Comments on: Loudoun Sheriff’s Day Out

By: Bryan

Bryan — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 02:14:14 +0000

I don’t know the laws in that jurisdiction, however I can tell you that they are in fact legal in Florida.. so long as they are properly advertised. The checkpoint must be advertised via local news paper and I think sometimes the local news channels with the date/times. There is also some law as to who can be stopped. This means you can stop and request papers from every 3rd car. My understanding is that it HAS to be random of this sort to prevent any kind of profiling or “unfair” stops. As far as refusing to show ID or papers? I would advise against that as it is a lawful request at that point and refusal could lead to an arrest. Could you fight it and get it tossed? Most likely, but do you want to test that theory? The short of it is, if you aren’t a bad guy and happen to be one chosen, who cares? It’s two minutes of your time and you will be on your way. The fist thing people will say when the news talks about some loser with a suspended DL who crashes into and kills a family is, “Where were the cops? The cops should have been stopping him instead of me!” Well, as soon as you invent and market that crystal ball which actually tells us which car contains the badguys, I am sure you will have every dept. in the US banging on your door to buy one. Until then, they have to use what tools are available to them. ;-) My two cents.

By: timojhen

timojhen — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 15:12:33 +0000

I’m with those who think it oversteps.

There were recently cases in New York whereas the police set up “motorcycle only” checkpoints. While they did find some violations (i.e. improper helmets, out of date registration etc), it’s too likely that it’d be used for harassment.

By: datdamwuf

datdamwuf — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 16:01:33 +0000

to Mike, have you ever read the Constitution?

FOURTH AMENDMENT [U.S. Constitution] - ‘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.’

All police checkpoints are wrong.

By: http://openid.aol.com/kilpatds

http://openid.aol.com/kilpatds — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 01:59:50 +0000

Papers, Please, Comrade^WConsumer

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 21:51:00 +0000

Cool that they replied. I think I support this as a way to enforce license law, though I’m not sure how legal it is. Proof of my car’s registration and inspection are visible on the outside of the car (I got cited recently for an expired registration), but there’s no other way to ensure people are licensed. Without being able to verify and enforce licenses, why bother having them…