Drivers of White Vans are being treated as criminals

Vanity | Self

[SamAdams76]

The photos above currently on the Drudge site concern me. I followed the link and the article clearly stated that nobody was arrested last night.

Why then, do we have drivers of white vans, innocent civilians, evidently being pulled out vans at gunpoint and treated like dangerous criminals? One photo shows a man on the ground, evidently in handcuffs, with police officers standing over him as though they have just captured Whitey Bulger. When I first saw the photo, I figured the man was obviously a wanted criminal that police just so happened to come across during their search. But since there were no arrests last night, this man was obviously released and was no criminal after all.

The other photo shows a man by another white van with his hands in the air and a police officer has a gun drawn on him. Again, this was evidently just another innocent civilian who had the misfortune to be driving a white van on I-95 last night.

Now I understand the need for these roadblocks and for the police to be very thorough in their search for the sniper(s). But I cannot see the point of innocent people dragged out of their vehicles at gunpoint with no pretext other than the fact that they happen to be driving a white van.

Now maybe somebody here has an explanation why these two individuals were treated like criminals. Maybe they tried to evade the police or maybe they were driving stolen vans. But again, there were no arrests made last night. So what is the deal with our citizens being treated like Jesse James just for driving a white van?

[TigersEye]

And you're a nutcake.

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

You consider it "essential" that you not be asked to step from your vehicle to assist the police in trying to catch a sniper who has killed children, seniors, and everyone in between? Is that what being an American and enjoying liberty means to you? Honestly?

[HairOfTheDog]

ROTFLOL!

[takenoprisoner]

You should have checked long before now since the breath dog's hair encompasses all that you are or shall ever be.

[Texasforever]

So every time someone is murdered in this country, some 25,000 times a year, it's an emergency situation requiring suspension of due process and civil liberties

Straw man argument. This was a police emergency in a localized area and they set up roadblocks armed with witness reports that a "white van" was seen in close proximity to the shooting. There are only 2 slim clues in these attacks; they are the caliber of the rifle and the ubiquitous "white van". When someone is murdered in this country and a description of a vehicle leaving the scene is known then the cops look for and stop every vehicle that matches the description that they encounter in their jurisdictions. This entire thread is nothing but an attempt to make this into some kind of police state scenario when in reality it is a scenario that has been in place for the entire history of law enforcement.

[COB1]

"essential liberty: that which is naturally mine and except in cases where I have initiated force or fraud cannot be taken from me except through force or fraud"

Uh.....do you have a link to that definition?
One not associated with the Libertarian Party, please!

[TigersEye]

Stopping every white van on the road in a fifty mile radius in a fishing expedition because they don't have a decent clue is due process?

[Liberty Teeth]

Hey! I have turned in my rifles and outfitted my entire family in Kevlar, and we live in NC. We are prepared!

[HairOfTheDog]

You should have checked long before now since the breath dog's hair encompasses all that you are or shall ever be.

Now you are speaking in tongues....

[takenoprisoner]

And you're a nutcake.

Is this your best? Surely you have more. Come one sweetcheeks.

[Roscoe]

You consider it "essential" that you not be asked to step from your vehicle to assist the police in trying to catch a sniper who has killed children, seniors, and everyone in between?

I think Benjamin Franklin had a different views of what constitutes "essential liberty."

"He that does not like civil Society on these Terms, let him retire and live among Savages. He can have no right to the benefits of Society, who will not pay his Club towards the Support of it." -- Benjamin Franklin

[realpatriot71]

You're confusing my position. While it may be an inconvience to be stopped at a check-point, I don't think that is unreasonable, especially in light of the information the police are working with. However, I do have a problem pulling people out of their vehicle at gunpoint, handcuffing them, and making them to lay on ground when there is no evidence that they have committed any crime. What was their crime - driving a white van? It's a violation of their civil liberties.

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

So every time someone is murdered in this country, some 25,000 times a year, it's an emergency situation requiring suspension of due process and civil liberties?

Let me make sure I understand this. An individual shoots and kills multiple people in the span of a few weeks in a concentrated area near the heart of the center of our government, and you people are so freaking SELFISH that you consider it too great an imposition to help find the SOB that you can't pull your car over and step outside for five minutes - is that about right?

[netman]

Anybody want to buy a van. Cheap!

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

LOL Chad!

[TankerKC]

Waaaa! Waaaa! I'm thinking about hitting abuse!

[Texasforever]

I'm thinking about hitting abuse!

Self abuse causes blindness.

[straightbend]

I have never posted on a thread, I mostly read and try to evaluate what is going on but this has been on of the (for the most part, giving way to some displayed intelligence) ridiculous loss of subject matter threads that I have read.

SamAdams- You have presented two pictures of the effort to catch a hideous sniper and have caused a downgrading of the law enforcement, built by unsubstantiated , imaginative claims of what took place. You failed miserably in substantiating your comments that a majority of the poster failed to properly evaluate. If your aim is to hinder the law enforcement effort through this type of article, ( and I do not believe this is the case from reading your patriotic military background)you will not succeed. It is advisable for you to get your facts provable before making statements of this nature.

PatrioticAmerican - you wound up losing-period. It is common practice for an individual to change his attack when feeling threatened. Your attack of this Ladyinred caused you to lose credibility with the readers and anything you may have said that was contributing to the original thread is now heavily questioned. You did yourself no favors unless you like to be tagged as a female attack dog. In short- I am sorry to have to say this to someone with a name that should be standing for some type of leadership but YOU ARE A LOSER!!!

[TigersEye]

This was a police emergency in a localized area and they set up roadblocks armed with witness reports that a "white van" was seen in close proximity to the shooting.

Given that there is at least one white van on every block and every quarter mile of urban road in this country and it wasn't said that the perp had one, just that there was one in the proximity of the crime that's incredibly lame.

[realpatriot71]

DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet asked for my definition of essential liberty and I gave it. My definition comes largely from the Objectvist philosophy of Rand. I am not a member of the LP so can't provide any links for them.

Thanks for taking the time to chime in though smartguy.