Ridiculous Police News (Specific events)

[NynJa]

Hey, I'm one of those people who doesnt get hit by alcohol badly, so I dont disagree with anything you've said.

I was just pointing out how stupid djzombie's post was.

[djzombie]

Well... setting up a speed trap assumes that everyone traveling down this road is doing something illegal, which is essentially profiling(though not racially).

The only difference, is one has to stop you to determine sobriety, and the other gets to use a radar gun to determine speed.

Well since were attacking people personally now guess ill defend myself. The difference between a speedtrap and a checkpoint is when you get pulled over after getting hit with a radar gun they have actionable intelligence about how fast you were going vs the speed limit, an actual reason to pull someone over.

Checkpoints stop EVERYONE with no reason or cause required other than you decided to drive down that particular road.

So they're really not the same thing, so it is your post sir that was pretty fucking dumb.

[Melena]

You can choose to not drive down that road though as the Supreme Court has stated that they must publicly announce where the checkpoints will be occurring.

[archibaldcrane]

In Los Angeles they don't even care about drunk drivers, they put up checkpoints in minority neighborhoods to impound cars of people who don't have licenses/insurance. Sometimes they will impound 20 cars in a night without nailing a single drunk.

[Nephlite]

I agree regarding the lack of science to make an adequate comparison, but regarding the bold, I think you should be more honest. You know as well as the rest of us that prosecutors aren't going to just throw out the case. Rather, they would offer a juicier-than-normal plea deal and try to bully the person into taking it. Most people can't afford a personal attorney, and most public defenders give exactly zero fucks about the shmucks they're assigned to protect.

I dunno where you get this idea from, but it's completely untrue.

I estimate something like a third of all cases in DC are thrown out before they even make it to pre-trial diversion. The US Attorneys Office has a panel of screeners that determine if the USAO or the Office of the Attorney General takes the case, and they have very specific criteria when reviewing cases. Spelled something wrong in your report and it sounds like you're illiterate? Thrown out because you'll probably be incompetent on the stand. Lack RS for your stop and detainment of a subject? Thrown out. You'd be surprised on how weak some arrests are.

I wanted to add also, that roadblocks are something that I think are overstepping bounds already. I think it is ridiculous to assume guilt of every motorist and make them prove innocence. I think it is one of the more intrusive and abused things the police due since the majority of tickets/arrests from roadblocks are not dui, but license issues, car violations, insurance violations, and drug/paraphernalia related offenses (mostly pot). It is a way to extort the poor by giving them more fines to pay so they can continue to pay legal fees and fines to the city.

It's not as if at checkpoints, everyone gets breathalyzed or forced to do FST's. There usually has to be some type of Reasonable Suspicion for them to stop and detain you at a checkpoint anyways such as the smell of alcohol, slurred speech or watery/glassy eyes, evidence of recent vomiting, and the checkpoint approach lane itself serves as a gauge to determine if you're swerving and whatnot. Other crimes discovered during the checkpoints are part of inevitable discovery.

Never realised you were delving so far in to the conspiracy realm.

Well since were attacking people personally now guess ill defend myself. The difference between a speedtrap and a checkpoint is when you get pulled over after getting hit with a radar gun they have actionable intelligence about how fast you were going vs the speed limit, an actual reason to pull someone over.

Checkpoints stop EVERYONE with no reason or cause required other than you decided to drive down that particular road.

So they're really not the same thing, so it is your post sir that was pretty fucking dumb.

Checkpoints stop everyone, but not everyone is tested or has to "prove" they're innocent. It's up to the officers to prove that the person was impaired, which is what the checkpoint aids with. When you're approaching the checkpoint, someone is watching you from the start to determine if you're swerving or trying to turn around or it appears you're impaired. Then, there has to be a smell of alcohol or other sign that you may be impaired.

It's weird how people assume during a checkpoint, everyone gets arrested or tested for DUI. The last one I was part of, out of the 30,000 or so cars that passed the checkpoint, we only had three DUI arrests. We also had 5 other arrests, but that's a pretty small amount of people that were stopped and detained indefinitely for criminal activity.

[archibaldcrane]

Everyone does have to present a valid license and proof of insurance though, which is normally only required after a valid stop.

[Nephlite]

Everyone does have to present a valid license and proof of insurance though, which is normally only required after a valid stop.

That depends on the jurisdiction. We don't ask for anything (in terms of license and registration). "Good evening sir/ma'am. I'm Officer Nephlite with the DCMPD. This is a sobriety checkpoint for DUI Enforcement. Have you had anything to drink tonight? No? Okay, have a great day. Drive safe." And done.

