FAKE CHECKPOINTS ARE A BAD IDEA

Catching drug dealers is serious business, and it's not easy.

Sometimes, undercover cops use deceit in their attempts to catch the bad
guys. Such tactics are understandable and acceptable, as long as the lies
are specifically directed at people suspected of dealing drugs.

It's another matter when the public is caught up in the deceit, as happened
last month in Rock County.

The Stateline Area Narcotics Team ran a ruse on all drivers of Interstate
39 near Janesville when it posted a series of signs stating: "Drug
Checkpoint Ahead."

The signs lied. There was no checkpoint. The idea was that drivers toting
drugs would pull into the next rest stop and look for places to dump their
illegal cargo. Undercover SLANT officers milled about the rest stop looking
for people acting suspiciously. If they saw any, the officers asked to
search the nervous characters' vehicles.

No one was arrested.

But the fact that this first-time effort came up empty isn't the most
troubling aspect. Similar projects have yielded busts elsewhere in the
country, and drug enforcement by its nature involves lots of strikeouts for
every base hit or home run.

What's disturbing is that everyone who drove that Interstate was subjected
to a lie perpetuated by law enforcement. We expect better. If the cops tell
law-abiding citizens something, we should be able to believe them. We want
to believe them.

Beyond that, drivers should be able to trust what they read on road signs.
If you can't believe this sign, what about the next one, or the one after
that? Is there really construction ahead, or is this another trick? What
about that detour? Should I turn off or not?

Road signs serve specific purposes, and many of them involve safety. We
shouldn't be messing with the messages or drivers' heads.

The premise wasn't the only faulty part of this operation. Communication
was bad, as well. Rock County Sheriff Eric Runaas was out of the loop, and
he wasn't happy. SLANT is a joint operation involving area law enforcement
agencies, so keeping everybody informed shouldn't be an afterthought.

District Attorney David O'Leary told SLANT's oversight board last week that
such fake checkpoints aren't illegal. That doesn't make them right.