A multiagency law enforcement team set it up so that any drivers hoping to avoid the bogus checkpoint must make an illegal U-turn or try to make an unsafe exit. Either way, officers stand ready to pull them over.

Any thoughts on how this'll hold up on court? Sounds like it's toeing a tricky line there.

Upon further reading...
Marion County sheriff's deputies and park rangers, in marked and unmarked cars, wait for drivers to make illegal U-turns or commit other traffic violations...giving police "probable cause" to make a stop and search the motorist's vehicle.

That's probably going to be the part that drags this into court. Turning a vehicle around illegally is probable cause to stop the car and ticket the driver for an illegal U-turn. How is doing so by default probable cause for searching the car? (Yes, I understand that the police feel the likelihood that the U-turn is a reaction to the "roadblock" signs merits such a search, but it seens questionable enough to end up in court nonetheless.)

Oldest trick in the book. I've been through this stuff - in Tennessee. They post 'check point' warnings several exits prior to the 'actual stopping point' - post them with a couple cruisers then watch for the sudden turns or redirections. Just keep your cool and don't do the stupid stoner things like try to keep your sunglasses on or freaking out. Do as asked, look them in the eye, be polite and don't have the farking pipe sitting out on the dash. You'll be fine.

Drugs aren't the problem - the problem is people who can't handle their high.

What person with nothing to hide would make an illegal u-turn just before a checkpoint?
Seems pretty obvious to me.

Then again, maybe I'm missing something. Maybe lots of people stop in the middle of the highway and turn around for no reason.

pretty sneaky sis.

Drugs aren't the problem - the problem is people who can't handle their high.

Maintain, man, maintain.

Is that true, EatHam?
That could really do a number on rape laws.

I taught my daughter about roadblocks while she was still a teenager - we were driving through L5P in Atlanta when she handed me a doob and said - Let's smoke it before we get home. I said no, you never know where the cops are, and she put it back in her pocketbook. Thirty seconds later, we came around a curve and there it was, a roadblock. They just checked my license and waved us on (Mommy & kid, you know). She looked at me like I was a Goddess. Thank goodness she hadn't lit it. To this day she won't carry in the car if she can help it.

We smoked it when we got home.

Yeah, shut up.

Actually, she's grown now.

I'm so used to sneaking around my kids to hit the dugout, it would seem wierd firing one up with the younguns... I suppose I can dream tho,... dream of a day when the herb is unleashed and legal, and a day at the beach with the family and the doobage right out there in the open... for a change.

Actually, now we have to hide from her little rugrat.

And bump, just wait till they start pinchin YOUR stash. You can put water in a vodka bottle but you can't fluff a bag very much.

Ah, this is why I hide my stash - very well. BTW - I put vodka in my water bottle & so far it's worked out very well... and you're right, even if you're lit, driving under the cover of parenting is the ultimate disguise...

I can understand that perspective. To me it's a question of what I'll be doing out in public - if it involves conversations and such, I'll pass. If it's going to a movie or similar activity then fire that puppy up. Usually, if I'm going out I only take 1 hit or so... I don't wanna be a complete zombie.

Only in public if on the way from one place to another. Such as a movie.

/wishing to be a complete zombie for about two weeks but can't.

But doesn't it suck when you've achieved the proper altitude, then somebody comes up and wants to have a long detailed conversation? It worked out fine when the Jehovas Witnessess dropped by, but that one time when I bumped into my boss...... Oy!

Entrapment. Plain and simple.

That said, if they allow alcohol checkpoints, why not drug checkpoints? Personally I think there should be probable cause before either, as having a cop search your car is quite time-consuming. What constitutes "probable cause" is best left to someone besides me.

In PA they are doing this "Click It or Ticket" campaign. They put up a road block to hand out literature on seat belt safety. Yeah right. Locally they set them up at 11:30 at night on a stretch of road with 4 bars on it. Damn coppers!

One of the differences between cops doing something illegal and you doing something illegal is the cops have an almost unlimited budget for lawyers.
Another difference is you get to wait in jail while things are sorted out.

Evading the police is probable cause for search.

Blatently avoiding a road block gives probable cause.

I'm actually kinda hoping that they do another one of these over on my side of town (far east); they hinted that they might in the newspaper article this morning. If they do, and if I have the luck to be heading back from the office when it's going down, I'm going to do *everything* in my power to ensure that I get stopped. Then we'll have a nice little go round concerning the U.S. and Indiana Constitutions, and we'll end up keeping at least two or three grunts plus a couple of shift supervisors tied in knots for an hour or two.

Of course, this is just another cyclical issue here in Hoosierland. If they're not pulling this kind of stunt they're trying to paste the Ten Commandments into the nearest Courthouse. Kinda like the 17 year locust cycle, only they pull this crap about once every six months.

Um...yeah.
I actually kinda hope that someday the feds happen upon Fark. Each day there are more admissions of guilt to more crimes than in any actual location.

