[ARCHIVED THREAD] - @#$$% Sobriety Checkpoints (Page 1 of 6)
Posted: 12/22/2008 1:03:10 AM EDT
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Fuck sobriety checkpoints. Wasted a good 30 minutes of my night. Not to mention they are an obvious violation of the 4th amendment.
That is all. |
| While the police are combing through average citizens like they're lawbreakers... family's are being murdered |
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They set them up usually on long stretches road that have a divider. Roads that they predict many inebriated drivers will take. They are setup like road blocks. Several police cars and flares. By the time you see the checkpoint, there is absolutely no way to avoid them. They stop every car that passes through. Ask you a few questions. A few questions that can easily turn into several questions. They screen for drunk drivers, but they will really screw you over for anything, ranging from expired tags to fix it tickets. The whole ordeal takes a while since it usually causes a traffic backup.
Tonight I had to take a sobriety test as a result of arguing with a cop whether my tint was legal (which it was). Utter bullshit; I had nothing to drink tonight. They are banned in, I belive, 11 states. |
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Quoted: They set them up usually on long stretches road that have a divider. Roads that they predict many inebriated drivers will take. They are setup like road blocks. Several police cars and flares. By the time you see the checkpoint, there is absolutely no way to avoid them. They stop every car that passes through. Ask you a few questions. A few questions that can easily turn into several questions. They screen for drunk drivers, but they will really screw you over for anything, ranging from expired tags to fix it tickets. The whole ordeal takes a while since it usually causes a traffic backup. Tonight I had to take a sobriety test as a result of arguing with a cop whether my tint was legal (which it was). Utter bullshit; I had nothing to drink tonight. They are banned in, I belive, 11 states. I swear, it's like (eta)many cops want to foster the us v them mentality. Why do they want to make it so goddamned hard to like them. It's like parents who don't remember what it was like to be a teenager, except it usually hasn't been that long since a cop wasn't a cop. Power corrupts, and it fucks us and them. |
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I hit them all the time and they dont take but a couple minutes. like sitting at a light.
I do not be a smart ass or mouthy with them. My vehicles are NOT rattletraps that they would not need the time to inspect mine. I work at night, driving all nightlong. I look at them as getting some idiots off the road that could either injure me or cause work for me. you want to drive with drunk drivers then keep them by you, I have been called in to over a dozen pole hits in the last couple months. Thats sucks cause I then have a lot of work to do. Two nights ago I got the call from the police to go to another pole hit. SUV plowed a pole the pole laying on the roof of the car. (drunk driver) I get along with most all the cops, You just cant look upset cause you got stopped, Take some ZANAX and relax. If you worry or get agrevated for the stop then what do you do that your worried about getting caught for. I don t drive after any type of drinking. I have multiple vehicles and don tsweat any stops even when I have done some speeding. Its there jobs to get stupid people off the road so the common man/woman can survive there trip home. If you dont like it GET THE F*#@ off the road and walk. |
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I hit them all the time and they dont take but a couple minutes. like sitting at a light. I do not be a smart ass or mouthy with them. My vehicles are NOT rattletraps that they would not need the time to inspect mine. I work at night, driving all nightlong. I look at them as getting some idiots off the road that could either injure me or cause work for me. you want to drive with drunk drivers then keep them by you, I have been called in to over a dozen pole hits in the last couple months. Thats sucks cause I then have a lot of work to do. Two nights ago I got the call from the police to go to another pole hit. SUV plowed a pole the pole laying on the roof of the car. (drunk driver) I get along with most all the cops, You just cant look upset cause you got stopped, Take some ZANAX and relax. If you worry or get agrevated for the stop then what do you do that your worried about getting caught for. I don t drive after any type of drinking. I have multiple vehicles and don tsweat any stops even when I have done some speeding. Its there jobs to get stupid people off the road so the common man/woman can survive there trip home. If you dont like it GET THE F*#@ off the road and walk. Sorry, I happen to be a fan of the Amendments of the Constitution. If you aren't, feel free to move to China. Sobriety checkpoints violate the 4th amendment. Simple as that. They are unconstitutional. |
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If you dont like it GET THE F*#@ off the road and walk. 
