Another officer gets away with it
In recent legal news we have another serial criminal police officer, Texas State Trooper Jared Snelgrooes, and another team of prosecutors fighting against your civil rights. The aforementioned officer has a habit of pulling over cars because they are clean. (Thanks to thenewspaper.com for recent coverage and leagle.com for an older case.) He knows he’s […]
The failure of the exclusionary rule
Many years ago the Supreme Court created the exclusionary rule in an attempt to discourage violations of constitutional rights. With the rise of car travel and the war on drugs, it’s clear the rule has failed. Thenewspaper.com calls attention to a recent court decision. Driving along I-40 Deputy Leonard R. Armijo glanced in his rear […]
It’s like “Operation” with cars
The First Circuit Court of Appeals recently ducked an opportunity to clarify a common pretext for traffic stops. A police officer got a tip that a man might have some drugs. But we can’t just go around searching cars because there might be drugs inside. Not in America. We wait for the car wheels to […]
Was that wrong? Should I not have done that?
One of the privileges of being a police officer is being able to plead ignorance of the law. It’s called “qualified immunity.” When a government official violates your rights, “I didn’t know that was wrong” is a legitimate argument. Sometimes the plea of ignorance fails. The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against a Kansas […]
A drop in the bucket
A series of stories is making the rounds saying Indiana police are enforcing the “slowpoke law” prohibiting left lane blocking. No, they aren’t. 100 tickets in a year statewide is not enforcement. My city writes more speeding tickets in a month. I expect Indiana police use the law like my police, for pretext stops and […]
The $150 million speed trap
Some drivers think a 35 mile per hour speed limit is too slow for a four lane divided highway. Police don’t: they say it’s a good excuse to search cars. This story comes from Fairmont, West Virginia, whose 19,000 people got a $150 million new speed trap in 2010. View Larger Map In the middle […]
The other revenue traps
Contrary to popular opinion, not all traffic enforcement is highway robbery. Some of it isn’t even about money, but today I’m writing about money. Specifically, the other two kinds of revenue-based enforcement. We’ve all heard about traditional highway robbery, where governments try to fund themselves from ticket revenue, usually by running speed traps. In the […]
Right for the Wrong Reason
By John Carr, NMA Massachusetts Activist “It’s the ship that made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs.” — Han Solo (Nerd rage) — Astronomers everywhere Victory? Last year an Ohio appeals court threw out evidence from a laser gun. Police were using an LTI UltraLyte but there was no evidence that the UltraLyte […]
Right for the Wrong Reason
By John Carr, NMA Massachusetts Activist “It’s the ship that made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs.” — Han Solo (Nerd rage) — Astronomers everywhere Victory? Last year an Ohio appeals court threw out evidence from a laser gun. Police were using an LTI UltraLyte but there was no evidence that the UltraLyte […]