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Drivers face drug checkpoints on highways near Flint

PDinDetroit

Regular Member
Joined
Jun 20, 2009
Messages
2,328
Location
SE, Michigan, USA
Motorists driving on expressways around Flint are getting surprised by a stunning tactic that the Genesee County sheriff has been using to fight the flow of illegal drugs -- one that legal experts said will not withstand a court challenge.

At least seven times this month, including Tuesday, motorists have said they have seen a pickup towing a large sign on I-69 or U.S.-23 that depicts the sheriff's badge and warns: "Sheriff narcotics check point, 1 mile ahead -- drug dog in use."

The checkpoints are part of a broad sweep for drugs that Genesee County Sheriff Robert Pickell and his self-titled Sheriff's Posse said are needed, calling Flint a crossroads of drug dealing because nearly a half-dozen major roads and expressways pass in and around the city. Pickell said he decided to try checkpoints when he learned that drug shipments might be passing through Flint in tractor-trailers with false compartments.

"We're doing everything by the book," Genesee County Undersheriff Christopher Swanson said. "We think there's major loads (of drugs) coming through here from all over, every day. And this is one of the tools we use -- narcotics checkpoints."

He said the dogs are used to sniff around the vehicles to check for drugs.

The practice has legal experts on searches and seizures at two law schools in Michigan, a constitutional law expert in Lansing and the American Civil Liberties Union calling the practice out of bounds and out of touch with state and U.S. Supreme Court rulings that ban such practices.

Based on a case out of Indianapolis, the U.S. Supreme Court held in 2000 that narcotics checkpoints where everyone gets stopped on a public road are not legal and violate Fourth Amendment protections against illegal searches and seizures, professor David Moran at the University of Michigan Law School said.

Wayne State University Law School professor Peter Henning said police can set up roadblocks to search all who pass by, but only if a crime has just been committed.

And Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton, who said he was not consulted by Pickell about the checkpoints, said that after a court challenge, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled in 1990 that so-called "sobriety check lanes," put in place to nab drunken drivers, were illegal.

The new practice of narcotics checkpoints "certainly brings up probable-cause issues," Leyton said Thursday.

Leyton said he has no power to stop the practice, however. That, he said, would require someone arrested at a checkpoint to contest the evidence in court.

The checkpoints have caused an uproar, officials said. And, as a result, the sheriff's office has altered its methods: Instead of using the checkpoints daily -- even Sundays when they started at the beginning of the month -- they are used sporadically. And instead of stopping everyone, law enforcement has been putting the signs out and waiting for a motorist to make an illegal U-turn in the freeway median to try to avoid the checkpoint, thus giving them cause to pull the driver over and search the vehicle.

But even that method raises question, U-M professor Moran said. The technique has not been tested in Michigan courts, he said. But judges would take a dim view of it because "it's perilously close to entrapment," he said.

"It's just the kind of shabby treatment that the Fourth Amendment was designed to prevent," Moran said.

http://www.freep.com/article/201110...ers-face-drug-checkpoints-highways-near-Flint
 

Tucker6900

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Joined
Jul 10, 2008
Messages
1,279
Location
Iowa, USA
Leyton said he has no power to stop the practice, however. That, he said, would require someone arrested at a checkpoint to contest the evidence in court.

Wow. As a county PA he has no power? What about charging these individuals with committing a crime?? They are breaking the law by having these checkpoints!!

Make sure to follow the wash/rinse/repeat

Driver: Whats the reason for the stop?

Cop: Drug Checkpoint.

Driver: Whats your probable cause?

Cop: We have none.

Driver: Have a nice day.
 

stainless1911

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Joined
Dec 19, 2009
Messages
8,855
Location
Davisburg, Michigan, United States
Dies muss mit allen notwendigen Mitteln gestoppt werden. Solche Nazi Checkpoints sind in direkter Verstoß gegen unsere Verfassung. Das ist eine Schande für den Staat und Nation. Diese sind wie die Dinge derzeit gegen uns im Namen der "Sicherheit". Wie viel ist zu viel, sind, wie viel Freiheit wirst du aufgeben, bevor wir etwas dagegen tun?
 
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stainless1911

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Dec 19, 2009
Messages
8,855
Location
Davisburg, Michigan, United States
I couldnt post a comment. But they are censoring the word "thugs", some of the posters were complaining about the censorshit.

The president should be calling the national guard to block this rogue police force from doing this to our country. In the oath, the phrase "foreign and domestic" is used, these enemies are of the "domestic" sort, and should be brought to an end with the same tactics and force used to subdue our foreign enemies.
 
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stainless1911

Banned
Joined
Dec 19, 2009
Messages
8,855
Location
Davisburg, Michigan, United States
This should be on MGO as well.

Print this, keep it in the car, and when stopped, hand it to the officer.

Ich glaube nicht an Durchsuchungen oder Beschlagnahmen concent.

Dies ist eine illegale und verfassungswidrige Tätigkeit.
 
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SpringerXDacp

New member
Joined
May 12, 2006
Messages
3,341
Location
Burton, Michigan
The price is blood.

Good grief, don't look into this so deep, elections are right around the corner. Drug smuggling has been an issue in Flint (Genesee County) long before Pickell became Sheriff, most likely as far back as the 60's and 70's during the day of Frank Lucas - it's nothing new.
 

smellslikemichigan

Campaign Veteran
Joined
Jun 16, 2008
Messages
2,307
Location
Troy, Michigan, USA
Good grief, don't look into this so deep, elections are right around the corner. Drug smuggling has been an issue in Flint (Genesee County) long before Pickell became Sheriff, most likely as far back as the 60's and 70's during the day of Frank Lucas - it's nothing new.
i guess it's an issue for those that feel that drug smuggling is an issue
heck, some people probably HOPE they'll get pulled over just so they can be molested by the police without RAS or PC
 
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SpringerXDacp

New member
Joined
May 12, 2006
Messages
3,341
Location
Burton, Michigan
i guess it's an issue for those that feel that drug smuggling is an issue
heck, some people probably HOPE they'll get pulled over just so they can be molested by the police without RAS or PC

It is and I agree. All I'm saying is that at this point it's just smoke and mirrors - I don't condone the tactics. At the same time, I don't see where it's any different than the tactics in place to catch speeders (moving violations), knowing the possibility of a DUI, illegal possession drugs and/or firearms, no insurance, etc, charge is likely to follow. At this point, I don't see where GCSD is doing anything illegal. They're not setting up road blocks/check points according to recent reports, they're just stopping those who are attempting to evade the posted areas.
 

Onnie

Regular Member
Joined
Sep 16, 2010
Messages
664
Location
Maybee, Michigan
Dies muss mit allen notwendigen Mitteln gestoppt werden. Solche Nazi Checkpoints sind in direkter Verstoß gegen unsere Verfassung. Das ist eine Schande für den Staat und Nation. Diese sind wie die Dinge derzeit gegen uns im Namen der "Sicherheit". Wie viel ist zu viel, sind, wie viel Freiheit wirst du aufgeben, bevor wir etwas dagegen tun?

This must be stopped with all the necessary resources. Such Nazi checkpoints are in direct violation of our constitution. This is a disgrace for the state and the nation. This is how things are currently against us in the name of the "security". How much is too much, are, how much freedom you will give up before we do anything about it?


hey ENGLISH please, i too darn old to look up German, I had to guess it was German! I only figured it out cuz i though they were talking about De Weiner Schnitzel
 
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