You'd think a site that grossly advocates a certain amendment right (2nd) would tend to have people in favor of all our amendments. I guess some pick and choose whatever in the Constitution suits their own personal beliefs. |
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Quoted: I hit them all the time and they dont take but a couple minutes. like sitting at a light. I do not be a smart ass or mouthy with them. My vehicles are NOT rattletraps that they would not need the time to inspect mine. I work at night, driving all nightlong. I look at them as getting some idiots off the road that could either injure me or cause work for me. you want to drive with drunk drivers then keep them by you, I have been called in to over a dozen pole hits in the last couple months. Thats sucks cause I then have a lot of work to do. Two nights ago I got the call from the police to go to another pole hit. SUV plowed a pole the pole laying on the roof of the car. (drunk driver) I get along with most all the cops, You just cant look upset cause you got stopped, Take some ZANAX and relax. If you worry or get agrevated for the stop then what do you do that your worried about getting caught for. I don t drive after any type of drinking. I have multiple vehicles and don tsweat any stops even when I have done some speeding. Its there jobs to get stupid people off the road so the common man/woman can survive there trip home. If you dont like it GET THE F*#@ off the road and walk. The worry is that some silly unintentional bullshit like a burned out light or the OP's issue with his window tint leads to an unnecessary ticket or harassment because the cop doesn't like the cut of your jib or just feels like flexing his nuts. The point is that you shouldn't have to worry about your damned facial expression or seeming aggravated, it's none of the cop's business if you are. It's supposed to be a free country where unless you're posing a threat to the cop or intentionally breaking a law as it was INTENDED to be applied, then you shouldn't be inconvenienced any more than the next guy, which is as little as possible to determine if you're a drunk-driving hazard. It's fucking wrong that cops are allowed to misuse vague or liberally drawn statutes which they'd never think of utilizing unless you piss them off, because they know what the real intent of the law was; that discretionary overreach should not be supported by the courts/DAs. And FYI, this is not coming from someone who has bad experiences with cops, they tend to be friendly and even lenient to me, and I'm always polite to them. And my best friend is a cop. But equal rights and due process isn't usually about best-case or clean-cut, articulate white guys who were having an otherwise good day when they got pulled over. And when it comes to principles of legal rights vs authority I worry for this country, and it pisses me off to no end when people don't understand why. |
| My dad was at one in 85-86 in Orlando, and after being detained and let threw he was asked by the local TV station what he thought of the checkpoint , He called the cops nazis and said it was harassment , He got played saying that on the news . He was right then and still is. The other side of that is 20 years later here I am. last year Dad was killed by a drunk driver why crossing the street . A nazi style dui check point did not save his life. I still agree with dad they are nazis nothing more. |
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If you dont like it GET THE F*#@ off the road and walk.
You'd think a site that grossly advocates a certain amendment right (2nd) would tend to have people in favor of all our amendments. I guess some pick and choose whatever in the Constitution suits their own personal beliefs. 4th Amendment: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. Sobriety checkpoints can be reasonable searches, ergo they don't necessarily violate the 4th amendment. Who decides? A) the people, who enact the laws allowing them via their elected representatives B) The Supreme Court What did they decide? That they're reasonable. QED, 4th amendment not violated. Don't drink and drive. |
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The only one I ever saw, you didn't have to stop, just slow down. They would wave you through just like the BP check points down south. They were aggressively going after the drunks that would flip a u-turn in the highway once they saw the sign.
