GPFontaine wrote:

Pandajuice wrote: Again, if you have nothing to hide, then stopping at a DUI checkpoint or by CHP at a toll crossing shouldn't be any concern at all. You are correct, but setting up a DUI checkpoint with the intent to search people for other things is illegal and an abuse of power. That is the real issue here.

That isn't what they did. Just because they didn't catch drunks doesn't mean they weren't looking for them.

Have you ever been through these things? They don't do anything really bad. They stop you, ask you a few general questions, look at your eyes, and if they can tell you're sober, let you go. They do not search your car. If they think you may be under the influence, they pull you aside for a test. Being someone who drives on main roads around midnight on big holidays, I get caught in them all the time.

All of those citations are things that you could get popped for simply for being within 10 feet of a police officer. Having a bag of weed or a gun on your car seat could get you arrested, you can get pulled over for having a light out or a faulty muffler, and police are CONSTANTLY checking license plates for people with warrants or stolen cars. In fact, I'm not entirely convinced that total number isn't an unusual one for 6 or 7 state troopers to pull up on a normal night combined, if they work for it.

...they were"not pulled over for DUI". They were detained for no more than 5 seconds while asked questions. hey weren't even taken off the road. Again, have you ever been through one of these things?

The constitutionality of them have been upheld since driving is not a right, it's a privilege, and you can avoid them simply by not driving.

Besides, what do you expect the police to do? "Good evening, sir, we're looking for people who have been drinking...hey, that's a nice gun. And is that a brick of cocaine? Okay, have a nice night!".

GPFontaine wrote:

SpraCoalee, I live in Connecticut, not Florida. My area (1,000 miles away) does have a lot of drunk drivers and I am in favor of check points to stop or deter it. I am not ok with the checkpoints being used to further other objectives though unless a judge orders it.

GP, you continue to hold onto the assumption that the ONLY thing they're allowed to ticket for is what they stopped you for in the first place. That's not true.

If someone is pulled over for not having a broken taillight, and the police officer find the driver is drunk off his ass and has drugs in the passenger seat, you don't seriously think the police officer should let him go with a ticket because he only pulled him over for the taillight.

If police are searching a home for evidence of another crime with a warrant and find a body stashed in a freezer, you don't seriously think they should ignore it because they found it without a warrant.

There are exceptions to the fourth amendment, and one of them is for things a police officer finds while performing his other duties legally. Sobriety checkpoints are legal. So long as they don't go looking for evidence of another crime (and they do not), they can cite you for anything they can clearly see. I do not see what the problem is.

And just because they don't find any drunk drivers at the checkpoint means only that they're doing a good job of keeping drunk drivers off that particular street. Not that they weren't looking for them.

Here's where this guy fails:

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They opened the car door and began a search, all of which was captured on the vehicle's video camera mounted in the dashboard. In the video, a copy of which was obtained by the American-Statesman, Ledford uses his cell phone as a flashlight to inspect the car's interior, reporting what he finds to Ward. He takes the keys out of the ignition and tries to open the trunk, which, unknown to him, is full of surveillance equipment.

At this point, he is breaking and entering into a vehicle (contrary to popular belief, you don't have to "break" something to break and enter). It's not their job to investigate suspicious vehicles. If they think the vehicle was involved with a crime, the police are the people to call. And they already called them, and since the police were unconcerned with it, it should have been their cue to butt out.

Stay out of other people's shit. Even if you're curious. Even if you're trying to "help"

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If a car was on my fucking property and the cops came and investigated and left without caring, then I would certainly look through the car.

The car was not on his property. It was simply near his house.

If it were on his property and he couldn't find the owner, he could have it towed at the owner's expense. No problem.