Opinion ID: 853223
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Federal Roadblock Jurisprudence: A Brief Refresher

Text: We examine claims under the Indiana Constitution separately from those based on federal constitutional counterparts. Ajabu v. State, 693 N.E.2d 921 (Ind.1998); see also Price v. State, 622 N.E.2d 954 (Ind.1993). Nonetheless, both the U.S. Supreme Court and this Court have addressed the Fourth Amendment's applicability to sobriety checkpoints, and a review of federal holdings may inform our state analysis. The U.S. Supreme Court first suggested that roadblocks might satisfy the Fourth Amendment when it held random and discretionary stops to check drivers' licenses and vehicle registrations unconstitutional in Delaware v. Prouse, 440 U.S. 648, 99 S.Ct. 1391, 59 L.Ed.2d 660 (1979): This holding does not preclude the ... States from developing methods for spot checks that involve less intrusion or that do not involve the unconstrained exercise of discretion. Questioning of all oncoming traffic at roadblock-type stops is one possible alternative. We hold only that persons in automobiles on public roadways may not for that reason alone have their travel and privacy interfered with at the unbridled discretion of police officers. Id. at 663, 99 S.Ct. 1391 (footnote omitted). The same year, the Court identified three factors to weigh in assessing the constitutionality of seizures less intrusive than traditional arrests: (1) the gravity of the public concerns served by the seizure, (2) the degree to which the seizure advances the public interest, and (3) the severity of the interference with individual liberty. Brown v. Texas, 443 U.S. 47, 51, 99 S.Ct. 2637, 61 L.Ed.2d 357 (1979) (random stop-and-identify statute held unconstitutional). The Court went on to say that a central concern in balancing these factors is assur[ing] that an individual's reasonable expectation of privacy is not subject to arbitrary invasions at the unfettered discretion of officers in the field. Id. Therefore, the seizure must be carried out pursuant to a plan embodying explicit, neutral limitations on the conduct of individual officers. Id. (citing Prouse, 440 U.S. at 663, 99 S.Ct. 1391). Seven years later, we applied these federal principles in a Fourth Amendment challenge to a roadblock designed to check for licenses and registrations as well as OWI. State v. Garcia, 500 N.E.2d 158, 159-61 (Ind.1986), cert. denied, 481 U.S. 1014, 107 S.Ct. 1889, 95 L.Ed.2d 496 (1987). [3] We held, three-to-two, that the OWI problem, including under-age drinking, was grave enough to justify nontraditional enforcement methods. Id. at 161. The arrest rate and the obvious deterrent effect sufficiently advanced the public interest. Id. at 162. The average stop was only two or three minutes, and many people turned around and avoided the roadblock after seeing it ahead, so the level of interference was acceptable. Id. We also considered the degree of discretion involved. Based on a previously communicated plan, one officer flagged vehicles over in blocks of five as soon as the previous five were released. See id. at 160. An officer then asked each driver to produce a license or registration while checking for indications of OWI or underage drinking. See id. at 161. This uniformly followed procedure imposed sufficiently explicit, neutral limitations upon the individual officers to satisfy the Fourth Amendment. Id. at 162. The U.S. Supreme Court took a similar approach and reached a similar conclusion in Michigan Department of State Police v. Sitz, 496 U.S. 444, 110 S.Ct. 2481, 110 L.Ed.2d 412 (1990). Sitz challenged a roadblock procedure developed by a committee appointed under the authority of the state police, comprised of representatives from state and local police forces, state prosecutors, and a university transportation research institute. Id. at 447, 110 S.Ct. 2481. Under the procedure, all vehicles were stopped at the checkpoint for an average of twenty-five seconds. Id. at 448, 110 S.Ct. 2481. Only if the checkpoint officer detected signs of intoxication would he or she ask for a license and registration. Id. at 447, 110 S.Ct. 2481. Applying the Brown balancing test, the Sitz court held that brief, suspicionless seizures at highway checkpoints for the purpose of combating drunk driving do not violate the Fourth Amendment. Id. at 455, 110 S.Ct. 2481; see also City of Indianapolis v. Edmond, 531 U.S. 32, 34, 121 S.Ct. 447, 148 L.Ed.2d 333 (2000). It held, No one can seriously dispute the magnitude of the drunken driving problem or the States' interest in eradicating it, and found the degree of intrusion as measured by duration of the seizure and intensity of the questioning slight. Sitz, 496 U.S. at 451-52, 110 S.Ct. 2481 (citing United States v. Martinez-Fuerte, 428 U.S. 543, 96 S.Ct. 3074, 49 L.Ed.2d 1116 (1976) (upholding border checkpoints to detect illegal aliens)). The Court distinguished roving police patrols whose approach might frighten motorists, especially those traveling alone at night on remote roads, from checkpoints where drivers see others being similarly stopped. Sitz, 496 U.S. at 453, 110 S.Ct. 2481 (citing, inter alia, Martinez-Fuerte, 428 U.S. at 558, 96 S.Ct. 3074). It also declared that nothing in Brown was intended to shift the choice between reasonable law enforcement techniques from politically accountable officials to the courts. Id. The U.S. Supreme Court recently clarified federal constitutional limitations in City of Indianapolis v. Edmond, 531 U.S. 32, 121 S.Ct. 447, 148 L.Ed.2d 333 (2000), a successful Fourth Amendment challenge to a drug interdiction roadblock. The baseline rule is that a search or seizure is ordinarily unreasonable absent individualized suspicion of criminal activity. [4] Edmond, 531 U.S. at 37, 121 S.Ct. 447 (citing Chandler v. Miller, 520 U.S. 305, 308, 117 S.Ct. 1295, 137 L.Ed.2d 513 (1997)). The Court acknowledged that checkpoints sometimes pass constitutional muster even though they are not based on individualized suspicion but distinguished its prior holdings in Martinez-Fuerte, Sitz, and Prouse by saying, In none of these cases ... did [the Court] indicate approval of a checkpoint program whose primary purpose was to detect evidence of ordinary criminal wrongdoing. Edmond, 531 U.S. at 38, 121 S.Ct. 447. The key distinction between Sitz and Edmond is that sobriety checkpoints are designed primarily to serve purposes closely related to ... the necessity of ensuring roadway safety. Edmond, 531 U.S. at 41, 121 S.Ct. 447. Narcotics checkpoints, on the other hand, are not similarly directed at immediate, vehicle-bound threat[s] to life and limb. Id. at 43, 121 S.Ct. 447.