But they don't do that around here anymore. |
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I hit them all the time and they dont take but a couple minutes. like sitting at a light. I do not be a smart ass or mouthy with them. My vehicles are NOT rattletraps that they would not need the time to inspect mine. I work at night, driving all nightlong. I look at them as getting some idiots off the road that could either injure me or cause work for me. you want to drive with drunk drivers then keep them by you, I have been called in to over a dozen pole hits in the last couple months. Thats sucks cause I then have a lot of work to do. Two nights ago I got the call from the police to go to another pole hit. SUV plowed a pole the pole laying on the roof of the car. (drunk driver) I get along with most all the cops, You just cant look upset cause you got stopped, Take some ZANAX and relax. If you worry or get agrevated for the stop then what do you do that your worried about getting caught for. I don t drive after any type of drinking. I have multiple vehicles and don tsweat any stops even when I have done some speeding. Its there jobs to get stupid people off the road so the common man/woman can survive there trip home. If you dont like it GET THE F*#@ off the road and walk. For someone who hates inebriated drivers, why did you even mention xanax
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they have them here in south louisiana all the time,but the local news usually provides info where they will be. Yeah, they are posted in the local paper here also. Just didn't get around to reading the paper today. Reading is fundamental. Around here, they are also well and truly signed and lit for at least a half a mile and have several opportunities to turn off. AND the LEO are not allowed to go after people who turn off unless the commit some other violation in doing so. (Although if you are sober enough to pay attention and turn off you are most likely sober enough to pass anyway. As far as Constitutionality is concerned, they are a state issue and it depends on the state constitution. The SCOTUS has ruled there is no 4th Amendment issue, as there is no search or seizure, and in any case they are also reasonable, if allowed under the State Constitution. So if YOU, the PEOPLE of a State have decided that YOU want checkpoints, it is up to you. I guess if you don't like it you can actually pick up YOUR phone and call YOUR City Councilman and complain, and YOU can call YOUR Legislator, and try to get THE PEOPLE of your city and/or state change the laws. |
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I hit them all the time and they dont take but a couple minutes. like sitting at a light. I do not be a smart ass or mouthy with them. My vehicles are NOT rattletraps that they would not need the time to inspect mine. I work at night, driving all nightlong. I look at them as getting some idiots off the road that could either injure me or cause work for me. you want to drive with drunk drivers then keep them by you, I have been called in to over a dozen pole hits in the last couple months. Thats sucks cause I then have a lot of work to do. Two nights ago I got the call from the police to go to another pole hit. SUV plowed a pole the pole laying on the roof of the car. (drunk driver) I get along with most all the cops, You just cant look upset cause you got stopped, Take some ZANAX and relax. If you worry or get agrevated for the stop then what do you do that your worried about getting caught for. I don t drive after any type of drinking. I have multiple vehicles and don tsweat any stops even when I have done some speeding. Its there jobs to get stupid people off the road so the common man/woman can survive there trip home. If you dont like it GET THE F*#@ off the road and walk. Sorry, I happen to be a fan of the Amendments of the Constitution. If you aren't, feel free to move to China. Sobriety checkpoints violate the 4th amendment. Simple as that. They are unconstitutional. I guess you got your Constitutional Law degree out of a Crackerjack box? It's a STATE issue, there is NO Search, there is NO seizure, and to date nobody has been able to convince anybody that they are unreasonable on a FEDERAL issue. Hence NO 4th Amendment violation. |
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4 hours!  ? If you get arrested in one, field booked right there and cited and released from the scene you might be there "4 hours." Otherwise about 30-seconds top IME. It's the 300 cars in front of you that make it take longer than 30 seconds. I was in Harrisburg on a Saturday nite, and they put a checkpoint on Front street. It's 3 lanes wide, and a major route out of the city. The backup lasted hours. Hundreds of cars. |
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Drunk Drivers?
And who sanctions the sale of the alcohol that makes people into drunks? That’s right, the frickin politicians. And, they use the tax money to pay for things like the police force. If concerns over alcohol justify these roadblocks then maybe the government should just ban the manufacture, sale, and possession of alcohol and be done with it. Then they could spend their time doing no knock raids, shooting people’s dogs, and trashing people’s houses looking for illicit cans of Budweiser. Drunk drivers are a problem and prohibition doesn’t work, I know that. But there’s something wrong when the Government sanctions the sale of a drug, profits off the sale of that drug, and then uses the existence of that drug as an excuse to violate everyone’s civil rights. If the cops feel the need to drive around and pull people over who they think might be drunk then I’m not really going to complain much. At least as long as they stick to making the stop a quick sobriety check. Drunks are usually pretty easy to spot on the road. They are the ones that are driving the speed limit and weaving a bit. |
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... so I'm rolling out of Hoboken early one Friday evening during the summer of '99 and see some police standing around an intersection up ahead.
