DUI checkpoints

If more cops had to walk a beat rather than ride in a car there would be a lot fewer bad cops and we'd all be better off.

 

Jesus Fucking Christ, Dick. That might be the single stupidest thing you've written on these boards — and that bar is set way high. A plus B does not equal C. Driving after midnight does not in any way create reasonable suspicion that you are impaired. Tell that to people who work second or third shift and you'll get laughed out of the room.

Once you stake out a position, your MO is to defend it to the death, so I expect the voice of reason to fall on deaf ears. So be it.

But seriously, Dick, you're all kinds of wrong on this.

Joe

 

I am 100 percent correct about this.

Not sure why you had to make it personal, though. Hope you're proud of that.

 

I mean, here's the logic:

(1) We have a Fourth Amendment protection against "unreasonable" searches and seizures.

(2) Terry v. Ohio says that police do not need "probable cause" in order to initiate a search. They merely need "reasonable suspicion."

(3) Sober checkpoints have been held to be legal under the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution, by the Supreme Court of the United States. Michigan Dept. of Police v. Sitz (6-3 decision). Therefore, by definition, they are not "unreasonable" searches or seizures.

(4) Why are they not "unreasonable"? Because police have "reasonable suspicion" that the person driving is impaired.

(5) How do the police demonstrate this "reasonable suspicion"? By noting that a threshold percentage of drivers on a certain road at a certain day of the week and time period are impaired.

(6) What is this threshold? I don't know. Nobody does. Pretty low, though.

Joe - Apology accepted.

 

And that's problem: Asshole checks for everyone!

We are protecting freedom by reducing and restricting it.

 

I used to think it wasn't a big deal. If you're not doing anything wrong you don't have anything to worry about.

All of the illegal immigrant targeting is where I draw the line. Profiling is bullshit.

 

I suggest curfews. After all, if the majority of people on the road after midnight are drunk, a curfew would allow the police to pull over everyone for no reason other than the time of day. And after all, as long as we get one of these idiots off the road, it'll all be worth it. :

 

I'm a little confused over what "freedom" people are losing by being stopped and asked a question or two by police officers?

Because if you're upholding the law, that's all these searches are. You get stopped, you show your paper work, you leave.

If, however, you're breaking the law by either being drunk or being uninsured/driving on a suspended license, etc, you deserve to get arrested. You don't have a "right" to break the law.

This is no different than a police officer asking to see your ID because you're walking around a sketchy neighborhood in the middle of the night and if you have a problem with these searches, you have the "right" and "freedom" not to drive.

 

A cop can ask to see my ID if I'm just walking?

 

I've been stopped and asked various questions, including asking for an ID, when walking around late at night. Never thought twice about it.

 

So you think it's OK for a cop to stop and question you for no reason?