Congressional Digest

Supreme Court Debates January 2004 No. 1 Vol. 7
Foreword

Police Roadblocks

Constitutionality of "Informational" Checkpoints

Foreword

Shortly after midnight on August 23, 1997, on a major avenue in the Chicago suburb of Lombard, Illinois, an elderly bicyclist was killed in a hit-and-run accident. With few leads and only a vague description of the perpetrator’s vehicle, Lombard police set up a roadblock on the same road exactly a week after the incident in hopes of identifying possible witnesses to the crime. At the checkpoint, police officers stopped all eastbound traffic, asked drivers if they knew anything about the incident, and handed them informational fliers.Although the police had no instructions to check for drunk drivers, when Robert Lidster…

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