Trampling the Fourth Amendment

[ihunt49]

Finally someone sees it like it is!


Trampling the Fourth Amendment

The Intelligencer

I spent some family time watching television and munching popcorn with my wife and children one night last week.

Then there was a knock on the door. It was the police.

The officer said he and his partner were going to come in and look around. He said they'd be sifting through drawers, rummaging through closets and flipping chair cushions. Said it wouldn't take long.

Stunned and confused, I asked why they were doing this. I hadn't done anything illegal, except not pay for a nectarine I ate while shopping for groceries. I hadn't given the feds reason to suspect I was shady.

One officer said it was for the public good. He said my government wants to make sure someone doesn't have a cache of cocaine, or is harboring a fugitive, or is cooking up a bomb in the basement. He said they might also check our e-mails and what Web sites we'd been on. He said they'd also be checking other houses in the neighborhood, so I shouldn't feel unfairly singled out.

“We're trying to protect America, sir,” the officer said. “No need to thank us; we're just doing our job.”

Of course, the aforementioned situation didn't actually happen. But it is against that disturbing hypothetical backdrop that I vent my growing frustration at being stopped for no acceptable reason at a sobriety, or DUI, checkpoint, a virtually ineffective exercise that literally wipes its muddy shoes all over the unreasonable search protection guaranteed by the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Somehow, the U.S. Supreme Court in 1990 ruled that a DUI checkpoint is not unconstitutional. However, each state is left to decide for itself its constitutionality, and 40 states conduct them routinely.

But despite statistics from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation that indicate roving police patrols — the practice of stopping cars moving in a manner that suggests a driver might be impaired — are about nine times more effective than checkpoints in nabbing drunken drivers and are far less costly in terms of man-hours, the trampling of the Fourth Amendment continues in Pennsylvania.

We've all been stopped at a DUI checkpoint, and we all know the drill. A squadron of officers sets up a roadblock on a well-traveled roadway — usually from midnight until after the bars close— and stops cars to see which might have a drunken driver at the wheel.

As you buzz down your window, the officer tells you about the checkpoint. Then he might ask where you're headed or where you've been — neither of which is any of his business, of course — just to get you talking so he can smell if there's alcohol on your breath. Then he'll ask if you've had any alcohol this evening.

And while you're responding, he's leaning so close to your mouth you're certain he must have been an oral surgeon or a Broadway choreographer in a prior life.

One might think that DUI checkpoints act as a deterrent to drunken driving. But according to data from Mothers Against Drunk Driving's own Web site, that's not the case. Of the five states with the highest alcohol-related mortality rates, four conduct DUI checkpoints.

DUI checkpoints are being conducted in my neighborhood this weekend. But I won't be affected. We're staying home to enjoy some uninterrupted family time. Or so I think.

Phil Gianficaro is a columnist for The Intelligencer. He can be reached at 215-345-3078 or pgianficaro@phillyBurbs.com.

[WhiteFeather]

What do you have to hide from the government anyway?

Don't worry everyone the 3rd amendment is still intact.....

Can't same the for the rest of them oh-well at least we feel safer being watched 365/24/7 after all its for our own good.

[Intolerantbobj]

I - 49,

If you really want to push the blood pressure, read up on the fact that the Founder of MADD will have absolutely nothing to do with the organization any longer and says that this money making scheme that D U I has become is not what she intended.

I tell everyone I know, if you come into checkpoint and might blow hot, pull over prior to cops and abandon the vehicle ... you may just save yourself thousands !

Not to condone Drunk Driving, but this scheme of D U I and Tax Collection with a Gun has gotten way out of control.


Take Care I - 49


[QUOTE=ihunt49;373022]Finally someone sees it like it is!


Trampling the Fourth Amendment


.... " One might think that DUI checkpoints act as a deterrent to drunken driving. But according to data from Mothers Against Drunk Driving's own Web site, that's not the case. Of the five states with the highest alcohol-related mortality rates, four conduct DUI checkpoints ".

[tes151]

Roll into the checkpoint and just smile at them. You have no obligation to say one word to them. Where you are coming from and where you are going is none of their business.