American Fork DUI Checkpoint
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So we were up in the Hell area on Saturday 21st. We planned on spending the entire day up in that area. It was idyllic; perfect weather and there wasn't another soul up there. The people in our group kept making incredulous comments about how it was unusual that on the last holiday weekend of summer that we were the only group up there. It was perplexing, until we began to notice in the late afternoon that up-canyon traffic was backing up and in a stop & go mode from what we could see of the road. |
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I didn't think the beer was strong enough to get you drunk. |
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just another example of the country moving towards a "police state". |
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i smell a rat wrote:just another example of the country moving towards a "police state". I have never understood the legality of DUI checkpoints, I mean there is no probable cause to stop every driver at random. I am strongly against drunk driving but giving up our rights to achieve it seems wrong.You're obviously not a member of the rapidly growing "safety at any cost" demographic. |
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They agree with you in Oregon, no DUI checkpoints allowed there. |
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i smell a rat wrote:just another example of the country moving towards a "police state". I have never understood the legality of DUI checkpoints, I mean there is no probable cause to stop every driver at random. I am strongly against drunk driving but giving up our rights to achieve it seems wrong.Maybe they aren't looking for drunk drivers. Maybe they are actually looking for the "rich yuppie selfish people that have been becoming more frequent in the climbing scene lately." |
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I was wondering what the Sheriff Department tape all over the parking area was for. |
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900 people stopped, 19 arrests -- sweet use of time and resources. |
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I was in Mark's group on Saturday. Once we figured out what was going on, hiking out & up to the car, I said that my girlfriend & I were going to get stopped; that there was going to be a problem because of the way I looked & the way my car looked (prayer flags on the top, stickers, ect..), mostly jokingly. Sure enough, as we were told to stop, the attending officer, asking the plastic questions they always ask, said that my eyes were a tad blood shot, & that he wants me to pull off on the side of the road so he can talk to me. He asked me to get out of the car, & continued on with my (slightly) 'bloodshot eyes'. I explained to him that I had been up since 4am (which was true) & that I had also been climbing all damn day in the heat (which was true) & that I had also been sober from anything for nearly 21 months (which is true). Nevertheless he conducted a field sobriety test. I 'passed', yet seemingly he wasn't satisfied. He called over another officer with a drug sniffing dog. They did a perimeter 'sniff' of my car. That officer said he was satisfied & didn't think I had anything in the car. The original officer said, 'ok, never the less, I am going to do a search inside your car.' Which he & one other officer proceeded to do. All in all, 20, 30 min later, were were on our way. |
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Zenetopia, if ever you are in this situation again, ask them to see their search warrant. Searching a person's vehicle requires either consent or a warrant (or reasonable suspicion that you are currently a danger to the officer or the public). |
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kBobby wrote:Zenetopia, if ever you are in this situation again, ask them to see their search warrant. Searching a person's vehicle requires either consent or a warrant (or reasonable suspicion that you are currently a danger to the officer or the public). aclu.org/files/kyr/kyr_engl… This even includes situations where the owner/driver of the vehicle is arrested. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizo… Police cannot search you, your home, your vehicle, or your belongings without either (a) your consent; (b) a warrant; or (c) knowledge of facts which would lead to reasonable belief that you are committing a crime or there is evidence of a crime in your vehicle. Refusing to allow police to search your vehicle is not sufficient to support reasonable belief.While I agree that you shouldn't let "the man" walk all over you, I think that if a cop wanted to search my car, and I was certain I had nothing illegal inside, I'd agree just to avoid the drama that refusing would be sure to raise. |
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Taylor Ogden wrote: While I agree that you shouldn't let "the man" walk all over you, I think that if a cop wanted to search my car, and I was certain I had nothing illegal inside, I'd agree just to avoid the drama that refusing would be sure to raise.That is why our civil liberties are slowly eroding. |
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I wanted to add... |
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I agree with KBobby I have read your posts a number of times Taylor Ogden and you seem to be on top of your game but if people like you dont stand up for your rights who will? |
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I once told a cop NO when he asked me to let him search my car. Guess how that went down. he put his hand on his gun, asked me to exit the vehicle and proceeded to search the car. He found nothing and wrote me a ticket for failing to come to a complete stop at a sign(which he did not witness since he was not there to see it). |
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zenetopia wrote:I was in Mark's group on Saturday. Once we figured out what was going on, hiking out & up to the car, I said that my girlfriend & I were going to get stopped; that there was going to be a problem because of the way I looked & the way my car looked (prayer flags on the top, stickers, ect..), mostly jokingly. Sure enough, as we were told to stop, the attending officer, asking the plastic questions they always ask, said that my eyes were a tad blood shot, & that he wants me to pull off on the side of the road so he can talk to me. He asked me to get out of the car, & continued on with my (slightly) 'bloodshot eyes'. I explained to him that I had been up since 4am (which was true) & that I had also been climbing all damn day in the heat (which was true) & that I had also been sober from anything for nearly 21 months (which is true). Nevertheless he conducted a field sobriety test. I 'passed', yet seemingly he wasn't satisfied. He called over another officer with a drug sniffing dog. They did a perimeter 'sniff' of my car. That officer said he was satisfied & didn't think I had anything in the car. The original officer said, 'ok, never the less, I am going to do a search inside your car.' Which he & one other officer proceeded to do. All in all, 20, 30 min later, were were on our way. Profiling? Not sure. Maybe. Seems suspect to me seeing as how the entire time each car passed with barely a stop. What else I find humorous is how many years did i get away with being stupid & making mistakes by driving under the influence, only to be stopped during a now healthy & sober life. Ironic. Still, it was nerve wracking & seemed a bit over kill...This is clearly illegal. You should have gotten a photo of your eyes and talked to a lawyer. I would not have let them search my car in this instance, period. Passed sobriety test, dog sniffed car and passed, WHY would you let them search your shit? I guess just avoidance of issues since you knew ur shit was clean. EDIT: This really just amazes me... Back East I only on July 4th do they have checkpoints and even then it's only on major roads close to major party/beach spots. If this was an everyday story around here I would be 100% aggressiveness about protecting my rights. |
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I do not consent to searches. |
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Where I live it apparently does NOT matter if it is illegal... I had a similar experience a few months ago. |
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Check your local laws to ensure you are complying but, I am going to tape every incident I have with any authority from here on out. |
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Jeremy Hand I just watched a video on the net where a guy has a helmet cam on and gets harassed by a cop goes home and posts it and indeed did get a ticket for what he posted on the net. Turns out he had violated an ordinance for videoing an officer on duty without consent or notification, he got off because the helmet cam was HUGE and obvious check out the photo if you can find it looks like something out of star wars. Lol |
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Jeremy Hand wrote:Check your local laws to ensure you are complying but, I am going to tape every incident I have with any authority from here on out.Ya - If u got an Iphone or another smart phone it wouldn't hurt to whip it out and start video recording the process. |