Sheriff halts phony drug checkpoints

Indy Star ^

[Stew Padasso]

Marion County Sheriff Frank Anderson has halted any more phony checkpoints on interstate highways until he reviews their effectiveness.

Anderson met today with sheriff's Maj. Scott Robinett, the covert operations commander who organized a two-day campaign last week on the Northwestside. Deputies patrolled along the southbound lanes of I-65 between 71st and 86th streets, hoping to catch motorists trying to evade checkpoints.

[HurkinMcGurkin]

"The law against making U-turns in the median is there for a reason," Baxter said. "Is it really prudent to set up a situation encouraging illegal U-turns on high-speed highways?"

Oh, come on, don't use logic now.

Im sure some drug warrior will come along and say something like "Any wreck caused is directly the fault of a druggie who refuses to accept the consequences of his actions". Or some other inane banter.

[jmc813]

WOD Ping

[Lunatic Fringe]

Deputies also assisted a 96-year-old man who suffered from Alzheimer's and was traveling in the wrong direction.

A clever disguise, but it was really Old Man Fickledorf!

[vin-one]

a quote from laugh-in comes to mind

Very Interesting but Stupid
The Drug war continues and it's effectiveness over 2 days nets four arrests.
Time to declare a win...ha ha ha

[Chad Fairbanks]

I see... "We can't have drug checkpoints anymore, thanks to the damned Supreme Court... what will we do now?" "I got an idea! Let's have PHONY checkpoints!"

I wonder how much they paid the consultants to come up with that bright idea...

[keats5]

A funny thing happened to me the other day, here in Ohio. As I approached some railroad tracks, I noticed our police were stopping every car to hand out literature. When it was my turn, I received some handouts about railroad crossing safety tips. That was all. It seemed odd.

A few days after that, my husband was stopped for allegedly going left of center. He was not drunk, and I noticed no wierd driving from my passenger seat. Once the cop checked his license out, he immediatly let us go, without any type of field sobriety test or anything. This happened less than a tenth of a mile from the railroad tracks, where I was stopped for the literature.

Does anyone have a clue what this was about?

[dead]

Deputies also assisted a 96-year-old man who suffered from Alzheimer's and was traveling in the wrong direction.

I’m thinking that he was most likely the one who thought up “phony drug check points” in the first place.

[dead]

It's called "fishing" and its something that some cops do to occupy their time between donuts and naps.

It helps keep them from actually assisting anybody in need.

[HurkinMcGurkin]

I think you probably caught on, but it sounds like a scam where they get a brief look into your vehicle while handing out "literature" or get to smell your breath or vehicle and examine your behavior.

[Chad Fairbanks]

Maybe they wanted to ensure you had received your safety literature? After checking his license, they determined you had, in fact, received the safety literature...

Very efficient, if I do say so myself ;0)

[MrLeRoy]

Making sure there aren't any accidents is one important goal, Robinett said. One way deputies have avoided that is by traveling in the northbound lane of I-65 because their presence tends to cause traffic to move slower.

So for two days this scheme tied up not only the cops manning the phony checkpoint but the cops doing nothing but marginally lowering the violence of checkpoint-induced collisions. And in those two days they made four busts for "marijuana or drug paraphernalia possession."

I can't think of a better use for police resources.

[dogbyte12]

But what about the children?????

[keats5]

So if my breath smells like doughnuts, I'm OK?

[vin-one]

But what about the children?????

let them get their own dope.

[MrLeRoy]

ROTFL!

[dead]

But how do they know if you got your safety literature a few days ago?

It's probably best if they go into people's homes and look around to see if they got the safety literature.

[Gunslingr3]

Im sure some drug warrior will come along and say something like "Any wreck caused is directly the fault of a druggie who refuses to accept the consequences of his actions". Or some other inane banter.

"All your freedoms are belong to us!"

[Stew Padasso]

"I can't think of a better use for police resources."

Here is an Indiana program which is woefully inadequate. Money might not be the answer but it sure would be a better use of tax dollars:

---

One-third of Indiana counties behind on sex offender data


By The Associated Press
The Associated Press
August 11, 2003 1:05 AM


More than a month after the Indiana Supreme Court upheld the posting of sex offender information on the Internet, about a third of the state's 92 counties have not yet provided the necessary data

http://www.indystar.com/print/articles/8/064559-8988-127.html

[american spirit]

Anyone heard of a supposed Homeland Security initiative in it's early stages that will eventually supplant county Sheriffs with a fedgov approved Homeland Security bureaucrat or commander?