The car immediately in front of me, a shiny new Mercedes, is waved through. I pull up in my '86 Buick Turd –– with that great 80's GM metal flake flaking paint –– and am asked to stop and roll down my window. Cop sticks his head in my car and asks "is everything OK?" and starts inhaling deeply through his nose waiting for my response. "Sure, everything is fine," I reply. Satisfied that I don't reek of beer with my answer he hands me a pamphlet and says "stay safe out there". The pamphlet? "CARJACKING: The New Menace", copyright 1988. For hours I'm thinking to myself "gee, that was the weirdest thing... why didn't he stop the Benz?" before I realize I went through a thinly-disguised checkpoint. |
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They set them up usually on long stretches road that have a divider. Roads that they predict many inebriated drivers will take. They are setup like road blocks. Several police cars and flares. By the time you see the checkpoint, there is absolutely no way to avoid them. They stop every car that passes through. Ask you a few questions. A few questions that can easily turn into several questions. They screen for drunk drivers, but they will really screw you over for anything, ranging from expired tags to fix it tickets. The whole ordeal takes a while since it usually causes a traffic backup. Tonight I had to take a sobriety test as a result of arguing with a cop whether my tint was legal (which it was). Utter bullshit; I had nothing to drink tonight. They are banned in, I belive, 11 states. Which means they are good to go in the other 39. (or more if you voted for Obama) |
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Drunk Drivers? And who sanctions the sale of the alcohol that makes people into drunks? That’s right, the frickin politicians. And, they use the tax money to pay for things like the police force. If concerns over alcohol justify these roadblocks then maybe the government should just ban the manufacture, sale, and possession of alcohol and be done with it. Then they could spend their time doing no knock raids, shooting people’s dogs, and trashing people’s houses looking for illicit cans of Budweiser. Drunk drivers are a problem and prohibition doesn’t work, I know that. But there’s something wrong when the Government sanctions the sale of a drug, profits off the sale of that drug, and then uses the existence of that drug as an excuse to violate everyone’s civil rights. If the cops feel the need to drive around and pull people over who they think might be drunk then I’m not really going to complain much. At least as long as they stick to making the stop a quick sobriety check. Drunks are usually pretty easy to spot on the road. They are the ones that are driving the speed limit and weaving a bit. Govt profits off the sale of the car and gasoline too. Did I just discover another GD conspiracy? 
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30 minutes is nothing. Cocksuckers wasted an hour of my life the other night. First I thought...must be a baaad accident. Then I saw cops chasing people who flipped the bitch to avoid whatever it was and thought they were looking for someone. When I got up to them, they were waving people through.
A DUI Checkpoint at 7 PM on a main thourgouhfare to the suburbs. Paper said they stopped 1500 cars and caught 4 DUIs which were probably poor slobs who had a glass of wine or a beer at Chilis while they were shopping. Lets not set it up by the casinos and clubs at 3 AM, that might actually be productive. |
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I hit them all the time and they dont take but a couple minutes. like sitting at a light. I do not be a smart ass or mouthy with them. My vehicles are NOT rattletraps that they would not need the time to inspect mine. I work at night, driving all nightlong. I look at them as getting some idiots off the road that could either injure me or cause work for me. you want to drive with drunk drivers then keep them by you, I have been called in to over a dozen pole hits in the last couple months. Thats sucks cause I then have a lot of work to do. Two nights ago I got the call from the police to go to another pole hit. SUV plowed a pole the pole laying on the roof of the car. (drunk driver) I get along with most all the cops, You just cant look upset cause you got stopped, Take some ZANAX and relax. If you worry or get agrevated for the stop then what do you do that your worried about getting caught for. I don t drive after any type of drinking. I have multiple vehicles and don tsweat any stops even when I have done some speeding. Its there jobs to get stupid people off the road so the common man/woman can survive there trip home. If you dont like it GET THE F*#@ off the road and walk. Oh, I get it. As long as you have nothing to hide what does it matter if someone looks. Papers please. |
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I hit them all the time and they dont take but a couple minutes. like sitting at a light. I do not be a smart ass or mouthy with them. My vehicles are NOT rattletraps that they would not need the time to inspect mine. I work at night, driving all nightlong. I look at them as getting some idiots off the road that could either injure me or cause work for me. you want to drive with drunk drivers then keep them by you, I have been called in to over a dozen pole hits in the last couple months. Thats sucks cause I then have a lot of work to do. Two nights ago I got the call from the police to go to another pole hit. SUV plowed a pole the pole laying on the roof of the car. (drunk driver) I get along with most all the cops, You just cant look upset cause you got stopped, Take some ZANAX and relax. If you worry or get agrevated for the stop then what do you do that your worried about getting caught for. I don t drive after any type of drinking. I have multiple vehicles and don tsweat any stops even when I have done some speeding. Its there jobs to get stupid people off the road so the common man/woman can survive there trip home. If you dont like it GET THE F*#@ off the road and walk. Smart, real smart. |
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Driving is not a right, it is a privilege granted you by the state. They issue you a license and you agree to the terms of the license.
