The New “Highway Robbery”: Money-Making DUI Roadblocks Growing

Maricopa County Courts ^ | February 14, 2010 | Lawrence Taylor

[granite]

California Cops Exploit DUI Checkpoints to Bring in Money for Cities, Police California police are turning DUI checkpoints into profitable operations that are far more likely to seize cars from unlicensed minority motorists than catch drunken drivers.

[wendy1946]

Are there any instances of innocent and totally sober people failing these tests and having property taken?

Not playing devil's advocate here, just curious.

[mkjessup]

This should come as no surprise to anyone, once the fascists acquire ANY amount of power, they will never relinquish it.

“Ist your papers in order, Herr Citizen?”

And the sheeple all bleat “baaaaaaWOHL!”

[granite]

Are there any instances of innocent and totally sober people failing these tests and having property taken?

From the article: "See, for example, DUI Roadblock: 1131 Stops, 114 Tickets, 0 DUI Arrests, Another "Successful" DUI Roadblock: 3000 Drivers Stopped, 0 DUIs."

[SkyDancer]

Has happened before (other states) where cops would toss a baggie in a car then arrest the driver ... in Missouri the state cops were stopping people with Conservative bumper stickers or anti-Obama stickers ....

[who_would_fardels_bear]

We can have police officers stationed in your home just in case you decide to use illicit drugs.

If you never do, then you will never get arrested, so what's the worry?

[Seruzawa]

Criminals in uniform.

[RC one]

Well, if you aren’t doing anything wrong you shouldn’t have anything to worry about. Right? I mean, asides from a government that ignores one of the most fundamental aspects of any free society, the right to travel about freely and without undue harassment by gun toting authorities.

[Spirochete]

The New “Highway Robbery”: Money-Making DUI Roadblocks Growing

I see potential for a new iPhone app.

[relictele]

I don’t know what’s worse...the gormless cops who believe they are doing good or the MADD harpies who have outstayed their welcome.

[El Gran Salseron]

This highlights DUI stops as a means of illicit income but regular ol’ traffic stop for “violations” are just another means of providing “income” to the state.

Big Brother and all of his henchmen just want the income. They couldn’t care less about “public safety”.

We should work to change the law so that any traffic violation would result in mandatory jail time with no fine.

How many traffic tickets would get written?

[microgood]

The US. Supreme Court ruled in Michigan v. Sitz that although a DUI roadblock does constitute a violation of the Fourth Amendment, the governmentalal interest in reducing drunk driving fatalities outweighs the "minimal intrusion" into a citizen’s constitutional rights.

There is a special place in he@@ waiting for those in SCOTUS that supported this ruling.

[wendy1946]

Like I said, just curious, that's all.

We clearly need a few new items in the bill of rights, one of which should say that nobody ever profits by enforcing the law. Fines taken in by cop activities should be distributed to charities, and to charities in states OTHER than those in which the fine was levied, and preferably to international charities like Persecution Project or the Salvation Army.

[Pessimist]

I think the importance of these roadblocks is that they are accepted by society. We have become desensitized to being strong armed by our overlords.

[Flycatcher]

I don’t know what’s worse...the gormless cops who believe they are doing good or the MADD harpies who have outstayed their welcome.

LOL!

That's like asking: Which is worse... Al Gore's books or Michael Moore's movies?

[Star Traveler]

You were saying ...

Are there any instances of innocent and totally sober people failing these tests and having property taken?

That might be interesting to find out, but it wouldn't matter in terms of this "goldmine" technique that is being used. It's obviously a "subterfuge" by police to "rake in the dough" for all sorts of other things.

And it sounds quite typical for the police and cities and their governments to do those sorts of things.

[screaminsunshine]

Cabs are cheaper than DUI.

[Star Traveler]

You were saying ...

We have become desensitized to being strong armed by our overlords.

Well, I would put a finer touch on that and say that it's MADD that has been strong-arming people and the "overlords" in government saw a good thing for "revenue enchancement" when it fell into their laps... LOL...

[screaminsunshine]

Think of all the unrelated tickets they can write.

[philetus]

The US. Supreme Court ruled (your state) that seizing all private firearms does constitute a violation of the second a,endment,
the governmental interest in reducing accidental shootings outweighs the “minimal intrusion” into a citizen’s constitutional rights.