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Checkpoints phony, but arrests real
Ruse targets drugs, raises legal questions

By Tom Spalding
tom.spalding@indystar.com
August 8, 2003

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.

...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....