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Oakland PD cancels Cinco de Mayo DUI checkpoints to avoid offending anyone
Hot Air.com ^ | May 7, 2016 | JAZZ SHAW

Posted on 05/07/2016 8:35:21 AM PDT by Kaslin

It’s the little things that make life special, but it may also be the little things that let you know when you’ve truly developed a problem. If you happen to live in the greater Oakland, California area, this story is the sort of indicator which just might let you know it’s time to leave. We’ve seen too many stories of political correctness infecting the government to count here, and occasionally it washes over into the field of law enforcement, but this one is simply staggering. The Oakland PD had scheduled a series of sobriety checkpoints around the city for Cinco de Mayo and, as usual, let everyone know they would be on the job to prevent people from driving drunk after the partying was done. (Hat tip to Immigration Reform.)

This somehow raised the dander of someone in the Latino community who amazingly claimed this was a demonstration of racism. A group called Oakland Latinos United took to Facebook to voice their complaints.

“Oakland Police has posted on their Twitter account they’re going to put out Extra Patrols for you drunk Mexicans on Cinco de Mayo,” said a post on the Facebook page Oakland Latinos United. “How does it feel. As a Mexican Chicano I wonder if OPD will be posting DUI PSAs for every ethnic & culturally based holiday?”

So how did the Oakland PD respond? They cancelled the DUI checkpoints. (Fox News)

A warning about drunk-driving checkpoints during the Cinco de Mayo holiday got the Oakland (Calif.) Police Department in hot water.

The lengthy warning, titled “Fiesta Time or Jail Times,” about driving while intoxicated made many references to such drinks as tequila and margaritas, and many people complained it was offensive.

“In the United States, Cinco de Mayo has become synonymous with festive fiestas and salty margaritas,” the warning said. “Historically, the fifth of May commemorates Mexico’s 1862 victory over France at the Battle of Puebla during the Franco-Mexican War, but present-day celebrations often lead to drunk driving—and there’s no victory in that.”

Criticism about the warning prompted the Oakland Police Department to issue an apology and then cancel the checkpoints.

If it weren’t for the lessons learned from Princess Bride I’d be describing this report as inconceivable. It’s bad enough that we have police needing to justify focusing law enforcement resources in high crime areas if those neighborhoods happen to have large minority populations, but this story truly takes the corn cake. (Yeah… I just went there.)

Police departments all across the country issue warnings regarding DUI checkpoints around various holidays every year and it’s not done so they can arrest more people. They do it to arrest fewer people by reminding them that they need to either dial back the drinking at parties or make sure they have the Uber app loaded on their phones. Pointing out the background of the holiday in question isn’t racist… it’s just filler information. When they mention fireworks displays and BBQs around the 4th of July they aren’t targeting people who love America. And when they remind you that New Years Eve is coming up it’s not some plot to deny the rights of supporters of the Gregorian calendar by a handful of racist, Julian calendar dead enders. Noting in a press release that a lot of people are going to head out and drink tequila or margaritas is simply a statement of fact, particularly when many of them will be people who normally wouldn’t go near tequila at any other time of the year.

But because this one “group” (or possibly one guy with a Facebook account for all we know) decided to play the race card, the cops cancelled the DUI checkpoints. Who is running the Oakland PD these days? Next we’ll have cops apologizing for investigating theft if the perpetrator wasn’t making $15 an hour.

DUIcheckpoint


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; US: California
KEYWORDS: california; drunkdriving; lawenforcement; oakland; police; safety
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1 posted on 05/07/2016 8:35:21 AM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

yup... It looks like the Oakland PD are behind the hashtag never trump crowd...


2 posted on 05/07/2016 8:36:34 AM PDT by mainestategop (DonÂ’t Let Freedom Slip Away After America , There is No Place to Go)
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To: Kaslin

I’m speechless.

I guess we won’t have any this New Years Eve as that would offend everyone too. Guess we just have them on Christmas.


3 posted on 05/07/2016 8:37:15 AM PDT by Mouton (The insurrection laws maintain the status quo now.)
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To: Kaslin; John Semmens

Had to double check if this was your work, John.


4 posted on 05/07/2016 8:38:58 AM PDT by Personal Responsibility (We need a separation of press and state!)
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To: Kaslin

Better that innocent people die than risk offending an ethnic minority. Logic of the left.


