BY ART BUKOWSKI
SUTTONS BAY -- Leelanau Sheriff Mike Oltersdorf pledged to investigate allegations his deputies unlawfully entered homes, though he disputed some details of the reported misconduct.
A local branch of the American Civil Liberties Union contends in a letter to Oltersdorf that deputies illegally entered Leelanau County homes on at least five separate occasions from mid-2007 through this summer.
Deputies were after alleged underage drinkers in each case.
"This is very, very serious," Oltersdorf said. "It's severe misconduct, illegal misconduct being alleged by the ACLU, and I take this very seriously."
Oltersdorf said his department will study the incidents, and he might ask the FBI or another agency to investigate. But he's discovered wrong dates and other inaccuracies and discrepancies as he's begun to examine the allegations, he said, and he wants to meet with ACLU representatives to iron out details.
A local district judge and Leelanau Prosecutor Joe Hubbell dismissed charges in some of the underage drinking cases, wrongdoing cited in the ACLU's letter. And Oltersdorf acknowledged that a deputy involved in one of the incidents didn't follow a directive from Hubbell's office.
That deputy told a teen at a July party that she'd be ticketed if she refused to submit to a breath test. But Hubbell in September 2007 wrote a memo to local police agencies alerting them of a U.S. District Court ruling that meant they could no longer ticket minors for refusing such a test.
Hubbell said he declined to purse an alcohol possession citation against the teen when he learned the deputy improperly coerced her to take a breath test. Oltersdorf said Hubbell's memo was posted for deputies to read, and the deputy later said he shouldn't have threatened the girl.
"He was wrong, and the case was dismissed as a result of that," Oltersdorf said.
Eighty-Sixth District Judge Thomas J. Phillips tossed out citations against two minors involved in another incident. Phillips said deputies didn't have a valid reason to enter a Suttons Bay residence in June.
The deputies said they were looking for someone who may have been injured in a nearby traffic crash, and the judge ruled the deputies didn't have reason to believe an injured person was inside the house.
Pat Spidell represents unionized Leelanau deputies through his role with the Police Officers Association of Michigan. The Leelanau Sheriff's Department has a long-standing "zero tolerance" policy regarding underage drinking, and deputies believe they have to be aggressive when policing it, Spidell said.
"The employees are required to enforce that policy to the Nth degree, with no exception," he said. "When they are on these situations, they have no choice. They feel that if they don't put their best effort forward, it will result in discipline."
Oltersdorf said his department takes underage drinking seriously, but deputies have "total discretion in the field" with such incidents.
"Don't think for a second that Pat Spidell or anyone else would accept the fact that I'm ordering people to break the law; nobody would stand for that," he said. "Deputies are not required to obey an unlawful order, no matter who it comes from."
Spidell and Oltersdorf said underage drinking enforcement is a sticky issue.
"These guys are between a rock and a hard place," Spidell said. "It's one of those delicate balancing issues between civil rights and (how) the public expects officers to protect the safety of young people."
But the ACLU wants to make sure officers don't overstep their bounds in the interest of safety.
"The police aren't free to ignore the limits on power set forth in the Constitution when it's convenient for them to do so," said Michael J. Steinberg, the ACLU of Michigan's legal director.
Related Story: ACLU alleges Leelanau deputies broke law
