SUPREME COURT GIVES DRUG DOGS FREE REIN PLEASE COPY AND DISTRIBUTE DrugSense FOCUS Alert #300 - Tuesday, 1 Feb 2005 Last week, the Supreme Court of the United States issued their ruling in Illinois v Caballes. Roy Caballes was arrested on charges of marijuana possession after a search of his vehicle which was initiated by the 'positive' alert of a drug dog who had circled his car and sniffed for illegal drugs. As Caballes was at the time involved in a routine traffic stop, he contended that the use of the dog was an unreasonable search of his person and vehicle. In 2003, the Illinois Supreme Court agreed with him and ruled the search unconstitutional. However, on Jan 24 this year, the SCOTUS overruled with a 6-2 vote. Their ruling means that in making a routine traffic stop, the police can permit a trained dog to sniff the car for drugs without the need for any particular reason to suspect the driver of a narcotics violation. This has produced two responses in the newspaper coverage of the past week. The first is a host of editorial boards criticizing and denouncing the reasoning applied by the majority judges. The second is a number of police agencies making public comments in support of the ruling. Please consider writing a Letter to the Editor to the newspapers listed below. Consider expressing your agreement with those newspapers who have spoken out against the rationale for the ruling. Also consider expressing your disagreement with those police agencies and other law enforcement officials who applaud the ruling. Nothing in the past 35 years has eroded more basic personal privacy and civil liberties than drug-war induced court rulings like this one. Adding our voices to the already published opinions and commentary help deliver a message that an increasing number of Americans are fed up with the damage drug-prohibition policies are doing to our freedom and to our communities. Thanks for your effort and support. It's not what others do it's what YOU do The ruling by the SCOTUS can be seen here: The 27 page decision is on line here http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/04pdf/03-923.pdf (PDF Reader required) An initial news report of the SCOTUS ruling ran in the NY Times on Jan 25. http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n140/a08.html EDITORIALS commenting on the ruling include Tribune Review, Pittsburgh PA http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n160/a07.html Burlington Times-News (NC) http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n187/a03.html The Payson Roundup (AZ) http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n160/a06.html Kansas City Star (MO) http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n150/a11.html Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel (WI) http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n150/a08.html NEWS ARTICLES reporting police applause for the ruling include Macon Telegraph (GA) http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n148/a10.html Arizona Republic (AZ) http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n162/a01.html Marion Daily Republican (IL) http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n177/a08.html Peoria Journal-Star (IL) http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n174/a05.html Please Check This Link for Additional News Clipping Targets for Your Letters http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Caballes Did you know that MAP offers free online and personal training on how to write Letters to the Editor that get printed? Please visit http://www.mapinc.org/resource/maf.htm and contact Steve Heath, our Media Activism Facilitator. Additional suggestions for writing letters to the editor can be seen at the same link by clicking LTE Writers' Resources. PLEASE SEND US A COPY OF YOUR LETTER Please post a copy of your letter or report your action to the sent letter list () if you are subscribed, or by E-mailing a copy directly to if you are not subscribed. Your letter will then be forwarded to the list so others can learn from your efforts. Subscribing to the Sent LTE list () will help you to review other sent LTEs and perhaps come up with new ideas or approaches as well as keeping others aware of your important writing efforts. To subscribe to the Sent LTE mailing list see http://www.mapinc.org/lists/index.htm#form Prepared by: Stephen Heath, MAP Media Activism Facilitator

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