For those who are opposed to this leo's actions,
Consider how many times a fishing expedition started by something as simple as a burned out light has led to an arrest for much more serious charges.
This is exactly how the government justifies it, and justifies the expansion of government intrusion, and justifies the diminishment of liberty. It is law-enforcement officering, not peace-officering.
In order to accept the government's position, one must overlook or not consider the full picture. Taken alone, LCK's justifications make sense. Who doesn't want the subject of a warrant arrested? If you support the War on Some Drugs, wouldn't you want dope-heads arrested?
But, the picture is broader. It is by these little pricks and diminishments that government puts us all in a little more legal jeopardy, and a little more, and a little more. Pretty soon government will think it has the power to forced us to wear seat-belts, and pay the increased manufacturing costs for cars with air-bags and black box recorders---oh, wait.
First lets examine the burned-out license plate light. The BoyScout called the OPer an offender. No joke, an
offender. But, Gunslinger pointed out that the only way to never fail to comply is to walk around the car and check all the lights before each trip (and hope the bulb doesn't burn out
during the trip, a circumstance that would require having mirrors at each light so you could check as you drive). How far must we go to comply, to avoid being stopped, to maintain the illusion that we are free? How far must one go to avoid being
an offender against the license plate light law? To avoid giving the government a circumstance that it itself has said is sufficient justification to seize you for a time. And, where does it end with these little pricks and diminishments?
Also, not all cops are nice. So, while LCK's justification seems not so bad in a perfect world, what really occurs is that now citizens are also subjected to bad cops and cops with crappy attitudes on fishing expeditions, not just good cops on fishing expeditions. I can tell you first hand that exercising your rights against some of them puts you not in legal jeopardy but physical jeopardy. But, hey, fishing expeditions sometimes catch crooks.
Some of the government's justification falls apart on casual examination, too. For example, sometimes an outstanding warrant is discovered. Oh! Noes!! An outstanding warrant! Well, if the subject of the warrant was all that dangerous, why wasn't government out hunting him down? Now, the rest of us get to endure fishing expeditions because the government doesn't want to chase down the warrants or pay bounty hunters? Give me a break!
Same deal for running concealed handgun permits. We have had a cop right here on this forum explain that cops want to run the permit through the computer because it might have been revoked. Oh! Noes! A revoked permit not surrendered or mailed back! Well, if it was all that important to get the permit back, why didn't the sheriff's office hunt down the person and seize back the permit? So, now the rest of us have to endure fishing expeditions because the sheriff's office can't be bothered to actually go and get the revoked permit? Give me a break! Given some of the anti-freedom, statist, anti-rights attitudes I've read from cops, I would experience no surprise whatever if it was discovered warrants and permits aren't chased at the front end simply to give cops something to do on the back end--job security for street cops. Keep 'em from getting bored.
"But Timothy McVeigh was captured because he was stopped for an expired license!" Yep. And, they woulda caught him anyway because the FBI traced the bomb truck through a serial number on the rear axle. Led them to Terry Nichols, if I recall, too.
Lets also consider plain-view searches. Now that you are stopped for a legal fisihing expedition, anything questionable or illegal and visible in your car is now fair game to the cop. Didn't know those jangly things on your rear-view mirror were illegal? You will in just a moment. Guilty. Pay the clerk. Next case. That old half-flattened beer can in the back of your van, the one that fell out of the torn trash bag? For a plain-view cop looking in the back window who doesn't like that you know your rights that beer can is called an open container. Guilty. Pay the clerk. Next case.
Government
wants violators and offenders. The more the better. The more violators, the more cops needed, the more courts and judges needed, the more prison guards have jobs. The more money needed into the system. Cops can't play cops-and-robbers unless there are violators to catch.
Neither you nor I owe it to government to make ourselves targets so they can play. We may be stuck with it because they have the guns, but the least we can do is not swallow the self-serving rationale fed to us by the government.
