"Drug Checkpoints" making a return?

[patric]

Some of us might remember the signs on I-44 near Conway, Missouri warning of a "Drug Checkpoint" just before an off-ramp leading into the town.

The ruse should be obvious, and the constables ran the "fake" checkpoint for years before the courts decided an officer posted out of sight at the off-ramp did indeed constitute an drug checkpoint (which is illegal).  https://bulk.resource.org/courts.gov/c/F3/308/308.F3d.820.01-2288.html

Nevertheless, someone else in Ohio recently thought it would be a good idea to try it themselves:


http://morningjournal.com/articles/2013/06/30/news/doc51d092485c609069932849.txt?viewmode=fullstory

MAYFIELD HEIGHTS, Ohio (AP) — Police in the Cleveland suburb of Mayfield Heights know they're not allowed to use checkpoints to search drivers and their cars for drugs.
So they're trying the next best thing: fake drug checkpoints.

Police in the city of 19,000 recently posted large yellow signs along Interstate 271 that warned drivers that there was a drug checkpoint ahead, to be prepared to stop and that there was a drug-sniffing police dog in use.
There was no such checkpoint, just police officers waiting to see if any drivers would react suspiciously after seeing the signs.


Edited to add:  This lawyer's speel seems to indicate its not so isolated:
http://www.criminaldefenselawyer.com/resources/criminal-defense/drug-possession/police-drug-checkpoint-mo.htm

U.S. v. Yousif, 308 F.3d 820 (8th Cir. 2002)
"While the checkpoint at issue in the present case differs from the checkpoint at issue in Edmond in that the MHP used signs to suggest to drivers that taking the Sugar Tree Road exit was a way to avoid a police checkpoint, the mere fact that some vehicles took the exit under such circumstances does not, in our opinion, create individualized reasonable suspicion of illegal activity as to every one of them. Indeed, as the government's evidence indicated, while some drivers may have wanted to avoid being caught for drug trafficking, many more took the exit for wholly innocent reasons-such as wanting to avoid the inconvenience and delay of being stopped or because it was part of their intended route."