SLC Mags: FYI: DUI Checkpoint on Highland Dr @ Bengal Blvd

[Nathan Explosion]

Title is pretty self explanatory. The Cottonwood Heights PD has set up a huge DUI checkpoint on the southbound side of Highland Dr, just past Bengal Blvd. They're hiding behind the hill so you can't see it until it's too late, and U-turns are blocked by a fairly substantial median. This is literally right in front of my apartment, and an officer told me it will be in place through Monday.

Even at 9:15 PM there was a substantial effect on traffic, and they are stopping more than half of the cars.

Be careful out there.

[leroy jenkins]

You should walk out with a camera and start filming them, just to see what they say.

If questioned, answer politely that you're just documenting a breach of the 4th amendment.

[Nathan Explosion]

You should walk out with a camera and start filming them, just to see what they say.

If questioned, answer politely that you're just documenting a breach of the 4th amendment.

I've got the camera handy for the period from about 10:00 PM-1:00 AM. There's normally a bunch of bikers running fast laps on this street during those hours, so there should be considerable entertainment value. Plus, you never know who is going to film the next Rodney King incident. I may be famous before the weekend is out.

I'm also thinking about selling sodas from my patio.

[dk_alaskan]

I've got the camera handy for the period from about 10:00 PM-1:00 AM. There's normally a bunch of bikers running fast laps on this street during those hours, so there should be considerable entertainment value. Plus, you never know who is going to film the next Rodney King incident. I may be famous before the weekend is out.

I'm also thinking about selling sodas from my patio.

Anywhere in the rest of the USA Road sodas or just your regular run of the mill g rated non caffeinated Utah sodas?

[Nathan Explosion]

If you're buying beer from a random dude at a DUI stop, you might have a problem. Or, you might be the coolest person on the planet. I don't really know.

[dk_alaskan]

if you can get a poach ninja sticker in there somewhere, you would have the win selling beers at a DUI Roadblock. THAT would be instant hall of fame material.

[Nathan Explosion]

How about a bong hit on the patio? Would that net me some gnar points? (I don't have any stickers, and I've since had 3 of my now 6 remaining PBRs, I'm not giving them away)

Also, an artsy-fartsy long exposure of the action:



(If you ever wanted to commit a crime in Cottonwood Heights, tonight is the night, ladies and gents. The whole damn force is here tonight.)

[dk_alaskan]

getting closer, if you walked up to the cop and asked him to hold said bong while you shot a pic of the whole scene THEN you would have the win

[japollner]

Hey! I was just there!


(theres one set up in my neck of the woods in NH too...but i was on a skateboard so I was ok)

[birdman829]

Saw one on the Salem/Beverly bridge in MA last night. Holiday weekend I guess...

[SkiingBear]

(If you ever wanted to commit a crime in Cottonwood Heights, tonight is the night, ladies and gents. The whole damn force is here tonight.)

Considering home invasions have been on the rise in the valley lately...you might not be far from the truth. Seriously, they can't find something better to do?

[leroy jenkins]

Considering home invasions have been on the rise in the valley lately...you might not be far from the truth. Seriously, they can't find something better to do?

You mean burglaries right? Home invasion is that taking over of a house by force, with the occupants inside, and taking them hostage, to do with as you feel. You know, like horror movies. Can't imagine there are many of those in cottonwood heights.

[thd]

Seriously, they can't find something better to do?

Yeah, stopping drunk drivers is soooo baaaaaaaaaaaaad

[timnormandin]

Stopping "drunk" drivers (they're not drunk until .15 in my book) might be OK, but shitting on the Constitution is not.

[Tye 1on]

Annual checkpoint in yellowstone between west y and big sky also.

[doughboyshredder]

Random checkpoints are such bullshit. It still amazes me that cops can get away with it.

[birdman829]

I'm pretty sure it's been banned by more than a few individual states actually, but not federally.

[thd]

Stopping "drunk" drivers (they're not drunk until .15 in my book) might be OK, but shitting on the Constitution is not.

Forgive my limited knowledge of your constitution, but how exactly is a checkpoint for alcohol-testing against it?

Random checkpoints are such bullshit. It still amazes me that cops can get away with it.

