fake "drug checkpoints"

mikez · 08-07-2004, 01:43 PM

I thought the following newsbrief from yesterday's Drug War Chronicle is interesting:

Quote:

Newsbrief: Highway Travel Advisory -- South Dakota/Sturgis Rally
8/6/04

The annual motorcycle rally at Sturgis, South Dakota, is set to get underway Monday, and South Dakota law enforcement agencies have already begun their annual predatory policing spree. Each summer, as tens of thousands of bikers head for the Black Hills, the state's main east-west corridor, Interstate 90, as well as Interstate 29 running north into eastern South Dakota, become a virtual gauntlet for travelers as state Highway Patrol officers and sheriff's deputies use any number of ploys, including pretextual stops, drug dogs galore, and even fake "drug checkpoints" to bust travelers.

In a news release from the South Dakota Highway Patrol, the agency boasted that "drug busts are up so far this week," with 23 felony drug arrests and 124 misdemeanor drug arrests as of Thursday morning. During the same week last year, troopers had only scored 13 felony and 92 misdemeanor drug arrests.

Not included in that number were two university students traveling north from Vermillion Wednesday on I-29 who encountered signs on the roadside proclaiming "Drug Checkpoint Ahead." The driver left the interstate at the next exit, where he was pulled over on a pretext by a sheriff's deputy. Having viewed the Flex Your Rights video, "BUSTED: A Citizen's Guide to Surviving Police Encounters" (http://www.flexyourrights.org), the driver initially refused to consent to the officer's request to search the vehicle. But when the officer threatened to call in the drug dog, the driver, thinking he was clean, gave his consent. The officer found an empty baggie with three red hairs in it. The two students were charged with marijuana possession. At the jail, the arresting officers crowed to their fellow cops about getting the first bust of the day, one of the students told DRCNet.

Defensive drivers can learn some lessons from the bust above: First, any time you see a "Drug Checkpoint Ahead" sign on a highway, it is a sting. The Supreme Court has ruled that police may not conduct such checkpoints for law enforcement purposes. What law enforcement agencies sometimes do is place a "checkpoint" sign on the highway, then watch for people to either throw items from their vehicles or commit traffic violations as they seek to avoid the supposed checkpoint. Then they arrest them.

Second, be aware of what is in your car! The driver in the bust above consented to the search because he thought his car was clean. Big mistake in this case. And last but certainly not least, do not waive your rights! If the driver had not consented to a search, one of two things would have happened. The officer would see that his bluff had been called and bid the travelers on their way, or the officer really would have handy access to a drug dog, the dog would search for and find the baggie, and the two would be arrested for marijuana possession. In this second case, the end result is no worse than what actually happened, and the student would have the leverage of a possible appeal because he had not waived his rights.

It's summer time, and the police are trolling and the penalties are high. Drive safe out there. Drive sober. Drive smart. And not just in South Dakota.

You heard it here first: don't freak out when you see signs about an upcoming "drug checkpoint." Just give a little chuckle and continue on your way.

But what really gets me when I think about it, these guys are going to jail for an empty baggie with 3 red hairs?? What exactly is the threat from 3 red hairs? What a crock.

iGame3D · 08-07-2004, 07:58 PM

Signpost up ahead "Welcome to the police states of America"

Lock and load.

Niteshift · 08-07-2004, 09:21 PM

The practice is of questionable legality.

However, the way it CAN (and usually is) made legal is to simply observe near the sign and stop people for littering, a legally valid reason for a stop, if they toss anything.

LegalizIT! · 08-10-2004, 03:15 PM

Man that sucks for those college students. Im suprised that they even got charged it is way under a gram maybe the three hairs were really fat and had bud on the inside

.

fdasystem · 08-18-2004, 09:31 AM

another reason i hate law enforcement. this is just blatently wrong. how they bragged about the bust. this makes me boil people and it should you tooo!
this country was founded revolting against much less tyranny...and if you like it you are either power mad or crazy...

tyranny is everywhere...they get the kids in jail anyway they can...not that the schools aren't jails too...we are living in a prison but the bars are made of the illusion of being free while they suck us dry...while they terrorize us and incarcerate us...while they kill us with no justice....the experiment on us...

in waco the children who were gased broke their own bones convulsing to death...while ATF "officers"(more like pathetic minion, some little demon to serve a higher darkness) laugh and moon the complex.

research if you want how the usa researches and experiments on its civilians and soldiers...oh this is for the common cold...oh we dont know how that cancer happened...this is admitted and known just never "widely reported on" because there really are no large media outlets that aren't controlled by the powers to be - the global crime syndicate made up of evil men(not some single conspiracy group.), but a global infestation of pirates....

above the bohemian grove entrance it says "i am lafette(spelling?)" who was a french pirate who took part in defending america...not that he was a good guy...

the facts go on and on and so must i if anyone is to even consider understanding how this network at least documentavely has proven. what lurks in the enigmatic shadows in those vast underground facilities we could easily muster up the courage to go look as a people...but really collectively we must be scared to admit the horor so we shrug it off...laugh it off...deny it...whatever we have to do to keep us alive in this f-ed up world.
there is 2 cents on that.

Niteshift · 08-18-2004, 08:36 PM

this is just blatently wrong.

I'm not sure I'd say that, but I did say it was of a questionable legality.

in waco the children who were gased broke their own bones convulsing to death...while ATF "officers"(more like pathetic minion, some little demon to serve a higher darkness) laugh and moon the complex.

I've never seen anything credible that mentioned them "mooning" anything.

I think Waco was grossly mishandled. I was, and still am, very critical of both the BATF and the FBI's handling of it.

For that matter, I've been critical of the FBI's handling of Ruby Ridge as well.

But the rest of the rambling post is just unpersuasive and all over the place. You seem to put a lot of stock in certain things, like Bohemian Grove, yet ignore the fact that somethings you find "suspicious" are really routine and without some hidden agenda.

So, as with the other thread, it's clear that your beliefs are to embedded to be discussed openly and honestly, so I won't bother trying to.

08-07-2004, 09:21 PM	#3
Niteshift L.E.O. in Good Standing Join Date: Dec 2000 Posts: 6,432 Grams: 5,323.12 Thanks: 0 Thanked 12 Times in 6 Posts Stock Portfolio Total Value: 0.000 Gain/Loss: 0.000%	The practice is of questionable legality. However, the way it CAN (and usually is) made legal is to simply observe near the sign and stop people for littering, a legally valid reason for a stop, if they toss anything. __________________ A burning desire for social justice is never a substitute for knowing what you're talking about. -Thomas Sowell Sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel is muzzle flash.

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