Those terms include them verifying you are in compliance with said terms. Most states will charge you if you refuse a sobriety test - part of what you agreed to when you got a license. If you don't like the use of checkpoints and you can find enough like-minded folks in your state, use the ballot box and get rid of them. It's doubtful you will succeed, but if you get enough people to join your cause, who knows? But it would take a lot of work and commitment to accomplish. I doubt you're inconvenienced enough to go to that level of effort. There's plenty I bitch about but am not willing to put in the effort it would take to change. That is the real source of their power. |
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My dad was at one in 85-86 in Orlando, and after being detained and let threw he was asked by the local TV station what he thought of the checkpoint , He called the cops nazis and said it was harassment , He got played saying that on the news . He was right then and still is. The other side of that is 20 years later here I am. last year Dad was killed by a drunk driver why crossing the street . A nazi style dui check point did not save his life. I still agree with dad they are nazis nothing more. Very sorry to hear about what happened to your father...  Just from what you have told us about your father.....I like him 
Brian |
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Sobriety checkpoints violate the 4th amendment. Simple as that. They are unconstitutional. The Court disagrees with you. That makes your statement nothing more than personal opinion, noit fact. As you can see, judging from the complete lack of hurry by DC with regards to the Heller ruling, the rule of law really doesn't matter. |
| Not that it's going to matter to some here, but most of the checkpoints stops are more of a slowdown than a stop. The first thing the officer that first encounters you is looking for is the distinct odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from your person, breath and the interior of your car (Hint, that odor builds up inside a care with the windows rolled up and heater on in the winter time or ac on in the summer). He then talks to you (briefly) to detect if you are slurring your speech, looking at your mannerisms and dexterity (are they exaggerated? clumsy?); next he looks at your eyes (are they glassy, watery, red?) Finally they look at your overall appearance (are you disheveled? Have you pissed or crapped in your pants? Any vomit?) These are all indicators of intoxication. This all done while also looking to make sure you are wearing your seatbelt and asking if you are carrying your driver’s license. Which are things you are supposed to have on you or with you when you accepted the privilege of being licensed to drive your car. Most of the time, each encounter takes less than a minute or two. You only get further examination if there is something there to indicate you should not be behind the wheel. Like you aren't carrying your DL or you aren't wearing your seat belt or any of the other items I mentioned above are present. |
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Driving is not a right, it is a privilege granted you by the state. They issue you a license and you agree to the terms of the license. Those terms include them verifying you are in compliance with said terms. Most states will charge you if you refuse a sobriety test - part of what you agreed to when you got a license. If you don't like the use of checkpoints and you can find enough like-minded folks in your state, use the ballot box and get rid of them. It's doubtful you will succeed, but if you get enough people to join your cause, who knows? But it would take a lot of work and commitment to accomplish. I doubt you're inconvenienced enough to go to that level of effort. There's plenty I bitch about but am not willing to put in the effort it would take to change. That is the real source of their power. You don't even have to do it at the state level, do it at the city level. the problem is that most people are willing to wait a few minutes, and get drunks off the road. If the checkpoint is taking more than a few minutes then they are running it wrong. Far more people get affected by drunk drivers than by almost any other kind of criminal. Everybody has had relatives or close friends hit by drunk drivers or had a relative or friend drive drunk and hit somebody. Going to be hard to convince them that your time is worth more than their lives. |