I friggin LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE this!!!! Not cause of the drug thing, but by god, anyone who makes and illegal U-turn or and unsafe exit, those people at the very least need to be hassled a bit by the cops. What the fark? Why do people think they are allowed to cross through authorized vehicle only turns on express ways and think they can cut over into the exit lane when it has turned to solid white. Drugs, no drugs who cares, but people who drive like dicks so they can avoid traffic jams and backups.....FASTER PUSSY CAT!!!! KILL! KILL!

rdr So if you find a badgers den or a bee hive or something do you enjoy poking it with a stick just for the Fark of it? I can not think of a single case were its a good idea to hassle cops.

Epistax, Compy 386: True, if you agree that there should be checkpoints. Which I don't, barring such things as entry into high-security facilities, national border crossings, and the like. A checkpoint is more or less a search.

Sounds like the cops are simply attempting to evade the very law they're supposed to enforce. What a surprise.

The police used to watch over the people; now they're watching the people.

-Charles Manson

When are the guys in black coats going to show up and start asking us for our papers?

Road blocks and random searches of any kind are absurd. Where did the probable cause go?

What??!?? Weed is ILLEGAL??

/Canadian and proud of it.

HumbleGod - being pulled over isn't usually enough to allow the cops to search your car. However if they say "Can I search your car" you either consent or they get a search warrant (while detaining you) and search your car anyway.

Blahpers - the point of alcohol checkpoints is to get unsafe drivers off the road not to search the car for alcohol. Most narcotics check points are to search cars for narcotics - not remove drivers who are using drug from the road.

Stars_at_Night: Hmm. So what constitutes a checkpoint? Does a cop just sit on the side of the road and stop people only if they're swerving out of their lane, or do they stop everybody and give 'em the once-over? The former is quite understandable, the latter is ridiculous.

Blatently avoiding a road block gives probable cause.
My ass. I avoid them because they are a frigging hassle.
I don't drink if I'm driving and don't smoke week or anything of that sort.

I'd be pulled over too, right?


Btw, what is the farking rule with U-Turns??? I go to some cities and people do them almost anywhere.

Is it only illegal where posted?

How is a checkpoint illegal?

A checkpoint is just that, they are checking to see if you are operating your vehicle under the guidelines that have been set by your legislation.

They don't ask for papers, they don't randomly beat people. They catch the bad guys. The question at hand is whether or not they have the right to search your car based on an illegal u-turn.

This is the oldest trick in the book. They were doing this in Jersey back in the big eighties.

That's why I left.

Same thing in Louisiana. It was called Operation Freakout. They were busting the people freaking out making U-turns and crossing the median.

I good turn deserves another.I would drive around that town with a one pound bag of oregano or something similiar and wait to get to one of these checkpoints. When the officer comes up to the window, start acting really nervous. He searches the car, finds the fake pot...Looks like an asshat.

"I" should be "one"


/picked a bad week to stop sniffin' glue

This month your Dave will becoming in line with your Laruel so you can expect a change in your love life. But as long as your Michael is in its zenith your work life will be hecktic......

walk to a cop looking the other way. When he/she looks at you, run like hell. As soon as they tell you to stop, do so. They'll ask you why you ran. Of course the answer is
"I dunno, the internet?"

Interesting. Just turning around when you see a checkpoint doesn't give the police probable cause to pull you over (or is it reasonable suspicion that they need to pull you over? I can't remember- some 1L help me out!)

So this creates a loophole- if the U-Turn was illegal, and they see you making one, of course that is probable cause that you've committed a crime (the U-Turn itself) and they can pull you over and arrest you (for the U-Turn.) Incident to the lawful arrest, they can search the whole passenger compartment of the vehicle without a warrant! So if the U-turn was legal, no reasonable suspicion of any crimes, no arrest, no search.

Okay, I think I remembered. They need reasonable suspicion to pull you over, probable cause to arrest you once you are pulled over. Once arrested, they can search your passenger compartment, but need probable cause to search the trunk.

If I'm wrong, please correct me, but I believe that's right.

Also, EatHam The Constitution is a "floor" meaning states can't have more restrictive laws, so I don't know if your "implied consent" laws exist.

Ooops wrong link. nothing to see here, go about your way.

Spend all this money on drug inforcement and still can't keep the SOBs in Clarksville IN from running stop signs.

I say we go after the real criminals, this means you you non driving SOB I don't care if you are a farking deputy sheriff!

(fat chance the fat head will read it.)

blahpers -

actually stopping people is allowed IF it's done to remove unsafe drivers which (while it may be a pain in the ass for other drivers) actually does remove some people who shouldn't be on the road. Now the issue of how effective these checkpoints are (how many unsafe drivers are actually removed compared to the cost, hassle, etc) is something else entirely. I can't really weigh in on this since I've never been stopped at a checkpoint. Where I went to college they advertised it in the paper that they were going to be doing a checkpoint at whatever location and you just hoped that there was someone sober enough at the end of the night to remember where this checkpoint was and that we needed to avoid it.