Posted on 05/15/2007 3:21:40 PM PDT by Rodney King
Checkpoint targets Route 9 travelers By Diana Graettinger Tuesday, May 15, 2007 - Bangor Daily News
TOWNSHIP 30 - A Nova Scotia man was nabbed for impersonating a police officer. For others who found themselves in trouble with the law Monday, it started with an invalid inspection sticker or out-of-date registration.
All ran afoul of a "checkpoint" at the rest area on Route 9 in Township 30.
Almost any day of the week, the area is about as busy as a City Council meeting, but not Monday. The parking lot was filled with cars both police and would-be violators.
Dubbed Operation Lobster Claw, the checkpoint by the Washington County Sheriffs Department was set up on Route 9 to stop traffic. Three K-9 units, the Maine State Police Vehicle Enforcement, along with the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency, also were there.
It wasnt a roadblock, because roadblocks are illegal, according to the U.S. Supreme Court.
It was a safety inspection.
"Theres a difference between a checkpoint and a roadblock," Sheriff Donnie Smith said Monday. "We have the legal right to check vehicles. [We] go to secondary [check] if for some reason they stand out, thats legal," Smith said.
Route 9 is Washington Countys answer to the interstate, so the road was busy on Monday. Police know that drugs come across the border into Calais from Canada and traffickers use Route 9 to hot-foot it to Boston, where prescription medication such as OxyContin and Dilaudid fetch a higher price.
An $80,000 federal grant made the safety check possible on Monday.
"Its some of the Stone Garden Homeland Security money," Smith said. "What we are doing, were just doing an overall check. Were looking for anything suspicious from illegal aliens, drug trafficking and safety checks."
On Monday, perimeters were set up east and west on Route 9. Sheriffs vehicles were parked on the side of the road, blue lights flashing. Deputies in bright orange safety vests were in the middle of the road, stopping traffic.
Most people stopped immediately, although one woman kept driving. Maine State Police and a sheriffs deputy pursued her and found she had an invalid sticker and no motor vehicle insurance. She didnt get to drive home.
For those people who did stop, deputies ran through a checklist of headlights and turn signals, as well as other safety features on their cars.
Anything out of the ordinary went to a secondary checkpoint the parking lot at the rest stop where MDEA agents and K-9 units from the Rockport Police Department, U.S. Customs and Maine State Police were waiting.
Immediately upon stopping, drivers were asked to produce a valid license and registration. If anything out of the ordinary appeared, the car was turned over to a dog and its handler.
One man was on probation for sexual abuse of a minor; he was checked. A woman on probation also had her car thoroughly inspected.
The dogs, trained to sit when they score a scent, sat on several occasions. Then it was into the car, where the dogs their noses working overtime sniffed under the seats and in glove compartments.
Danielle Littlehale of the Rockport Police Department said her dog Boomer has been trained to sniff out seven drugs. While on the search, the dog had to bypass a small cooler full of food. Littlehale said the dogs have been trained to ignore food.
One woman was driving while her license was under suspension. She also had a prescription for a drug, but it was not in a legal prescription bottle.
Police searched her car and found a locked box inside were her methadone doses for the week. Police said shed been on methadone for four years. She was later arrested for having a drug without a prescription.
Another woman also was stopped for a vehicle infraction and had a locked box full of methadone doses. Since she was not carrying anything illegal, she was allowed to leave.
Among the many serious moments, there was some humor. A man and woman were ordered to secondary inspection it turned out the couple were salespeople for a pharmaceutical company and they had a trunk full of drugs. The police let them go after checking their story.
Deputy Travis Willey of the Sheriffs department did field sobriety tests on two people. They both passed, but for a few minutes, it looked as though one of them might not be able to walk the imaginary line. Willey said the man was clearly nervous.
"I explained to the gentleman that its not against the law in the state of Maine to operate a motor vehicle with prescription medications. However if those prescription medications impair the safe operation of that motor vehicle, it is illegal. It is operating under the influence just like alcohol and anything else," Willey said.
A woman who was stopped had a handgun under her seat; she had a permit.
A man was stopped and summoned for having a usable amount of marijuana. He told the police officer he didnt know how it got in his car.
One man was pulled over and gave deputies his name and address. A check revealed he was using someone elses identity. When they asked him again, he gave police another phony name. He was taken directly to jail.
At the end of the six-hour checkpoint Monday, a Nova Scotia man flashed a police badge and identity card from Massachusetts.
He said he had worked for the Suffolk County Sheriffs Department in Massachusetts in 1992. The deputies called Massachusetts; they had no record of him. The man was handcuffed and charged with impersonating a public official.
And for those who were booked and bailed, it was one-stop shopping.
The Sheriffs Department had a van at the scene. Inside were corrections officers who were fingerprinting those who had been charged and taking mug shots.
Also inside was Bob Whitman, bail commissioner for Washington County. He was writing bail tickets and collecting the money.
Maybe the federales have never been to a folk fest.
And yeah, the 'safety inspection' thing is insulting.
What difference does it make? They have to park those cop cars somewhere. It doesn’t need to be a car(s) that are in on it.
Nanny State Ping.........
The simple answer is NO!
While I have not been through very many, it was a quick "hello, where are you rom? and thank you."<\p>
Boarder checks belong on the boarder. Period. Anything else is not appropriate.
An $80,000 federal grant made the safety check possible on Monday.
No good comes of Federal money going to local cops - for that matter very little good comes from the Federal Gvmnt.
“Liberty has never come from government.
Liberty has always come from the subjects of government.
The history of liberty is the history of resistance.”
Woodrow Wilson
Here lies John Rambo, War Hero, killed for vagrancy in Jerkwater USA.
..cuz Slovaks always get short end of the stick by Czecks.
In Delaware they are called DUI checkpoints and have been going on since 1982.
Ayup. Just follow the money.
A timely posting of that great line. thanks.
The county Sheriff running the show is an elected official.
I’m sure there was a “Checkpoint Czar” running the operation, too.
Vile. I hope SCOTUS revisits this crap and actually rules in favor of the Constitution next time.
Indeed. Long may this skepticism flourish.
Where’s Claire Wolfe when we need her?
That must explain the use of the three K-9 patrols.
All they need now are swastikas on the armbands.
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