The debate about the legitimacy of checkpoints has more or less settled into a sort of detente but this really isn't about DUI.
As was entirely predictable, the incrementalism that is inevitable when freedoms are ceded to government is on full display in the age of the 'no refusal checkpoint.'
The very concept and practice are premeditated violations of the 4th Amendment. The police, who seemingly can never resist an opportunity to spout hackneyed tough talk, have taken leave of their law enforcement remit, their oaths and their senses. When a phlebotomist i.e. a blood-drawing nurse is on duty at a checkpoint site you know the coppers have lost their collective minds in the pursuit of political pats on the head and - more important - overtime money paid for by Uncle Sam.
And who declares the 'no refusal' policy? Why, the police of course. It's enforcement of a sort but it has little to do with the law.
Cop Block organizations don't do themselves any favors when they wind up the police with their I'm-standing-here-and-won't-move games but on the other hand they are doing nothing illegal and have every right to question and/or decline requests. But if Cop Block occasionally act juvenile they are nothing compared to the police who rely on a silly litany of intimidation tactics: lots of cruisers with bright strobes and spotlights, lots of milling around as if a crisis were unfolding, lots of terse radio conversations, etc. Usually, they sheepishly walk away when the video cameras are rolling and/or their stunts fail to impress.
Related article with absolutely chilling photo at: http://benswann.com/federal-funds-fuel-nationwide-increase-in-no-refusal-blood-draw-dui-checkpoints/
Just claim you recently returned from Africa and say “leave me the hell alone”.
There is a net minus in ticketing and fines. We need a new Flash-bang thrower, grenade launcher,command post, MRAP, queer gear, and a whole lotta stuff - to serve you better.
Happens here in Bexar County occasionally, usually instigated by Bexar County District Attorney Susan Reed (running for re-election against an equally unsavory Democrat, Nico LaHood).
These “No Choice” blockades really irk me.
They are done under the guise of sobriety but, they cast a net for anything and everything.
Further, having been to countries where roads are frequently blocked by the military, this wholly unAmerican.
It violates the Bill of Rights and the commerce clause as far as I’m concerned.
DUI checkpoints should never have passed Constitutional muster in the first place.
And I actually thought the Cop Block guys on the video did a nice job of staying put on the sidewalk. The LEO had no basis to ask them to move other than to bust their chops.
Sometimes you need to assert your rights just because you need to remind the cops they operate under legal authority and are not authorities unto themselves.
Other than a person with a weapon, the scariest thing to (most but not all) cops is a person with a knowledge of the Constitution and his/her rights (real ones).
Given the opportunity COPs will always do the wrong thing. They’re govt agents and employees following the dictates of their masters (the judges, pols and bureaucrats). They have a vested interest in monies collected/confiscated and increase of perceived power over the Little People.
“make sure no one’s out drinking and driving,”
Clark County NV?
A very ambitious goal indeed.
I was flagged into one of these in Chino CA about 15 years ago. It was 5 pm on a Monday in a shopping area with a lot of soccer moms out in SUVs grocery shopping. I had on business suit including tie.
I asked if they get a lot of drunk drivers on Mon at 5 pm as opposed to Fri night between 10 and 12. The officer said “You’d be surprised.” He was right, I WOULD have been, but I let it go.
My take was they were set up at their convenience and not at the optimum time for prevention.
Unconstitutional either way. USSC wake up, you’re wrong on this one.
This is an honest question...what would you consider to be constitutionally valid, and also effective, method(s) that police may take to remove DUI/DWI drivers from public roads?
These “checkpoints” shouldn’t be done, but under the most extraordinary circumstances, like if there’s a killer on the loose that has been seen in the area. The so-called “sobriety checkpoints” are nothing more than fishing expeditions where they look to charge people for anything and everything they can.
If someone actually supports these, they couldn’t POSSIBLY support the 4th Amendment(and probably a few other Amendments as well).
If one of those roadside nurses of theirs were to try to take blood from me, they had BETTER hope that I wouldn’t flinch for some reason, injure me, and I’d call ‘Saul’, then sue their asses off.
Thank God I live in a no checkpoint state. Unfortunately to avoid one I need to go the long way around to get out of the state and can’t get any further than Minnesota.
http://www.ghsa.org/html/stateinfo/laws/checkpoint_laws.html
Oh, really? I think I read something on that topic one time.
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Everyone participating, from judge to cop to medical tech, is a traitor to his or her country and ought to be hanged for it. How's that for "no tolerance"?
I don’t see this as anything new, nor do I see it purely as a revenue enhancer. I remember being stopped at the only sobriety checkpoint I have been through twenty years ago - and there was no way out of it. It was around 2 a.m. in NJ, route 202, and other than losing 10 minutes or so of my life, it was totally unoffensive. And it was totally about DUI. We did have our seat belts on.
“and the restrained and arrested driver would then forcibly have their blood extracted by the nurse on standby at the checkpoint. “
The people who founded this nation and fought the Revolutionary War; would have looked at us with disgust for allowing such a thing.
Virtually EVERYTHING done by traffic cops is about ticket revenue. Traffic police contribute NOTHING to traffic safety.
Disagree?
Check to see if anyone in your city publishes a listing of the most dangerous street and intersections (somebody does in most cities). Now think when the last time you saw a radar trap or patrol car at one of those places.
Now think of a nice long straight road, where there have been no accidents listed, but provides good long sight lines for a radar gun and plenty of shoulder room to pull cars over. Yep, it's the same in every city. Traffic laws are ‘enforced’ where lots of tickets can be written in an hour.
That's traffic ‘safety’ for you.
This is bullshit. In my state (Washington), the Supreme Court here has ruled these are unconstitutional.
Just desensitizing the sheeple for the coming clamp down. They probably make enough in tickets to pay for the exercise with a little left over for a new tactical toy but the main objective is, like the surge in dog shootings, to get us used to an increase in the presence of an enhanced and empowered police force. Not a force of these yoyos but a new unit that is coming, that is being built as we go about our daily lives, unknowing. One day it will be there.. with new uniforms of black and leather, with cryptic emblems built around runes, and under the helmuts, hard faces reflecting the merciless conditioning that will allow them to do what is commanded. Even their own parents will grow to fear them...
The states I have lived in (mostly in the South) have so-called “implied consent” laws. Because both breathalyzer and field-sobriety tests are notorious for high false-positive rates, many drivers who are subjected to DUI screening (either randomly at a checkpoint or with probable cause) demand that they be given a blood-alcohol test, typically at the local hospital. Both the police and the drivers know that the time spent en route to the hospital will inexorably lower the BAC, thereby reducing the likelihood of a true positive test outcome. That's why some police departments now have on-site blood testing.
Constitution Schmonstitution!