While I cannot speak for the laws of Virginia, PA MVC §1511(a) General rule. - Every licensee shall possess a driver’s license issued to the licensee at all times when driving a motor vehicle and shall exhibit the license upon demand by a police officer, and when requested by the police officer the licensee shall write the licensee’s name in the presence of the officer in order to provide identity.
(Bolding mine)
Every time I’ve approached a DUI checkpoint, I have my license, registration and insurance card in hand before putting the window down. That never struck me as a tough concept. Then again, I’m not in the country illegally.
The exceptions refer to farm equipment, people with valid licenses from other states, and active duty military.
And the Factotrix closes a bar three nights a week. I’m usually there with her, to speed up the closing and cleaning, and generally keep her from being there alone at 3 am. And we have seen LEOs sitting in the parking lot next door, waiting to catch DUI customers from the rowdy bar down the street. We think it’s great fun, and a good idea, because they sweeping the drunks off the street before we have to drive home.
Trust me on this, they scrutinize certain people much more heavily than others. Maybe not in NY, but certainly here. They question/pull over(a colloquialism) every car in their lane.
My wife just relayed a story to me in which she and a girlfriend were held up for more than 10 minutes on the car in front of them while the LEO scrutinized everything about them. The car had 4 or 5 mexicans in it. The LEO scrutinized the ID, the Reg., the license plate, went to call in for warrants, and reluctantly let them go.
Meanwhile, the other lane sped by with the typical, “good evening, had anything to drink tonight?” As did theirs once the car in front of them was on his way.
I’ve also seen this behavior during the daytime at a non-DUI checkpoint. The police were pulling cars over randomly-a policeman in the middle of the street was pointing with his flashlight(in the middle of day), motioning to the side of the street, and peoiple were checked presumably(I wasn’t involved, justa bystander), for lic. reg. and warrants. There was no pattern, just people being pulled over randomly.
The conclusion I draw from this-rightfully, wrongfully, your call-is that the police in my neck of the woods are predisposed to pay closer attention to certain people of color and socio-economic classes than others. A report released a year or two ago agrees with me.
I also feel that we have a police force that is primarily there to produce revenue.
I think the pros-getting unlicensed people and drunks off the street, outweigh the cons-my privacy invaded and my time and tax dollars wasted.
Bricker- I cannot dispute the constitutionality of the matter. You’ve schooled me time and again. I am just offering my opinion based on observations in my region.
Of course they scrutinize certain people over others, they’re human, that’s never going to change.
So let’s see here, they were held for 10 minutes and then let go. Umm where’s the problem?
I’m missing your point here. Above you said the mexicans were singled out, now you’re saying people are being pulled over randomly.
I don’t neccessarily think this is a bad thing. I would hope that any LEO with half a brain would incorporate the area dynamics into their job. In California I would imagine LEOs are more on the lookout for illegal Mexicans then they would in Maine, which would make sense.
I dunno about this.
I hardly consider it wasted tax dollars. I also hardly consider it an invasion of my privacy. As stated before, driving is not a god given right.
I’m by no means a [civil] libertarian, but I find some of the ends-justifies-the-means arguments being presented here with a straight face rather alarming.
Ends justifies the means implies that I have some sort of objection to the methods, yet I still feel “it’s worth it” for the benefits the results bring. I’ve said nothing of the sort. I have no qualms whatsoever about the means.
Why hold them at all? The cute white girls in nice cars got to pass through unscathed. These guys in a shitty car got everything but their assholes inspected. I realize that this is a convenient way to use the DUI checkpoint, but come on.
No, you’re being obtuse. Two totally different situations. And as for why I brought the second example up, read Bricker’s post above mine for what makes a checkpoint constitutional.
Driving a car, as others have said, is not a right. It is a privilege. You have to pass written and driving tests. You have to be licensed. I look at the complaint that police found some people to be illegal/unlicensed/uninsured to be a bonus. They got caught breaking more laws.
As far as complaining that towing, impounding, ticketing etc. is a burden, well all of us citizens face the same “burden” if we get caught DUI or unlicensed or uninsured. If this law and all its requirements does not apply to them, it should not apply to anyone.
I find the idea that El Presidente Fox had the gall to say our laws don’t apply to Mexicans annoying, to say the least. Yet, if a US citizen is arrested, locked up, or shaken down and robbed by Mexican police, nothing is done. Maybe we should close our embassies in Mexico, close the border, cancel NAFTA, and call it a day. Oh, and in the meanwhile, deny any hope of extradition for any US citizens who commit various crimes in Mexico and can make it back up here. There were amnesty drives and plenty of free help offered to people, in order to “get legal”. If they chose not to, it is their own fault.
The last across-the-board “amnesty” was in the mid-1980s. That’s almost 20 years ago now. How many of the people who are here illegally do you think have been here for 20+ years, and would therefore have had the chance to take advantage of that amnesty?
I have been through three types of police checkpoints. One, the most common, is the DWI checkpoint. The police ask for license and registration, and ask if you’ve had anything to drink. If you say yes, you take a breathalyzer. The second is the seatbelt checkpoint. The police ask you for license and registration, and observe if you’re wearing your seatbelt. With any luck, they observe this before you’ve unbuckled it to get your wallet out of your back pocket. The last is the Crimestoppers checkpoint, where they ask for information on a crime that was committed nearby. No license or registration asked for, at least from the sample I observed, but flyers are distributed.
All I can say is that if I were a drug-smuggling, child-porn-possessing, illegal automatic weapons-toting criminal, being discovered in that way would be my lucky day.
