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Lothar121

Stop the Stops
oudaily | 03/27/06

We're not going to beat around the bush here. We're just going to say it.

We don't particularly care for the Norman Police Department's DUI checkpoints. Too many aspects of the program just bother us.

Norman police conducted their first DUI checkpoint Thursday night into Friday morning, stopping 292 cars and handing out 20 citations, three of which were DUIs. (See page one.)

Four people, however, were cited for possession of marijuana. Four were cited for minor in possession of alcohol.

The checkpoint was established on Constitution Avenue, about a half mile west of Oak Tree Avenue, which leads to University Greens, University Commons, Forest Pointe and Hampton Woods apartment complexes — places inhabited mostly by students.

The checkpoints, which reportedly include two or three police officers confronting cars while other officers pull over cars that attempt to back away from the checkpoint, are extreme measures of law enforcement.

DUI checkpoints have explicitly been allowed by the U.S. Supreme Court on the premise that they sufficiently serve the public good to crack down on DUI.

But when the checkpoint disbanded early Friday morning, more people had received citations for possession of marijuana than for DUI. In all, a mere drop in the municipal bucket.

And where was that revenue enhanced? In several cases, it was within mere blocks of home.

We are not defending drunken driving. In fact, perhaps the best result of these checkpoints will be fewer people too drunk to drive taking to the roads for fear of the checkpoints.

Still, the checkpoints on the whole seem to be mechanical and ineffectual, accomplishing statistically little and yet affording police the opportunity at one predetermined location once a week to peer into an individual's life for 20 to 30 seconds and attempt to determine whether the law holds a verdict for him or her.

For some reason, we just don't like that.

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MrIMStoned

In ontario they call it the ride program. I like it. It takes 15 seconds for an officer to lean down and say "have you had any alcohol tonight?" you say "no" and they say "alright then, please continue". If you havent been drinking its the same as stopping for a red light.

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smoking joe

Tell me why you don't like it. Do you feel it's an invasion of your privacy or interference with interstate commerce? What?

reggie_the_dog

"Do you feel it's an invasion of your privacy?"

yes

the police can DRIVE AROUND looking for people who cannot drive properly. Randomly stopping people is presuming that the folks they stop are guilty, in essence it is nothing more than

A PRESUMPTION OF GUILT,

we have these BS checkpoints here in France too, but I believe they do not yet exist in the UK, though I could be wrong about that.

Sec

Forgive me if I am being simple here but doesnt DUI mean "Driving under the influence"? I don't think it is limited to alcohol.

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Cassius

It isn't limited to alcohol, but just because you are in possession of marijuana doesn't mean you're high on it, either. It is still illegal to possess marijuana, but it is not DUI unless you are driving WHILE high.

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