Seat Belt Violators Caught By Cops Wearing Night Vision Goggles

WJLA TV (Washington, DC) ^ | Thursday June 02, 2005

[tgslTakoma]

Rockville, Md. (AP) - Maryland State Police are using a military tool in the battle against seat belt violators.

They're using night vision goggles to find people who don't buckle up after dark. Police say 40 percent of drivers don't use their seat belts at night, making the roads much more dangerous after sunset. Police in Maryland are among 13,000 agencies nationwide that are now using the goggles.

With the goggles, Police say they can see inside cars at a distance, allowing them to nail violators who might otherwise go undetected.

The new strategy is paying off. At a seat belt enforcement operation Wednesday night on Rockville Pike, officers issued at least 44 tickets for seat belt violations.

Mod note: Associated thread.

[Sprite518]

300 only if they lease it, and highly doubt that is what they did. I am sure they purchased them that will run somewhere between $2000 to $5000 a piece.

[Sandy]

I am sure they purchased them

Sure, they paid thousands of dollars for them when they're available for free or next-to-nothing. If you say so.

[verity]

I did not have to wait long.

[Wallace T.]

One man is no match for an organized gang. Gangsters were able to intimidate businessmen even in the early 1900s when access to firearms was as east as to hand tools. (In fact, may hardware stores sold rifles and pistols before the 1980s.) During periods of breakdown of law and order, such as in the Rodney King riots in Los Angeles in 1992, the Korean storeowners were able to protect their businesses from looting and burning by forming a de facto armed militia. Though now denounced as vigilantism, the common practice before the 20th Century was for citizens threatened by bandits, Indian raiders, etc., to organize armed posses to protect their homes and businesses and later to confront and subjugate the outlaws. The virtually dead concept of a citizen's arrest stems from the concept that the citizen had a right, even a duty, to protect the community from wrongdoers.

[t_skoz]

"(I) moved to New Hampshire instead"

I'm right behind you brother. I've been looking to move there for several months and have already sent out resumes. This week I find out I'll probably be laid off in a few weeks. Now this mission has a new urgency!

[zeugma]

From The Declaration of Independence

HE has erected a Multitude of new Offices, and sent hither Swarms of Officers to harrass our People, and eat out their Substance.

HE has kept among us, in Times of Peace, Standing Armies, without the consent of our Legislatures.

Yup. Got those two covered pretty well. It is little wonder that more and more Americans consider police little more than an occupying force.

[rwfromkansas]

Oh man am I frightened (not), considering they can only stop me in KS for not wearing a seatbelt if I do something else like speed.

[tgslTakoma]

Give them time, rw. It started out as a secondary offense in MD, too. And they promised that they would never make it a primary offense.

[zeugma]

In fact, there's something called "risk homeostasis" that suggests that the false sense of security from seatbelts causes drivers to take more, not less, risks while driving.

The same thing has been noticed in cars equipped with ABS braking.

[TChris]

It warms my heart to see our tax dollars being spent to catch these dangerous criminals.

Dittos. This overreaching piece of nanny-state crap is brought to you today by your friendly, neighborhood Insurance Lobby.

[jimt]

A big "OINK !" for the victimless crime pigs.

[commonerX]

""I think using night vision or goggles is way past bordering on ridiculous. When are people going to stand together against this crap.""

I agree it's ridiculous, but do you have any ideas where to start?

Call your congressman? Yeah, right, that will do it.

[1Old Pro]

do you have any ideas where to start?

That's a tough one, I wish I did.

[spunkets]

"I did not have to wait long."

You were waiting for the question I posed?

[zeugma]

Several of Lysander Spooner's books are available on the internet. Project Gutenberg has "The Constitution of No Authority" if I recall correctly.

[MudSlide]

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm

How many people die from not wearing a seat belt?

How many people die from smoking?

If they made smoking against the law - couldn't they make a lot more money in fines by pointing smoke detectors at people then they do by pointing night vision scopes at them?

[1Old Pro]

It's ALL about revenue. Cigarettes need to be taxes, seat belt violators need to be fined.

[zeugma]

They fly over houses with IR looking for houses growing pot in the WOD.

Suprisingly enough, that particular police state tactic was thrown out by the supreme court in recent years.

[sandbar]

Wow, good video. Makes a point. Be sure anyone in your vehicle has seatbelt on.

[coastboys]

A good buddy of mine is a cop in the town I live in. He was all excited because they got a $10,000 federal grant to pay overtime for seat belt patrol. His thinking was that it didn't cost the city anything because it was a grant.

I of course asked him where he thought grant money came from and if it bothered him that his federal tax dollars were being thrown down the drain. I also asked him why not use that money for something constructive like getting drunk drivers off the street.

Of course he had no reply as he hasn't had an origial thought in years. Oh well...at least he got his overtime check.