PAPERS PLEASE
Kodiac, Your post included remarks about off-target hits at "drug road-blocks".
I've seen so-called drug road-blocks, I've been stopped at so-called drug road-blocks, I've been detained at so-called drug road-blocks.
People ask about when the government is going to actually step over the line? What in the heck do they think a drug road-block is? Did anyone swear or affirm that I was in posesstion of controlled substances? Was there a writ or warrent that described my vehicle and the substance in question? Heck no! The us supreme court ruled that my 4th amendment rights and yours travel with you, into your car, into an apartment you may have leased, into a hotel room, etceteras.
HALT! Ausweiss Controll!
Road block, Ausweisee Control. Drivers license check,
==The following story is true, the names have been changed, but the dialogue is pretty much
as I remember===
Good evening sir, may I see your drivers license, state registration and proof of insurance?
Why of course Officer.
Thank you. Live around here?
No Sir.
Have you been drinking?
No Sir.
Will you pull off onto the shoulder there to your right?
May I have my papers back?
In a moment, will you please move to the shoulder?
Of course.
Mr Dog, will you step out of the car and move over to the rear that vehicle in front of you?
Of course. Dog rolls up window, takes keys and exits car, locking the door behind him.
Patrolman has a chat with senior who takes the papers and approaches
"Mr Dog, How do you do? I am Sgt Friendly"
"Sargent, my pleasure," shake hands
"Mr Dog, is the information on your drivers license, registration and insurance correct?
"No Sargent, the address on the insurance and registration is correct, the address on the DL is dated"
"I see, Mr Dog, we would like to have a look inside your vehicle, may we have your keys?"
"No Sargent, you may not."
"Mr Dog, our purpose here is to blah blah blah, (good and wonderful stuff) and we would like to send you on your way. The quickest way to do this is for you to let us have a quick look in your car so that you can go on about your business. Where are you headed tonight?"
"Dear Sargent, I was a military policeman. During my tour of duty, I was stationed in Germany for a while. In Germany, we often participated alongside the Polzei in actions that very closely resemble this one you and I are taking place in tonight. The very large difference was that in Germany, the right to refuse an unwarrented search did not exist. I applaud your efforts at reducing crime, and I remember you and your brothers in my prayers. This I promise you is so. However, as an American. I will not submit to an unwarrented search. It is a matter of principal you see. May I have my papers back and be on my way?"
"No sir, not just yet."
The evening went on for about an hour while the K9 was brought up to to walk all over my jeep. The officers really wanted me to let them in. I really didn't want to surrender my 4th amendment rights. Eventually they relented, told me to get an address change on my DL post haste. Sgt Friendly and I shook hands, and at that time, I asked him if there was anything in my vehicle he wanted to see. He asked me to open my glove box, which I did, he asked if he could look under the seat, no problem. He asked why I just didn't do that in the first place, I told him that maybe he just doesn't get it. I really wasn't trying to be a prick. I am a citizen, I am not a consumer, taxpayer, voter, whatever other classification scheme the gov likes to use in place of citizen, but a citizen, with civil rights enumerated in and protected by the Bill of Rights. This Ausweiss Controll Nazi "Paperz Pleeze" crap must stop now, PERIOD. No one has any legal, ethical, or moral obligation to assume criminal activity on my part without EVIDENCE. Long hair, 4x4, kayaks on the roof fits a profile. I know that, add that up with 11PM and 100 back-road miles from home address, and its a better profile. But so what?
I don't LIKE paying for Clintons cigars
I don't LIKE having a drivers license
I don't LIKE gun control laws
I don't LIKE drug laws
I don't LIKE a lot of things, but they are the laws of the land, I respect them, I obey them. I haven't even had a beer in over 12 years.
Keep passing laws, and all that is accomplished is creating more criminals. How many so-called criminals are really out there? I mean house-breakers, murderers, robbers, rapists, muggers. Real criminals doing real crimes? Not all that many. Start adding in kids who smoke CIGARETTES at age 14, the mom who drives 37 mph on an empty road in a 25mph zone to get to the soccer game, the fellow with a bad muffler, on and on and on, and sooner or later we are all criminals.
Make a rolling stop, get caught, pay the fine, fine payment doesn't get posted for some reason, no problem, you have a receipt. 90 days past due date, a bench warrent gets issued, get stopped at a "Safety Check-point" and go to jail, go directly to jail, do not pass go, and give up 200 bucks to get back out again. Cuffed and stuffed, fingerprinted, photographed, booked. No kidding. Don't say it doesn't happen, it happened to me. Yes I have an arrest record. I have an arrest record for what amounts to a rolling stop. This is WRONG.