Opinion ID: 1060443
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: the effect of a subterfuge or pretext

Text: Finally, the preponderance of the evidence suggests that the roadblock in this case was actually operated for purposes other than as a drivers' license checkpoint. In Downey , we alluded to the fact that an ostensibly legitimate roadblock operated as a pretext or subterfuge to further illegitimate law-enforcement practices may be unreasonable under the Tennessee Constitution. 945 S.W.2d at 111. However, we did not actually reach this issue in Downey , because the actual purpose of the drivers' license roadblock in that case was to detect and deter drunk driversa legitimate and sufficiently compelling state interest. Because we found that the primary purpose of the Downey roadblock was constitutionally permissible, the analysis of that case more properly focused on the lack of adequate administrative and supervisory oversight. Nevertheless, we acknowledged then, and we reiterate now, that a checkpoint designed or operated to further illegitimate law enforcement practices under the pretext of a lawful purpose is unreasonable under Article I, section 7, irrespective of other indicia of reasonableness. If the subterfuge exists on the administrative or planning level, such that the roadblock is primarily designed to further a noncompelling state interest, the roadblock will necessarily fail for lack of a sufficiently compelling state interest. See Edmond, 531 U.S. at 44, 47, 121 S.Ct. 447. Furthermore, operation of a roadblock so as to pursue illegitimate objectives is virtually incontrovertible evidence that inadequate levels of control and supervision of the officers on the scene are being maintained. Downey, 945 S.W.2d at 111. While we will not seek to determine the intent of the individual officers in the field once a sufficiently compelling state interest is found, cf. Vineyard, 958 S.W.2d at 736, the actions of the officers and the circumstances surrounding the stops should be considered as evidence of inadequate administrative and supervisory oversight. Our close examination of the record reveals much evidence to show that this drivers' license roadblock was designed and operated as a method to pursue objectives other than detecting and deterring unlicensed drivers. On the administrative level, the time and place of the roadblock do not seem calculated, at least in an intuitive sense, to detect unlicensed drivers, and the fact that the State introduced no proof that the time and site of the roadblock were chosen because of their effectiveness in detecting and deterring unlicensed drivers further indicates that the drivers' license checkpoint was a subterfuge. [12] On the operational level, the record shows that at least one officer on the scene possessed and used a drug dog, and another officer seems to have conducted the roadblock for the purposes of apprehending a fleeing felon. Because neither of these purposes is arguably related to any interest served by a checkpoint established to detect and deter unlicensed drivers, see United States v. Morales-Zamora, 974 F.2d 149, 153 (10th Cir.1992) (finding pretextual drivers' license checkpoint, in part, when officers brought drug dog to scene before cars were stopped), one may infer that at least some officers were pursuing investigatory agendas that were wholly distinct and apart from the State's claimed interest. While officers are not required to look the other way when they legitimately discover violations, they may not, as appears to have happened here, actively seek out other criminal wrongdoing under the guise of checking for drivers' licenses. [13] In State v. Vineyard, 958 S.W.2d 730 (Tenn.1997), we held that an officer's subjective intentions in stopping an automobile, no matter how questionable, would not affect the validity of the stop so long as probable cause existed to believe that the defendant violated the traffic code. 958 S.W.2d at 737. We reasoned that the dangers presented by an individual officer's investigatory agenda were mitigated in such cases because [t]he probable cause requirement constrains the exercise of police discretion and safeguards the citizenry against arbitrary intrusions. Id. at 735 (citing Whren v. United States, 517 U.S. 806, 116 S.Ct. 1769, 135 L.Ed.2d 89 (1996)). However, because roadblocks are operated without the protections provided by the probable cause requirement, courts must assume a special role in ensuring that constitutional safeguards are not eroded by subterfuge or pretext. Cf. United States v. Huguenin, 154 F.3d 547, 555 (6th Cir.1998) (We believe the Fourth Amendment requires that police deception and subterfuge must be carefully scrutinized in regard to pretextual checkpoints, as checkpoints constitute an exception to the Fourth Amendment's requirement for a warrant and probable cause.). When police officers are permitted, either through administrative design or supervisory neglect, to actively engage in suspicionless investigation of criminal activity wholly unrelated to the purposes of the roadblock, the constitutional protections afforded by Article I, section 7 are rendered utterly without effect or meaning. To be sure, our decision in Downey allowing a narrow exception for sobriety checkpoints was not meant as a signal to law enforcement officers that a citizen's constitutional protections evaporated upon being halted at a roadblock. Considering all of the circumstances surrounding this roadblock, we must conclude that the preponderance of the evidence establishes that the operation of this roadblock violated minimal constitutional requirements. First, the level of intrusion into the liberty and privacy of the citizens stopped was beyond that characterized as reasonable by Downey . Second, the State offered no evidence to show prior administrative approval, and because the State has the burden of establishing the reasonableness of the roadblock, we will not presume that such was the case. Third, the record demonstrates that the officers on the scene decided for themselves the proper procedures to be followed and that these officers were not adequately supervised. Finally, the record contains much evidence to show that the drivers' license roadblock was initially established and operated in the field as a method to pursue objectives other than to detect and deter unlicensed drivers. Accordingly, we hold that this roadblock represented an unreasonable interference with the liberty and privacy of the citizens stopped in violation of Article I, section 7 of the Tennessee Constitution.