ICLU FILES SUIT TO HALT POLICE ROADBLOCKS

Staff Report Indianapolis Star/News INDIANAPOLIS (Wed, Oct 14, 1998) -- The
Indiana Civil Liberties Union today filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court
against the Indianapolis Police Department seeking to stop police from
setting up anti-drug roadblocks.

John Krull, executive director of the ICLU, said the lawsuit asked the court
to issue an injunction preventing the roadblocks.

Krull said "there is a constitutional way to do roadblocks, but I don't
think IPD and city have found that way."

He pointed out court decisions have ruled that you cannot use subjective
standards, such as stopping only young black males, in the roadblocks.

Krull also said courts have ruled that roadblock cannot create traffic
hazards or unnecessary delays.

The roadblocks violated the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which
limits searches and seizures by police, he said.

Police Chief Michael Zunk has said the Police Department had worked to keep
the stops from violating drivers' constitutional rights.

Zunk and Mayor Stephen Goldsmith said they were pleased with the results of
the roadblocks, and the department was planning to stage more anti-drug
stops.

To act against trafficking in street drugs, police in August set up
roadblocks for the first time to search vehicles.

Most traffic kept flowing during the roadblocks, but small groups of
drivers, from three to six at a time, were stopped by police, asked for
their identification and then asked if they were carrying drugs or guns.

During the stops, police dogs trained to detect drugs sniffed around the
stopped vehicles, and if they indicated they smelled drugs, police checked
the vehicles.

In Fort Wayne, Mayor Paul Helmke ordered police to stop such roadblocks
because he was concerned about their constituionality.

Leaders of the Fort Wayne NAACP had called the city police department's plan
to use roadblocks to check cars for drugs unconstitutional and an
embarrassment to innocent citizens.

Checked-by: Rolf Ernst