[Blue Jays]

"...When I was a kid, it was the job of the police to make the public feel safe. Somehow or other, that got turned around..."

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This is precisely the reason for my discomfort at the roadside License / Insurance / Registration checkpoints that seem to be in vogue today.
By design, that technique assumes GUILT by the drivers randomly on that route and exclusively allows passage once credentials are examined.

Call me crazy, yet an assembly of unsmiling, confrontational, steroid-enhanced, buzzcut guys (some with dogs) isn't setting the stage for a friendly exchange.
This pumped-up approach to law enforcement is disconcerting and is not the neighborly "peace officer" of years past.
It is also how one can go from just minding their own business in their car to being dragged out through the window at gunpoint in virtually an instant.

When we were kids, all of us knew the local cops by name (e.g. "Officer Bob") and he or she would occasionally give us a stick of gum or piece of candy. I don't have any kids, yet I know it ain't happening like that these days.

[ml/nj]

This is precisely the reason for my discomfort at the roadside License / Insurance / Registration checkpoints that seem to be in vogue today. By design, that technique assumes GUILT by the drivers randomly on that route and exclusively allows passage once credentials are examined.

I don't like these either. But at least there is some plausible justification based upon the notion that driving is a licensed activity. Occupying ones own home is in no way similar.

ML/NJ

[Blue Jays]

GlockTheVote, agree with you 100% regarding the militarization and this latest approach.
See my post above regarding how things can go wrong in the blink of an eye.