That's a typical interaction, and is only compounded when you're being difficult or I smell alcohol or see signs of impairment. When you approach, someone runs your tags, so I already know if there's any hits on your car or if your wanted/license status, etc. That assumes the driver also owns the car, but that's not what we're investigating. If a hit comes up or there's reason to believe the driver may be suspended or insurance lapsed, I'll delve in to it, but that's not normal.

[djzombie]

So you run every single persons license plates as they pull through? How is that not protected under the 4th amendment.

edit: I bet you're loling so hard right now. Constitution, who gives a fuck AMIRITE!?

[Nephlite]

So you run every single persons license plates as they pull through? How is that not protected under the 4th amendment.

edit: I bet you're loling so hard right now. Constitution, who gives a fuck AMIRITE!?

You don't have a reasonable expectation of privacy in public space, which coincidentally, I can view your license plate at any time. You also don't need to go through a checkpoint to get it ran. I run every plate I see, maybe 3-400 plates a shift.

You should read up on the Constitution, partner.

[hey]

The last one I was part of, out of the 30,000 or so cars that passed the checkpoint, we only had three DUI arrests. We also had 5 other arrests

What a massive waste of time and money.

[Xno Kappa]

So you run every single persons license plates as they pull through? How is that not protected under the 4th amendment.

edit: I bet you're loling so hard right now. Constitution, who gives a fuck AMIRITE!?

You might want to read up on what you're talking about before throwing the word constitution around. You can't cry foul when you're arrested for jerking off butt naked in broad daylight to scat porn on your home-owned driveway.

[Nephlite]

What a massive waste of time and money.

It's worth it if it saves one life.

[noblemountain]

I have literally NEVER seen a checkpoint where I didn't have to present license/insurance/registration. I go through at least 3 or 4 a week. If that is a real thing, I have never seen it in my 20 years driving.

[Nephlite]

I have literally NEVER seen a checkpoint where I didn't have to present license/insurance/registration. I go through at least 3 or 4 a week. If that is a real thing, I have never seen it in my 20 years driving.

Like I said, it depends on the jurisdiction. You must live in a pretty bad area if they're doing 3-4 a week.

[noblemountain]

What is sad is I really don't. I just recently moved back to Huntsville, AL. Home of the Redstone Arsenal and NASA. There are about a billion engineers and rocket scientists here. Problem is, I live on one of the roads "out" of Huntsville. Where most of the poor people who work in Huntsville drive home at 10-11 from their second shift jobs. Cops throw up a roadblock on one of the overpasses where you can't see it 'till you're in it and can't avoid it. Then they give tickets to people for seatbelts/insurance (a big one here where a lot still don't have) or find reasons to search the vehicle and find pot (extremely common down here). There has been a big boost in revenue for the HPD and thus they have increased their roadblock coverage to a few other places in town.

[RKenshin]

Eh? Are people really under the assumption that cops aren't running plates all the time?

Most cop cars have a laptop built in and/or easily positionable near the driver, with internet access, and all it takes is a couple seconds of effort. I think it's BS to do that while driving around (distracted driving and such), but I'm still sure it's done all the time.

I doubt it'll be long before they have some software/camera combination that automatically scans and runs nearby license plates, if not already. I doubt there is much if any legal ground to stand on against it either way.

[Salodin]

Y'all know that driving is a privilege not a right. As long as they handle the stops like neph does I have no problem.

[Nephlite]

I doubt it'll be long before they have some software/camera combination that automatically scans and runs nearby license plates, if not already. I doubt there is much if any legal ground to stand on against it either way.

They've been out for almost a decade. Just look up "trunk mounted police camera" and let the hate flow from the articles hahaha

[NynJa]

Well since were attacking people personally now guess ill defend myself.

Holy shit you have a major victim complex if you consider either of my previous two posts a "personal attack".

And then your next post after complaining about a "personal attack" (saying your post is dumb and backing up why its dumb isnt a personal attack), you respond to someone else with, more or less, "MUH FREEDUMZ". Yeah.

[noblemountain]

Y'all know that driving is a privilege not a right. As long as they handle the stops like neph does I have no problem.

The problem is they don't. I know Neph gave you the glittering gold example we could all look at and go, "well that's ok"...but the reality is how many times would they spend that much money on manpower and only get three people? How about never. Studies have shown less than 3% arrest rate for DUI at checkpoints. Then why are states doing 10k+ a year and investing millions of dollars in them? Oh, yeah, how about billions in revenue.