What do you mean by random? How exactly should they conduct testing of drivers in your opinion?

[powderwhore]

These checkpoints are not random and have to be announced in advance usually in the local paper. I would bet you could find out where they are on the local police websites, but I'm too lazy to look.

[hemas]

Forgive my limited knowledge of your constitution, but how exactly is a checkpoint for alcohol-testing against it?

Duh, every 'murican has a born right to drive completely wasted in his urban assault vehicle. And having these checkpoints are a pure violation of that given right.

[leroy jenkins]

Forgive my limited knowledge of your constitution, but how exactly is a checkpoint for alcohol-testing against it?




What do you mean by random? How exactly should they conduct testing of drivers in your opinion?

These checkpoints are not random and have to be announced in advance usually in the local paper. I would bet you could find out where they are on the local police websites, but I'm too lazy to look.

Duh, every 'murican has a born right to drive completely wasted in his urban assault vehicle. And having these checkpoints are a pure violation of that given right.

Those points really aren't relevant. The 4th amendment recognizes americans have the right to be free from any erroneous searches or seizures. These check points are disguised as DUI checkpoints, but what they really are is fishing expeditions, to see what they can come up with the will get people in trouble, and mainly, allow the officers to write tickets generating revenue for the department, and then they can add a few more arrests to their monthly tallies, making the officers look like their doing their job, on paper at least. It's a bick fucking circle jerk, at the expense of normal citizens. Sure, they arrest some drunks sometimes, but that's really not what its about.

They stop people without any probable cause, and that is unconstitutional. I'm all for stopping people if they're swerving, endangering others, or just driving like a prick, but that's not what these check points are about. They're about generating revenue and favorable, yet meaningless statistics at the expense of normal people.

Besides, I'm against them fundamentally, because today they're stopping people looking for drunks, tomorrow they're stopping you just because they feel like it, and the cops already have enough power.

[Trainwreck]

I think the idea behind it being unconstitutional is that it constitutes illegal search and seizure and a violation of our 4th Amendment rights. With a roadblock everyone who passes through it is essentially undergoing a search without probable cause, they were just driving along that section of road.

I think it has merit. Although a person in a motor vehicle does not have the same rights as a person in their home (you can't run someone over with your home) think about this as a counter example: how would you feel if the police decided they were going to search every house on your block (including yours) on the chance that a crime was being committed? Even if they announce it in advance, what right do they have to search your home unless they have good reason to believe that you are committing a crime?

BTW In Arizona vs Gant (2009) the Supreme Court ruled that a warrant is required to search a vehicle even if the occupant has been arrested, unless the officer's life is in danger or evidence might be destroyed. I would like the same protections under the law as the contents of my vehicle. I should not be subject to search unless there is an indication I am in the process of committing, or have committed, a crime.

[Trackhead]

Duh, every 'murican has a born right to drive completely wasted in his urban assault vehicle. And having these checkpoints are a pure violation of that given right.

Fuckin-A-Right you fuckin commie sumbitch.

[hemas]

Fuckin-A-Right you fuckin commie sumbitch.

Pinkie commie... dammit, how hard is it to remember.

[Trainwreck]

I think the idea behind it being unconstitutional is that it constitutes illegal search and seizure and a violation of our 4th Amendment rights. With a roadblock everyone who passes through it is essentially undergoing a search without probable cause, they were just driving along that section of road.

I think it has merit. Although a person in a motor vehicle does not have the same rights as a person in their home (you can't run someone over with your home) think about this as a counter example: how would you feel if the police decided they were going to search every house on your block (including yours) on the chance that a crime was being committed? Even if they announce it in advance, what right do they have to search your home unless they have good reason to believe that you are committing a crime?

BTW In Arizona vs Gant (2009) the Supreme Court ruled that a warrant is required to search a vehicle even if the occupant has been arrested, unless the officer's life is in danger or evidence might be destroyed. I would like the same protections under the law as the contents of my vehicle. I should not be subject to search unless there is an indication I am in the process of committing, or have committed, a crime.

Having said that I bet that the legality of roadblocks was probably considered by legal professionals who know far more than me about the law. I am probably missing something basic.

I just stay home on holiday weekends.