Posted on 09/23/2014 1:50:34 PM PDT by Teotwawki
In a move that, if adopted, would almost certainly be brought into the courts, a northern New Jersey town is contemplating an ordinance that would grant local police access — without a search warrant — into private residences in order to check up on allegations of underage drinking.
Officials in the town of Montville, on the western edge of the New York metropolitan area’s sprawl, are discussing the new ordinance — perhaps counterintuitively — in terms of keeping underage drinking in check while helping young people avoid establishing criminal records that can follow them throughout their lives.
“While teens caught drinking face criminal charges under state law, officers under the Montville proposal could choose to let underage drinkers face lesser penalties,” CBS New York reported Thursday.
But many residents, both young and old, aren’t buying it.
“I am not in favor of them just coming into the homes, because there — other people have said — there are children that do make mistakes on various occasions, and that’s more of a parent responsibility rather than a police responsibility,” resident Anna Cecire told CBS.
“I just feel that it’s not really their business to be going into people’s houses,” echoed teenager Brendan Zevits. “If you want to do that, you need to get a warrant.”
The Montville council is expected to hammer out some reportedly gray areas in the ordinance’s language at a Sept. 23 meeting.
Of course, they could just do the sensible thing and toss this bad local law in the trash. If they don’t, it’s hard to imagine that a judge wouldn’t do it for them.
Nice, just nice.
Why don’t these loathsome parents just stay home and watch their miserable kids?
I suspect that once inside, they could conclude that any open alcohol container in the home that was not locked up, was available for minors to drink.
Next up will be the DFS people to take your kids away. Good luck getting them back, and who knows how you will pay for the lawyers or keep your job by the time you miss work for all of the hearings.
And where would the city get this authority?
Guess the people in that town will have to get down to the next city council meeting.
What is the basis for this? Seriously. Why should underage drinking be an exception to the warrant rules? Other than the fact that stopping it is a popular cause? What about Racism? Can the cops come in without a warrant if they think that you are engaging in a Racist act? Or smoking pot?
I heard the mayor’s children and the Chief of Police’s children drink at home every Friday and Saturday night about 11pm.
Instead of passing this law, why don’t they just pick some random citizens and start handing out six-figure settlements? The effect will be same, but with far less paperwork,
” Why don’t these loathsome parents just stay home and watch their miserable kids??
You have GOT to be kidding.
.
NJ has a state law that gives towns the right to enact it if they want to.
Most towns have, some won’t.
Unbelievable.
Doesn’t this community have a municipal attorney? Anyone who went through law school should know that this ordinance is a constitutional dead letter from the get-go. And should tell the council to not even waste their time on it. In fact, he needs to cover his ass and make an official opinion, because the first time an officer tries to rely on this ordinance, the town is going to get massively sued by the parents of every kid at the party for a civil rights violation.
This would be a case where the civil rights plaintiff’s attorneys tell the municipal lawyer to get out the checkbook, and he’ll tell the municipal lawyer when to stop writing “zeroes.”
State laws do not trump the constitution. It’s a pretty basic legal concept.
Leaders of Montville, ever hear of the 4th Amendment?
“The Montville council is expected to hammer out some reportedly gray areas...”
Like the Constitution? It seems to be taking a lot of hammering lately.
But it is for their own good .... when it is for their own good the Constitution can be bypassed. Just ask any Ivy League college law professor.
My state rep (Mike Shirkey) introduced legislation to eliminate unenforcable local ordinances the other day.
Naturally this brought screaming from the democrats. They say nothing is unenforcable if you just hire enough people to enforce it.
Now that drugs are being legalized, they need to find something for the drug warriors to do. Going back to a war on booze is an obvious choice.
Oh sure! Got a neighbor you can't stand? Drop a dime on him. The JBTs will be more than happy to respond with overwhelming force and shoot his dog for ya.
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