probable cause cannot legally pressure a travelers into a consensual search
by threatening to detain them while they get a warrant from a magistrate.

"The law says you cannot coerce someone into allowing a search," he said.
"Once the officer [without probable cause] is told no, it's over."

Mr. Davis said association members and volunteer lawyers are financing the
"just say no" campaign. He said the next billboard will go up on Interstate
45 between Houston and Dallas. The goal, he said, is to place the message on
every Texas interstate by year's end.

Pat Barber, a West Texas lawyer, erected the first "just say no" billboard
last summer on his Mitchell County ranch adjacent to I-20.

Two weeks after Mr. Barber's billboard went up, the Texas Department of
Transportation accused him of violating state and federal sign regulations.
He responded by suing the state agency for attempting to violate his freedom
of speech. The lawsuit is pending in state district court in Austin.

Mr. Davis read about Mr. Barber and latched onto the billboard campaign.
"We're always looking for ways to educate our members, and this was a
marvelous way to get the word out," he said.

Mr. Barber said he's happy he inspired the campaign.

"I just don't believe people want a Third World police state," he said.