Fake checkpoints OKed in hunt for motorists' illegal drugs

[Sirius_on]

Police at the Telluride festival had posted signs along the road saying, "Narcotics checkpoint, one mile ahead" and "Narcotics canine ahead." Officers wearing camouflage hid on a hill and watched for any people who turned around or appeared to toss drugs out of their windows after seeing the signs.

Police pulled over Stephen Roth, 60, for littering after they found a marijuana pipe tossed from his window. Two other pipes and mushrooms were found in a search of his car.


http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2003-08-15-fake-checkpoints_x.htm

[SheepyMcSheepster]

1. will we one day be free of this nonsense?

nt

[arcane1]

2. don't get your hopes up...

we got a private prison empire to feed, and it's hungry for dollars!

[Chico Man]

3. 60 years old with pipes and mushrooms?

Wow.

[psychopomp]

4. They should write fake fines

that you can pay with Monopoly (tm) money.

[Chico Man]

5. Can they post fake speed limit signs?

"The posting of signs to create a ruse does not constitute illegal police activity," that court said.

[stevedeshazer]

6. Meanwhile,

The hunt for the Fourth Amendment continues...

[DUJunkie]

10. snip

"We didn't dream it would be that effective. I'm telling you, they tossed stuff out of there that you couldn't believe," Martin said.

yeh you fucking cops, pick that shit up in a heart beat and sell it out the back door.....YOU'VE LOST THE WAR ON DRUGS and that's the only good thing that "*" did for us.

[newyawker99]

14. Hi DUJunkie!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[hippiechick]

7. They tried this last weekend in Indy

... and were told to cease and desist because it was creating a traffic hazard. I will look in local news archives for the link.

One 96 year old man, when turned-around at the checkpoint, got into the wrong lane and caused a wreck, injuring himself and several others.

The 'authorities' are so farkin' petty and puerile !!


:hippie:

[trapper914]

13. Here's what's funny...

...law enforcement in Indy was so giddy in splapping each other on the back in the press for their creativity they neglected to think things out. Now everyone knows it's bullshit. How effective will it be next time, guys?

[Feanorcurufinwe]

8. I guess we all know which bluegrass festival to skip now.

[R Hickey]

9. I'm suprised that someone 60 years old would fall for that old trick

That "checkpoint" ruse is practically an urban legend. I would expect a twenty year old to fall for it, or maybe even a thirty year old, but a sixty year old?

Maybe he'd just eaten a bunch of those mushrooms they caught him with, and gotten really, really paranoid, because no one that old could be that gullible.

I think the lesson here is that if you drive, don't do mushrooms, and if you do mushrooms, don't drive.

[Chico Man]

11. No kidding

Driving while on mushrooms is dangerous. It feels more like your driving a boat - the road gets all wavy.

[ohmyman1]

12. pigs

I don't eat pork cause a pig is a cop