FLINT (WWJ) – The Genessee County Sheriff’s Department has launched a program of running drug checkpoints on highways around Flint.

WWJ’s Rob Sanford reports the Genessee County Sheriff’s Department will set up a narcotics checkpoint along I-69 and US-23 about seven times a month.

Once stopped, cars will be searched if drug dogs sniff out something suspicious. If motorists pull a U-turn to avoid the checkpoint, police cruisers will be on hand to pull them over and search their vehicles.

Genesee County Sheriff Robert Pickell told the Free Press that Flint is a crossroads of drug dealing and he decided to try checkpoints.

But the American Civil Liberties Union and several constitutional law experts say checkpoints aren’t legal, pointing to a number of court decisions on the issue.

County Prosecutor David Leyton said he can’t stop the sheriff unless someone who is arrested at one of the checkpoints challenges the evidence in court.