February 23, 2006

By Lauren Heaton

Whether residents are inclined to run to the police for help or run away from them for cover, having an awareness of police procedure and citizens’ constitutional rights can help improve relations between law enforcement officials and the public.

That was the message Yellow Springs High School students heard last Wednesday as they got a practical lesson on how to interact with police while protecting their civil rights.

The police may seem like unlikely candidates to give advice on how to evade the police, but that’s just what Police Chief John Grote did last week as he talked to students for several hours about proper search and seizure procedures.

Law professor Tom Hagel from the University of Dayton also spoke to the students about how to cooperate with law enforcement officials while preventing the violation of their constitutional rights.

The discussion was held against a backdrop of mistrust that has developed over the past year between some local residents and the Police Department, whose decision to use drug interdiction techniques has angered some in the community. The police have received complaints, some of which involve young people and their parents, that officers are being unnecessarily forceful and intimidating in their accusations, particularly related to the illegal use of marijuana, according to Grote.

Grote told the students that since the murder of Yellow Springs High School student Tim Lopez in 2002 and the unsolved murder of local resident Tim Harris in 2004, both of which were drug related, the police have stepped up their drug interdiction in the village.

Because investigations related to both cases are still ongoing, police are hoping that cracking down on small infractions will lead them to more serious offenders or help solve bigger crimes, Grote said. There is also the hope that a low tolerance policy will discourage those thinking about breaking the law, he said.

“It’s not a policy change, but in fact we’re enforcing the laws that already exist,” Grote told the students. “I find it disturbing uncovering things that are going on in the village, and I feel responsible to the village and to the people I’m supposed to serve.”

Grote described to the students the procedure police are supposed to follow for a routine traffic stop.

The police must have a reason to stop a vehicle, such as an nonfunctional tail light or driving over the center line, and the police must inform the driver of the reason for the stop, he said. The police will then request a license and registration and perhaps proof of insurance, which will be used during the stop to check the driver’s record and possible criminal history. The police must then issue a ticket or a citation for a violation, after which the driver is free to go, Grote said.

“It’s important for you to know that,” he said.

Using the drug interdiction approach, police have taken their traffic stops further by looking for evidence of drugs in the vehicle and asking questions about fatigue or recent alcohol or marijuana use, he said.

“Drug interdiction is the next step, and that’s what we’ve gotten the heat on,” he said.

Grote said a surprisingly high percentage of people will answer yes to those simple but probing questions from police during a traffic stop.

The majority of the arrests that have occurred in the past year have resulted from conversations police have had with drivers who admit they’ve been smoking marijuana or who have a visible stash of drugs, pipes or bowls in the console beside them, the police chief said.

“People are very reckless in the way they carry their stash,” Grote said.

Some of those stops lead to the drug source, such as a stop involving methamphetamine found in a styrofoam cup, which led police to uncover two meth labs in Fairborn.

Grote said felony arrests in Yellow Springs have risen fourfold in the past year. He is saddened by the crime rate, but he feels Police Department policy is justified because of the violent nature of the two recent crimes committed here, he said.

But some YSHS students said they feel the police are overly suspicious of them and are quick to assume their activities are suspect or that they are behaving outside the law.

Junior Dan Noll said that the police here “rule with an iron fist,” and he gets uncomfortable downtown because police “assume everyone down there is an underage user.”

Hagel spoke to the students about the Fourth and Fifth Amendments, which protect individuals’ rights to be secure against unreasonable searches and seizures and protect them from having to testify against themselves.

Police must have probable cause, such as visible evidence of illegal drugs or the smell or sight of marijuana in a vehicle, in order to perform a search of a person or his or her property, he said. And consent is needed to perform a search without probable cause, he said.

“When the police stop your car on a traffic violation and want to talk…unless he sees or knows there are illegal substances in the vehicle, you have a constitutional right not to answer the officer’s questions,” Hagel said. “You are free to go after the traffic ticket is issued, and you may politely and slowly get into your vehicle and drive away. It is your right.”

Hagel also advised students not to argue or become violent with police because it could give an officer cause to arrest on additional charges.

Students asked questions about the boundaries of a personal search by police and about criminal profiling in Yellow Springs. Grote said that the Police Department has a new video taping system that records continuously and allows him to sit down with citizens and review a stop if there are concerns. He added that he takes accusations against his officers seriously and will investigate complaints from the public.

Sophomore Dustin Salyers, who before Friday’s lecture was not entirely aware of his rights, said he has been stopped by the local police for a traffic infraction and detained for what seemed to him to be an unreasonably long time. On a recent stop, Salyers said, he was treated unfairly and told to avoid certain areas of town that he said he doesn’t frequent.

Salyers said the discussion at school helped him to better understand his rights.

“Now I know I don’t have to stay anymore if I’m not being arrested for anything,” he said. “I could just leave.”

Last week’s program was initiated by Grote, who approached YSHS Principal John Gudgel about talking to students about their interactions with police in the village, an idea that stemmed from Grote’s concern that villagers were not aware of their rights. Grote said he thought that talking to the students at school might help improve relations between youth and the Police Department.

Grote said he hopes that something similar might be organized in the community, to begin a dialogue between residents and the Police Department. He said he wants to open lines of communication between law enforcement and the community.

“This is just the beginning, and I’m still open to suggestions from the community,” Grote said.

Contact: lheaton@ysnews.com