Bob

That would mean people either not drinking and driving or having to take public transport....neither of which would be allowed to happen...

Plus, well around here at least, a lot of the drinking establishments are pushed to the edges of town, where you can't walk to them because the towns don't mind people driving drunk home, but they don't like to see them staggering around town on foot.

Bob

I didn't say it was a good idea...just that it is their right.

Just like people have a right to go stomping into a restaurant armed to the teeth.

They do it because they can, not because it's sensible.

Steve_

There were a couple of people who were arrested for impeding a federal officer performing his duties not long ago. I doubt the charges will stick, I think they did it because they got tired of people making Youtube videos.

mrken30

I used to find it strange the amount of alcohol people would drink at work and then get in their cars and drive home. I don't remember any employer in the UK giving free beer on a regular basis.

It was nice sometime to just go and grab a beer from the fridge to go with my packed lunch.

RoadWarriorFromLP

The Supreme Court says otherwise:


"The Border Patrol's routine stopping of a vehicle at a permanent checkpoint located on a major highway away from the Mexican border for brief questioning of the vehicle's occupants is consistent with the Fourth Amendment, and the stops and questioning may be made at reasonably located checkpoints in the absence of any individualized suspicion that the particular vehicle contains illegal aliens."


https://supreme.justia.com/cases/fed.../543/case.html

Gozit

Its less about picking an argument with the individual cop whose just there doing his job, and more about the principle around it. Travelling freely around my own country I should not ever be stopped and required to provide proof of my nationality. In fact this never happens in Canada.

DUI stops are a full different beast, and actually, in Canada they are unconstitutional but ruled to be a reasonable exception due to public safety. That said, if you don't feel like waiting behind everyone else going through the stop, you can make a u-turn and the worst that's gonna happen is a cop will pull you over directly and do the check. If I notice them before I turn down the road i'll go in another direction just to avoid the delay.

moneypenny20

If you tried a U turn before a RBT here you'd have a car after you in seconds because they'd assume you are a) drunk, b) drugged up or c) both. Only a fool would try it.

Pulaski

I welcome the work that CBP and the police (city, sheriff's dept, state, and FBI/DEA, etc.) do, and am always happy to cooperate at a checkpoint. In some respects I wish there were more checkpoints.

FWIW I have never been asked about my nationality, though one cop once noted my "out of town" accent. Driving an F250 probably helps with my cover.

Gozit

Yeah, if i'm stuck in the line, i'm stuck, i wouldn't turn around, but in Ontario anyways they can't charge you with anything if you aren't actually drunk, they can just pull you over and if they determine you aren't they will let you on your way. However if I can see it down the street and there is an intersection before the checkpoint i'll turn to go around it.

That it probably does

I just don't like the idea of being impeded by any police stop/investigation/checkpoint/etc when I myself have done nothing wrong and just want to go about my business with the least involvement from the state as possible.

Steve_

My personal problem with checkpoints is that you could put checkpoints on any given road on the face of the planet and question people and turn up all kinds of illegal activity.

Why focus on the border with Mexico? Why not the border between say, California and Oregon?

Border Patrol is effectively limited to operating within 100 miles of the border (expedited removal zone), which means 90% of the State of Florida but 0% of Utah.

Why not just have ICE set up checkpoints on I-15 in Utah? Why do they have to go through all the hassle of waiting for an immigration court to issue a removal order?

Very slippery slope.

The one that really blew my mind was the BP checkpoint north of Tombstone, I didn't see a single vehicle with Mexican plates waiting in line. Totally pointless. It was all tourists.

And I've been through "mobile" checkpoints near the Canadian border, equally pointless, but then they justify it by saying that so and so had an ounce of marijuana in his RV or something equally stupid.

Which is in fact what they do at Coutts as well, "we caught a guy with a revolver in his RV who was going to Alaska". Wow. I feel much safer.

Hopefully the UK will vote to "remain" in the EU because if it leaves, there is no chance of N America ever doing away with all it's crazy border bullshit.

IrishDigger

Why you should just roll down your window,

dc koop

At Christmas time and other major holidays the local police set up DUI checkpoints.

I'm all for it since it is a good way to catch drunks and those without any auto insurance or driving on suspended licenses or with outstanding warrants

katzgar

check points are indeed constitutional, to say otherwise is ignorant.

Are DUI Checkpoints Unconstitutional?

katzgar

the amoubt of ignorance in this quote is huge, dont even know where to start.

AdobePinon

It may have been ok'd by the Supreme Court, but I do consider it an infringement to be pulled over and potentially asked to prove US citizenship. When I got my naturalization certificate, nobody said that I need to carry it or a US passport around. I'm sure Border Patrol is salivating over the completion of RealID as a way of circumventing many of those issues. It'll be all fun and games once they find out how many New Mexicans do not have birth certificates.

Then again, as someone who's had a TSA numbnut reject both my NM license, and a federal ID for an internal flight, sometimes you just need to argue it out.