How It's Done... A continuation of the 12/4 blog titled, "Expect Your Sleigh To Be Stopped This Christmas Season!"
I used to think checkpoints only happened in old army movies where people are being smuggled across enemy lines... in a different country...
A 4th Amendment seizure happens whenever police stop a vehicle at a checkpoint! Courts have carved out exceptions to this protection under the language in the 4th itself. The 4th Amendment protects against "unreasonable searches and seizures" and now, checkpoints are reviewed by courts according to their reasonableness... under the circumstances, and warrants aren't needed.
The door has been kicked open... the political environment and pressures determine if stopping YOU, absent any wrong doing or suspicion of wrongdoing on your part and without a warrant, is "reasonable".
They're called by various names; sobriety checkpoint, drivers license checkpoint, safety checks, etc... All of them are illegal, unless enough of the right people decide they are "reasonable".
How do law enforcement set up these stops? An Oklahoma court has set forth nine guidelines, which if followed, provide them protection from violating the constitution. One of which is whether the stop is "rationally related to a stated public purpose" - which is often met by showing data of an area that has had a large number of accidents or DUI arrests, and so forth... Another requires law enforcement agencies to have written guidelines and present them if a stop is challenged as unconstitutional.
A good DUI attorney is skilled in uncovering whether each guideline was followed and will be conversant with them. Check "read more" below for more information.
A 4th Amendment seizure happens whenever police stop a vehicle at a checkpoint! Courts have carved out exceptions to this protection under the language in the 4th itself. The 4th Amendment protects against "unreasonable searches and seizures" and now, checkpoints are reviewed by courts according to their reasonableness... under the circumstances, and warrants aren't needed.
The door has been kicked open... the political environment and pressures determine if stopping YOU, absent any wrong doing or suspicion of wrongdoing on your part and without a warrant, is "reasonable".
They're called by various names; sobriety checkpoint, drivers license checkpoint, safety checks, etc... All of them are illegal, unless enough of the right people decide they are "reasonable".
How do law enforcement set up these stops? An Oklahoma court has set forth nine guidelines, which if followed, provide them protection from violating the constitution. One of which is whether the stop is "rationally related to a stated public purpose" - which is often met by showing data of an area that has had a large number of accidents or DUI arrests, and so forth... Another requires law enforcement agencies to have written guidelines and present them if a stop is challenged as unconstitutional.
A good DUI attorney is skilled in uncovering whether each guideline was followed and will be conversant with them. Check "read more" below for more information.
Read the Oklahoma case here.http://www.oscn.net/applications/oscn/deliverdocument.asp?id=448696&hits=8375+5975+5927+3012+1685+1656+
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