OT: Police DNA Checkpoints Arriving at a City Near You Soon!!

[paramount]

I don’t intend to cooperate.

“Security is always the alibi of Tyranny”

http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/North-Texas-Drivers-Stopped-at-Roadblock-Asked-for-Saliva-Blood-232438621.html

Drivers in North Fort Worth on Friday were stopped at a police roadblock and directed into a parking lot where they were asked by federal contractors for samples of their breath, saliva and even blood.

An agency spokeswoman sent an email confirming the government is conducting the surveys in 30 cities across the country in an effort to reduce impaired-driving accidents.

She did not respond to another email from NBC DFW asking specific questions about the program.

But a Fort Worth attorney who is an expert in civil liberties law questioned whether such stops are constitutional.

“You can’t just be pulled over randomly or for no reason,” said attorney Frank Colosi.

He also noted the fine print on a form given to drivers informs them their breath was tested by “passive alcohol sensor readings before the consent process has been completed.”

“They’re essentially lying to you when they say it’s completely voluntary, because they’re testing you at that moment,” Colosi said.

He also questioned the results of the “voluntary” survey — speculating that drivers who had been drinking or using drugs would be more inclined to simply decline to participate.

Cope said she is troubled by what happened.

“It just doesn’t seem right that they should be able to do any of it,” she said. “If it’s voluntary, it’s voluntary, and none of it felt voluntary.”

Asked Tuesday if she accepted the police department’s apology, Cope said she would wait to see what the review showed.

“They need to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” she said.

[no_such_reality]

The PD departments need to start getting sued and the Officers need to start being held PERSONALLY responsible.

[CA renter]

[quote=no_such_reality]The PD departments need to start getting sued and the Officers need to start being held PERSONALLY responsible.[/quote]

Agreed.

[CA renter]

From paramount’s link:

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which is spending $7.9 million on the survey over three years, said participation was “100 percent voluntary” and anonymous.

But Cope said it didn’t feel voluntary to her — despite signs saying it was.

…

Fort Worth police earlier said they could not immediately find any record of officer involvement but police spokesman Sgt. Kelly Peel said Tuesday that the department’s Traffic Division coordinated with the NHTSA on the use of off-duty officers after the agency asked for help with the survey.

“We are reviewing the actions of all police personnel involved to ensure that FWPD policies and procedures were followed,” he said. “We apologize if any of our drivers and citizens were offended or inconvenienced by the NHTSA National Roadside Survey.”

NBC DFW confirmed that the survey was done by a government contractor, the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, which is based in Calverton, Md.

http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/North-Texas-Drivers-Stopped-at-Roadblock-Asked-for-Saliva-Blood-232438621.html

——————-

Note that it was off-duty police officers working on behalf of a **private contractor** (who, in turn, was doing work on behalf of NHTSA) who engaged in this roadblock. I wonder if the fact that they were working for a private contractor changes anything?

I’m going to see if I can find anything that might show how this private contractor (headquartered in D.C., of course) might have paid someone to push for this “study.”

Can’t help but wonder if this wasn’t what was going on that morning in Temecula, too.

[temeculaguy]

I’m all for it, we need this! Everyone should have to be part of the DNA database. Personally I feel all the recipients of my body fluids have been fairly happy with the experience, i hope they even bragged about it. I never left my DNA on a rape victim or child molest victim, so I am cool with submitting my sample. For everyone who opposes submitting a sample, tell me your feelings about privacy after someone you love is raped, molested or killed and the DNA lab results come back “not on file.”

Is your thumbprint on file? it is if you have a driver’s license. Why do law abiding people fear the government’s ability to solve crime. You are more likely to benefit from the solving of a crime (especially one where DNA is involved because it’s probably sexual) than you are to be arrested for such a crime. You are in the potential victim category, not the potential suspect category, it makes no sense to oppose it. Now the NAMBLA crowd has a reason to protest this, not you.

[temeculaguy]

My apologies, I misread some of the original story and just based my opinion on the headline. NHITSA was trying to do some study on how many drivers are impaired when they do not show symptoms enough for a sobriety test and wasn’t actually trying to expand the DNA database. I retract my statement. I am in favor of every American being forced to give a DNA sample then put into a database so that when a crime occurs and DNA evidence is left behind, we can figure out who did it, quickly. I am not a fan of stupid studies like the one referenced in the article and blame the people who designed the grant and not necessarily the cops who were told to implement it. Cops are employees just like any other profession, they do what they are told, they don’t make the rules. You wouldn’t blame the construction workers of a poorly designed building, they just built what the architect designed. The architect should bear the blame if the building collapses, not the drywaller.

[CA renter]

So now, we can pull people over via random roadblocks, and use SCRAM devices to monitor them, too. Of course, we have to disarm them, lest they get testy and uncooperative with all of the poking, prodding, and rights violations.

More:

The development of technology that detects and quantifies alcohol eliminated through the skin (transdermal alcohol monitoring [TAM]) has recently provided the capability for courts to enforce abstinence at a relatively low cost. Alcohol Monitoring Systems (AMS) Inc. manufactures the Secure Continuous Remote Alcohol Monitoring (SCRAM™) device, the most widely used TAM unit on the market. AMS has provided the authors with a full copy of the record system of all offenders on SCRAM devices since it began operations in 2002. The records of approximately 250,000 alcohol offenders in 48 states and the District of Columbia (DC) are included. This study involves a secondary analysis of that data. The focus is on specific information on the types of criminal offenses to which SCRAM is being applied and the characteristics of the offenders in the alcohol monitoring program. Between 2002 and 2011, the number of SCRAM units in use in the U.S. has grown to over 50,000 annually. Eight states have had more than 10,000 offenders using SCRAM over the years. Eighty percent of the offenders on the SCRAM have been males and 5% have been under the age of 21. Approximately 172,500 of the offenders placed on the SCRAM units have been DUI offenders. However, SCRAM has been used to monitor 21 other types of offenders including 8,000 for domestic violence, 7,000 for assault and 5,000 for larceny, robbery or burglary. The SCRAM unit is an example of an important, innovative technological device which makes possible the management of a behavioral change program that has received wide acceptance by the criminal justice system. This has been achieved without an independent evaluation of its effectiveness in producing a change in drinking behavior that persists beyond the termination of the SCRAM program. This preliminary study provides a background for the development of such an evaluation study.

http://www.pire.org/detail2.asp?core=383&cms=158

——–

Invest in AMS?