5 posted on 05/07/2016 8:39:29 AM PDT by Spok ("What're you going to believe-me or your own eyes?" -Marx (Groucho))
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To: Kaslin
“How does it feel. As a Mexican Chicano I wonder if OPD will be posting DUI PSAs for every ethnic & culturally based holiday?”

I know of extra DUI patrols around St Patrick's Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Christmas, New Years and Fourth of July. Welcome to the party.

6 posted on 05/07/2016 8:40:03 AM PDT by AlaskaErik (I served and protected my country for 31 years. Progressives spent that time trying to destroy it.)
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To: Kaslin

Stinko de Mayo


7 posted on 05/07/2016 8:40:41 AM PDT by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now it is your turn ...)
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To: Kaslin
Oakland PD cancels Cinco de Mayo DUI checkpoints to avoid offending anyone

No tickees for Wetbacks, be sure the cop sees you're soaked!

8 posted on 05/07/2016 8:40:46 AM PDT by Navy Patriot (America, a Rule of Mob nation)
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To: Mouton

i dont like the reason they were cancelled but i do like the fact they were these checkpoints are no more than police fishing for dollars


9 posted on 05/07/2016 8:40:55 AM PDT by jneesy (I want my country back and Trump is gonna give it to me)
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To: Kaslin

Are you allowed to eat tacos if you are of German heritage?

Or am I stuck with sauerbraten?


10 posted on 05/07/2016 8:41:17 AM PDT by SnuffaBolshevik
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To: Kaslin
DUI checkpoints are BS.

DUI stops should be based on probable cause, nothing else.

Vote Trump

11 posted on 05/07/2016 8:41:37 AM PDT by sargon (The Revolution is ON! Vote Trump!)
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To: Kaslin

Thursday night my (adult) daughter wanted to take us out for Cinco. We went to 4 different Mexican places, every one was mobbed, at least 60 minute wait. Just for kicks we stopped by Taco Bell, the drive thru line was probably 50 cars long spilling into the street.

Had no idea this was such a huge deal in the midwest USA.


12 posted on 05/07/2016 8:41:53 AM PDT by nascarnation
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To: Kaslin

So a bunch of losers and racists whine on Twitter so the city decides to endanger the rest of the citizens instead? Oakland being Oakland.


13 posted on 05/07/2016 8:45:18 AM PDT by NohSpinZone (First thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers)
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To: Kaslin
“How does it feel. As a Mexican Chicano I wonder if OPD will be posting DUI PSAs for every ethnic & culturally based holiday?”

Where was this guy on St. Patrick's day?

14 posted on 05/07/2016 8:46:32 AM PDT by pepsi_junkie (ui)
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To: nascarnation

That’s because there are many, many illegal alien invaders from mexico living there.


15 posted on 05/07/2016 8:47:02 AM PDT by hal ogen (First Amendment or Reeducation Camp?.)
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To: Kaslin

Last Labor Day the sheriff in our local rural town announced a DUI checkpoint on the main road several times. They arrested an astonishing 25 drivers in two hours.


16 posted on 05/07/2016 8:47:06 AM PDT by Gen.Blather
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To: SnuffaBolshevik

Are you allowed to eat tacos if you are of German heritage?”

You would be guilty of ‘cultural appropriation’


17 posted on 05/07/2016 8:47:43 AM PDT by LydiaLong
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To: Kaslin
Oakland PD cancels Cinco de Mayo DUI checkpoints to avoid offending anyone

...the St. Patty's Day ones will remain in effect. Offending them white Europeans is never a concern. PS: They DO know Cinco de Mayo isn't an actual Mexican holiday, celebrated by Mexicans, right?

18 posted on 05/07/2016 8:47:52 AM PDT by Still Thinking (Freedom is NOT a loophole!)
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To: hal ogen

But 90% plus of the people in these places were not Hispanic.
I did the tour, saw it with my own eyes.

And it was a Thursday, not a weekend.


19 posted on 05/07/2016 8:48:55 AM PDT by nascarnation
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To: NohSpinZone

So a bunch of losers and racists whine on Twitter so the city decides to endanger the rest of the citizens instead? Oakland being Oakland.”

Leftists are willing to put up with casualties as long as no one is offended.


20 posted on 05/07/2016 8:49:12 AM PDT by LydiaLong
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