DWI checkpoints?

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MarkC

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I think there are about 11 states that don't allow this.
Supposedly Washington's state constitution forbids them somehwo, and a judge upheld this no checkoint thing.
But now Mrs. Governor announces that she's going to allow them to begin anyway. Soothing the public and saying it'll save 200 lives a year or something.
Since I never drive if I've had anything at all alcoholic to drink, I have nothing to worry about, but I wonder if it's quite legal for the governor to do something the state court and constitution have already supposedly forbidden.
 
Driving is a privilege but there are rules to how and when they can stop a car that is otherwise obeying the law. It can be done and has been upheld as long as they do it a certain way. That's the quick answer.
 
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Originally Posted By: msparks
I don't see how it's unconstitutional? Isn't driving a privilege?

It's Unconstitutional under the Fourth Amendment: Protection from unreasonable search and seizure.

However, since the Government tossed the Constitution out the window a long time ago it's anything goes these days.
 
I know it varies by state, and I'm not sure how this part of the state version is worded.
I don't buy that whole privilege thing. But that's another topic and would probably not obey the RSP ban here.
 
Without getting too technical, I think if a state issues a license (whether it be for driving, nursing, serving food or alcohol, etc., etc.) they reserve a right to perform certain inpections for maintenance of said license. Driving checkpoints may fall under these inspections.
 
In Missouri the police do "safety checkpoints", to check for such things as seat belts, valid drivers license, insurance, carseats for kiddies, headlights/talilights...etc. Oh yeah, they just happen to all be from 11p-3a on friday and saturday nights. The local here police do them a few times a year, and they always get about 50 people with suspended/revoked licenses, 10-15 arrest warrants, and about 2 DWI's.

Basically I think the law states that an officer cannot stop a particular car for no reason. However, if you stop EVERY car, then they are not singling out anyone.
 
As has oft been mentioned on this site

"If you're doing the right thing, you've nothing to fear."

RBTs down here are one of the more benign Govt sponsored Police activities.
 
Standard practice here in New Zealand for many years too.They check for registration,Warrant of Fitness (safety/compliance cert),license,road user charges for diesel vehicles,loading and weights for trucks,and sometimes breath testing.

They try and pick a place where people can't do a runner - in my town it's over the bridge.They can't see the check point from the other side and come right into it.If it gets dangerous vehicles and drunk unlicensed drivers off our roads I don't care one bit.They are not going to hand themselves in or act responsibly....
 
Originally Posted By: Shannow
As has oft been mentioned on this site

"If you're doing the right thing, you've nothing to fear."



I hope you are being sarcastic? That sets a dangerous precedent. Not gonna elaborate because it will turn political.

Really though, checkpoints or not, it doesn't matter. They'll get you one way or another. In the small town I grew up in, police are everywhere after dark. They'll pull you over for any reason whatsoever. They can just say that they saw you swerve or whatever. Who are you to challenge that assessment?

Example: My mom, coming home from work at around 11:00 PM, sober as a judge, gets pulled over for running a YELLOW light. Last time I checked, that wasn't illegal. Especially in a town like that where there was absolutely nobody else at the intersection. She posed no risk. What does the cop do? Acts like an *** for no reason. She ends up getting a warning ticket. Why did she get pulled over? Because in the words of the infamous Method Man, C.R.E.A.M - "Cash Rules Everything Around Me". The cops in that town are just looking for revenue by issuing tickets. Just about everybody that gets pulled over could be cited for something like burnt out tailights, no insurance card on the person, speeding, etc, etc. So they pull you over and try to find a reason to cite you.

To further prove this point: When I was a stupid teenager of about 16 I was driving home from school on a snowy day with my big boxy RWD bald tires ghetto cruiser. I made a turn onto a sidestreet that had a number of cars parked along the curb. The car fishtailed a bit and ended up dinging the bumper of a truck that was parked. Whether I noticed or not, I don't know. But the next day after school as I was driving home I got pulled over by police that were waiting for me. The police officer, fully aware of my teenage naivety, pointed to a small red paint mark no more than an inch long on my middle FRONT bumper that had been there forever (if my car hit the truck, it would have been on the rear side bumper) and said "That proves it." I was promptly issued a citation for Hit and Run. So eventually a couple weeks later after the advice of an older friend, I call the District Attorney. I ask if it would be OK if I get the charge reduced to Inattentive Driving, but still pay the same citation amount as Hit and Run. DA puts me on hold. Comes back "Yes, that would be acceptable." This tells me at the ripe age of 16 that it isn't the crime that matters, but how much you can pay "the man."

Don't get me wrong, I respect the job that police do. I don't want drunk drivers and criminals roaming the street. However, I also don't want power tripping, ego driven, machismo, revenue generating pigs roaming the street. Too many times it goes to their heads and or the stress gets to them and they end up as psychotics that end up beating, harming, or killing civilians.

So what do we do about it? I don't know. But to me civilian checkpoints are just another way for a crabby cop to harass you.

Aerosmith said it best:
"with the judge(or cop), constipation will go to his head
and his wife's aggravation, you're soon enough dead

it's the same old story, same old song and dance, my friend"
 
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Originally Posted By: Shannow
As has oft been mentioned on this site

"If you're doing the right thing, you've nothing to fear."

RBTs down here are one of the more benign Govt sponsored Police activities.


As usual, it's a more complex question than it appears on the surface. What you have to "fear," even if you're 110% innocent, is unreasonable restriction on your right to travel. Here's a hypo for you: you've waited for three months to get an appointment with the specialist your physician referred you to for a painful medical condition. You leave 10 minutes earlier than you need to, just to be sure. You come around a corner, only to discover a DUI checkpoint with a 20 min waiting line. What now? Fair? Reasonable?

The US constitution does not explicitly mention a right to travel, but the federal courts very quickly realized that without it, many, if not most of the other "rights" it guarantees are meaningless. One on point comment in an RTT case: "it is a virtually unconditional personal right, guaranteed by the Constitution to us all."

Also, don't confuse the "privilege to drive" with the right to travel. Though in modern society, the two certainly have some overlap. For example, no sane society would grant a blind person a driver's license (though we're coming close...), but there's no doubt that the same person still has a right to travel.

FINALLY: be careful folks, this sort of thread has a way of veering easily into R/S/P territory. It's a good and interesting question; please don't take it where it need not go.
cheers3.gif
 
My town did what they called a "live stop" on my block. Stopped every car, checked registration, insurance and inspection stickers. Did it for a week, but if you went through once they didn't stop you again. Never seen so many tow trucks. I was amazed how much it solved our parking problem and how many cars they took off the road. I would take the few minutes from the first time over the head aches all the illegal driver's have created here.

ref
 
Here, they announce in the newspapers and on tv where and when there will be a checkpoint. They still bust an average of 5 people an hour for however long they run the check.
 
All very interesting points and comments.
But, at this point, this state considers checkpoints unconstituitonal, so does a bossy governor have the power to override it and institute them?
 
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