Pubdate: Fri, 28 Jun 2013
Source: Plain Dealer, The (Cleveland, OH)
Copyright: 2013 The Plain Dealer
Contact: http://www.cleveland.com/plaindealer/letter-to-editor/
Website: http://www.cleveland.com/plaindealer/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/342
Note: priority given to local letter writers
Author: Mark Gillispie

FAKE DRUG CHECKPOINT IN MAYFIELD HEIGHTS IS LEGAL, EXPERTS SAY

MAYFIELD HEIGHTS, Ohio -- Police are not allowed to use checkpoints 
to search motorists and their vehicles for drugs. So, in Mayfield 
Heights, officers are trying the next-best thing -- fake drug checkpoints.

Police gathered in the express lanes of Interstate 271 on Monday 
after placing signs along the freeway warning motorists that a drug 
checkpoint lay ahead.

There was no checkpoint, only police waiting for motorists to react 
suspiciously after seeing the signs. A Mayfield Heights assistant 
prosecutor says it's a lawful and legitimate tactic in his city's war on drugs.

"We should be applauded for doing this," Dominic Vitantonio said. 
"It's a good thing."

Civil libertarians and one of the people who was stopped and searched 
are skeptical. They wonder if officers were profiling motorists and 
whether anyone's Fourth Amendment right against unlawful searches and 
seizures was violated.

Nick Worner, a spokesman for the Cleveland office of the American 
Civil Liberties Union, said his office will examine the circumstances 
surrounding the fake checkpoint.

"We're going to be gathering information," Worner said. "That 
information will determine what we think is going on."

The fake checkpoints are legal, experts say. A 2000 U.S. Supreme 
Court ruling said actual checkpoints are not legal and that police 
can randomly stop cars for just two reasons: to prevent illegal 
aliens and contraband from entering the U.S. and to get drunk drivers 
off the road.

It's unclear if other police departments in Northeast Ohio have tried 
fake drug checkpoints.

On Monday, Mayfield Heights police placed a series of signs along the 
northbound I-271 express lanes that said: "Drug Checkpoint Ahead," 
"Police K9 Dog In Use" and "Be Prepared to Stop." Officers then 
watched how motorists reacted after seeing the signs.

Vitantonio said there were arrests and drugs seized. He said Thursday 
that four people were stopped and searched. Three of the motorists 
crossed through the grassy median or at emergency vehicle crossings, 
evasive actions that gave police reasonable suspicion to stop those cars.

The fourth motorist, Bill Peters of Medina, insists he did nothing 
wrong except to park on the side of the freeway to check his phone 
for directions. He was stopped and allowed police to search his car. 
Vitantonio said that if Peters had not given police permission to 
search, they would have had to let him go.

Peters, 53, said he was driving on I-271 around 11:30 a.m. when he 
missed the merge that would take him into the local lanes and allow 
him to exit at Wilson Mills Road. He said he pulled over to check his 
phone for directions. As he pulled back onto the freeway, he said his 
phone disconnected from the charger, so he returned to the berm to 
reconnect it.

He said he had seen the drug checkpoint signs and was not worried. 
Peters has long hair and distinguished heavy metal roots. He spent 26 
years in sales and marketing for Warner Bros. Records, owns a music 
label, hosts a heavy metal radio show at John Carroll University and 
is an ardent promoter of local talent. Despite his background in a 
business where drugs are de rigueur, Peters insists he has never inhaled.

He wonders if officers targeted him because of his appearance.

"The last time I checked, it is not against the law to pull over to 
the side of the road to check directions," said Peters, who added 
that the officer who stopped him commended him for being safety conscious.

Vitantonio insisted that Peters gave police reasonable suspicion to 
pull him over.

After stopping and returning to the freeway, Peters said he saw a 
sign that said, "Be Prepared to Stop," which prompted him to slow a 
bit. Seconds later, a police car was behind him, lights flashing.

Peters said the officer asked if he was having car trouble. Peters 
explained why he had stopped on the berm and then slowed down. He 
said the officer quizzed him about what kinds of drugs he had in the 
car, saying it would be much easier to confess before other officers 
and a drug-sniffing dog arrived. Peters insisted he had no drugs. As 
promised, other officers and the dog were summoned.

"I see what they're doing, but I think it's kind of dangerous," 
Peters said. "It's one thing to do this on a 25 mph road, it's 
another on a busy interstate. I think it's a violation to just be 
pulled over and searched."

Ric Simmons, a law professor at the Moritz College of Law at Ohio 
State University, said police are allowed to deceive people, thus the 
fake checkpoint was legal.

"They can lie to anybody," Simmons said.

Prominent Cleveland civil rights attorney Terry Gilbert thinks the 
reason police stopped Peters is questionable. Gilbert said police are 
allowed to deceive suspects, but questioned the practice of lying to 
motorists about a fake drug checkpoint on a busy highway.

"I don't think it accomplishes any public safety goals," Gilbert 
said. "I don't think it's good to mislead the population for any 
reason if you're a government agency."

Michael Benza, a law professor at Case Western Reserve University 
School of Law, said motorists often do not know their rights. You 
must stop when an officer pulls you over for a traffic violation, but 
it does not necessarily mean they can search your car without your 
permission. Police need to be able to provide a judge with a legal 
and valid reason for why they ordered a search of your car."
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