Posted on 05/17/2009 8:43:30 AM PDT by guildnavigator
I live in a small town in Southern Maine. Last week I encountered the local police in the process of setting up a roadblock/checkppoint on one of the more heavily-travelled county roads. It was mid-afternoon - not your usual midnight sobriety checkpoint. Apparently the reason for the checkpoint was to screen motorists/vehicles/drivers/passengers for any and all possible violations. My son later drove past the checkpoint from the other direction and saw one of his friends standing outside his vehicle while police searched it. Unknown whether that was a "probable cause" or "consent" search. Several days before that I went to park at Logan Airport's terminal B short term parking while going in to pick up my daughter. In order to pass through the gate to the parking garage I had to consent to have my vehicle searched. A surly attendant demanded that I pop my trunk. He fiddled with the trunk door a bit then wave me through. Increasingly intrusive airport security checks for passengers. Bus stations now require ID to purchase tickets. Cameras log your motorvehicle plate at various locations including intersections and toll booths. If you have a TransPass or similar toll-paying device, you are duly logged and date-stamped for each position. Your cell phones transmit gps coordinates of their current location for "enhanced 911" systems. The list goes on. Where does it end? Why not a camera in every bedroom? I suspect some illegal activity may be going on in there as well. There seems to be little protest. The sheep line up. The cattle shuffle into the shoot. I'd like to hear of other peoples experience with the ongoing violations of the 4th Amendment.
Didn’t you post this same thing earlier this morning?
Multiple postings of the same vanity will not lead to your becoming universally beloved.
If you are not doing anything wrong why worry? The biggest complainers are the ones doing something wrong. The biggest worry I have is if I have a beer on the way home.
Maybe you’re being facetious here and I’m missing it somehow? If not, I have to say that kind of thinking is scary to a free man.
“If you are not doing anything wrong why worry?”
i can’t believe you actually wrote this...dude , ya need remedial freedom classes.
JUST SAY NO, when they ask you to get out of the car LOCK THE DOORS and PUT KEYS IN POCKET, JUST SAY NO. Tell them to go get a warrant, Then peacefully remind them that Violating a persons Civil Rights under the color of law is a FELONY. Unlawful detainment is a VIOLATION. So is Kidnapping should they arrest you. By the way the very instant you notify them of possible criminal violations on their part their IMMUNITY from Civil Liability is GONE.
Sorry. New to sight. Still trying to figure out how things work!
You said it yourself: ONGOING violations.
The aim is to make these anti-Constitutional acts part of everyday life so that those protesting and/or refusing to comply will be portrayed as criminals.
Works for police but not for the Border Patrol.
I’ll take a few and see if I can locate the relevant legal citation, Supreme Court ruling.
As for the road block, have you called the local PD and found out why they had the checkpoint? Escaped inmate in the area? Amber alert? Drug checkpoint? What did they say?
As for the airport, that's private property, or government owned property,so if they have that rule so be it. Rather that than a bomb in a terminal like the Scots faced with their doctor's plot.
Everyone knows their rights, just ask them. What are your responsibilities? That is the question no one wants to answer.
Found it (Federal Law and upheld by the Supreme Court).
The legal ability of the Border Patrol to stop traffic, to question persons, and to search traffic is uncontested. The Supreme Court decision is the last word.
http://www.aliciapatterson.org/APF1804/Davidson/Davidson.html
http://www.ptleader.com/main.asp?SectionID=4&SubSectionID=4&ArticleID=21651&TM=80391.33
http://www.ccis-ucsd.org/news/Art.%2048.pdf
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-05-435
INA 287 (a) (3) within a reasonable distance from any external boundary of the United States, to board and search for aliens any vessel within the territorial waters of the United States and any railway car, aircraft, conveyance, or VEHICLE... and within a distance of twenty-five miles from any such external boundary to have access to private lands, but not dwellings for the purpose of patrolling the border to prevent the illegal entry of aliens into the United States;
They don’t seriously enforce laws against illegal immigration, so this is the only part they care about:
“(5) to make arrests-
(A) for any offense against the United States, if the offense is committed in the officer’s or employee’s presence, or
(B) for any felony cognizable under the laws of the United States, if the officer or employee has reasonable grounds to believe that the person to be arrested has committed or is committing such a felony, if the officer or employee is performing duties relating to the enforcement of the immigration laws at the time of the arrest and if there is a likelihood of the person escaping before a warrant can be obtained for his arrest.”
Just a “legal” way to stop and search anyone without probable cause.
I agree with you.
The police State thing has gone too far. Homeland Security is now putting out terrorist hit lists on anyone who advocates or supports anything the government does not like.
Time for some constitutional blow back.
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