[CA renter]

For one thing, this contractor is trying to get the BAC level lowered from .08 to .05. That way, more people can be arrested for DUI, and more people can be fined and go to those private jails. Hooray for privatization!

Of course, they will sell it as being “for our own good.”

——–

Commentary on NTSB Recommendation to lower the blood alcohol limit for driving from .08 to .05 in the United States

Researchers at the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE) say that the recommendation by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) today to lower the illegal blood alcohol concentration (BAC) limit for driving from .08 to .05 in states has a strong evidence-based foundation.

http://www.pire.org/

——-

You can also see some evidence of the “revolving door” between public and private industry:

PIRE’s Senior Research Scientist, Bob Saltz, has just accepted the position of chairperson of the Community Influences on Health Behavior Study Section of the Center for Scientific Review at NIH for a term beginning July 1, 2013 – June 30, 2015.

http://www.pire.org/more.asp?cms=993

—————

They also conduct the (anti) gun studies:

A study that concluded that gun violence costs Americans at least $12 billion per year was published on the front page of USA Today on March 5th. The research was conducted by the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE), an anti-gun advocacy group based in Maryland that received funding through the Tides Foundation, an organization that is funded by George Soros.

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Journalism/2013/03/08/USA-Today-Touts-Anti-Gun-Research-by-Soros-Linked-Advocacy-Group

……

PIRE has called for random roadside breath tests that would cover at least half the driving population each year and allow police to give breathalyzer tests to all drivers.

http://thenewprohibition.com/pacific-institute-for-research.php

==================

Conspiracy moment: Road blocks designed to affect approximately half of the population + an anti-gun agenda = something to seriously think about.

[CA renter]

[quote=temeculaguy]I’m all for it, we need this! Everyone should have to be part of the DNA database. Personally I feel all the recipients of my body fluids have been fairly happy with the experience, i hope they even bragged about it. I never left my DNA on a rape victim or child molest victim, so I am cool with submitting my sample. For everyone who opposes submitting a sample, tell me your feelings about privacy after someone you love is raped, molested or killed and the DNA lab results come back “not on file.”

Is your thumbprint on file? it is if you have a driver’s license. Why do law abiding people fear the government’s ability to solve crime. You are more likely to benefit from the solving of a crime (especially one where DNA is involved because it’s probably sexual) than you are to be arrested for such a crime. You are in the potential victim category, not the potential suspect category, it makes no sense to oppose it. Now the NAMBLA crowd has a reason to protest this, not you.[/quote]

Because it can be abused. Because it is a slippery slope from “we’re doing this to help you” to being able to track your every step and every thought (we’re already too close now, IMHO).

I’m adamantly anti-crime and anti-criminal, and totally understand the desire to have the DNA samples of violent criminals in a database, but I have a serious problem with law-abiding people (a classification that, in itself, is not entirely well-defined and can change too easily if the wrong people get into power) being subjected to tests and procedures that make it easier for the government to track them in any way.

[spdrun]

^^^

I think you missed a little bit of good old fashioned sarcasm there 🙂 This being said, I was never fingerprinted for any driver’s license I’ve had (NY, NJ, PA).

[CDMA ENG]

[quote=CA renter]For one thing, this contractor is trying to get the BAC level lowered from .08 to .05. That way, more people can be arrested for DUI, and more people can be fined and go to those private jails. Hooray for privatization!

Of course, they will sell it as being “for our own good.”

[/quote]

I think I heard this same arguement from CCPOA.

CE

[no_such_reality]

[quote=CDMA ENG][quote=CA renter]For one thing, this contractor is trying to get the BAC level lowered from .08 to .05. That way, more people can be arrested for DUI, and more people can be fined and go to those private jails. Hooray for privatization!

Of course, they will sell it as being “for our own good.”

[/quote]

I think I heard this same arguement from CCPOA.

CE[/quote]

Just don’t pull out a camera…

http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Youtube-Video-Posted-to-Oxnard-Police-Departments-Facebook-Page-Raises-Questions-232938781.html

[spdrun]

^^^

I’d tell the cops … “I’ll certainly meet with you. In court in a few months. After my attorney has filed my lawsuit against you.”

“Have a nice day, and remember that I will press criminal charges with the D.A. if any further harassment ensues from this incident.”

And no, I wouldn’t be rude because it doesn’t pay to be rude to someone who’ll be paying you shortly. At this point, they’re basically customers, though they don’t know it yet.

[NotCranky]

Whoa,

[NotCranky]

Whoa, the Oxnard cholo cop unclipped his gun holster to take a cell phone from an innocent person on a low rider bike( I suspect he was on a low rider bike because I lived there during HS.)…To be fair it is probably hard to get high level individuals to be cops in Oxnard. Well that might be true about almost any place, but Oxnard especially.

I bet the cop’s gang got out gang-banged by eastlake when he was a kid and he holds a grudge.

[Author]

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