ABSTRACT
In 1985, Robert Vogel, a highway trooper in Florida, after attending a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) training seminar, constructed a new “drug courier profile” directed at motorists. His “profile” listed gender and race as criteria of suspicion. After the Eleventh Circuit ruled the “profile” provided insufficient legal basis to stop motorists, Vogel switched to citing the most trivial traffic violations as justification for his stops. After the same federal appellate court ruled these pretext stops were also unconstitutional, prosecutors directed future cases to state courts. However, the Florida Supreme Court also ruled against profile and pretext stops. Nonetheless, Vogel was lionized by the press, elected Sheriff, and, after becoming a DEA consultant, his methods were spread nationwide. As Sheriff, Vogel then pioneered a second new strategy: “policing for profit.” Rather than trying to catch northbound drug sellers, Vogel’s men turned to face potential drug buyers driving southbound and began conducting cash seizures through “civil asset forfeiture.” Civil law has many advantages for law enforcement because those ensnared receive none of the constitutional rights granted to criminal defendants such as the right to an attorney. The burden of proof imposed on the state is much lower and the seized cash becomes police property in many jurisdictions including Florida. Although judges had proven incapable of restraining Vogel, investigative reporters had more success. A newspaper uncovered police recorded video tapes capturing over 1,000 stops. At the time, 5% of motorists in Florida were black or Latino, but 69% of the motorists stopped by Vogel’s men were black or Hispanic, as were 82% of the motorists searched. Yet less than 1% received traffic tickets, even those who conceded they were inebriated or smoking marijuana because the goal had become seizing cash, primarily from minority motorists. For example, in one stop a black man complained he had already been stopped seven times, and in a second incident a black motorist shook his head in frustration after being stopped a second time in just seconds. Would the United States Supreme Court uphold Vogel’s “pretext” traffic stop strategy?
