Libertarian ping! To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here.
Posted on 05/15/2007 3:21:40 PM PDT by Rodney King
Checkpoint targets Route 9 travelers By Diana Graettinger Tuesday, May 15, 2007 - Bangor Daily News
TOWNSHIP 30 - A Nova Scotia man was nabbed for impersonating a police officer. For others who found themselves in trouble with the law Monday, it started with an invalid inspection sticker or out-of-date registration.
All ran afoul of a "checkpoint" at the rest area on Route 9 in Township 30.
Almost any day of the week, the area is about as busy as a City Council meeting, but not Monday. The parking lot was filled with cars — both police and would-be violators.
Dubbed Operation Lobster Claw, the checkpoint by the Washington County Sheriff’s Department was set up on Route 9 to stop traffic. Three K-9 units, the Maine State Police Vehicle Enforcement, along with the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency, also were there.
It wasn’t a roadblock, because roadblocks are illegal, according to the U.S. Supreme Court.
It was a safety inspection.
"There’s a difference between a checkpoint and a roadblock," Sheriff Donnie Smith said Monday. "We have the legal right to check vehicles. [We] go to secondary [check] if for some reason they stand out, that’s legal," Smith said.
Route 9 is Washington County’s answer to the interstate, so the road was busy on Monday. Police know that drugs come across the border into Calais from Canada and traffickers use Route 9 to hot-foot it to Boston, where prescription medication such as OxyContin and Dilaudid fetch a higher price.
An $80,000 federal grant made the safety check possible on Monday.
"It’s some of the Stone Garden Homeland Security money," Smith said. "What we are doing, we’re just doing an overall check. We’re looking for anything suspicious from illegal aliens, drug trafficking and safety checks."
On Monday, perimeters were set up east and west on Route 9. Sheriff’s vehicles were parked on the side of the road, blue lights flashing. Deputies in bright orange safety vests were in the middle of the road, stopping traffic.
Most people stopped immediately, although one woman kept driving. Maine State Police and a sheriff’s deputy pursued her and found she had an invalid sticker and no motor vehicle insurance. She didn’t get to drive home.
For those people who did stop, deputies ran through a checklist of headlights and turn signals, as well as other safety features on their cars.
Anything out of the ordinary went to a secondary checkpoint — the parking lot at the rest stop where MDEA agents and K-9 units from the Rockport Police Department, U.S. Customs and Maine State Police were waiting.
Immediately upon stopping, drivers were asked to produce a valid license and registration. If anything out of the ordinary appeared, the car was turned over to a dog and its handler.
One man was on probation for sexual abuse of a minor; he was checked. A woman on probation also had her car thoroughly inspected.
The dogs, trained to sit when they score a scent, sat on several occasions. Then it was into the car, where the dogs — their noses working overtime — sniffed under the seats and in glove compartments.
Danielle Littlehale of the Rockport Police Department said her dog Boomer has been trained to sniff out seven drugs. While on the search, the dog had to bypass a small cooler full of food. Littlehale said the dogs have been trained to ignore food.
One woman was driving while her license was under suspension. She also had a prescription for a drug, but it was not in a legal prescription bottle.
Police searched her car and found a locked box — inside were her methadone doses for the week. Police said she’d been on methadone for four years. She was later arrested for having a drug without a prescription.
Another woman also was stopped for a vehicle infraction and had a locked box full of methadone doses. Since she was not carrying anything illegal, she was allowed to leave.
Among the many serious moments, there was some humor. A man and woman were ordered to secondary inspection — it turned out the couple were salespeople for a pharmaceutical company and they had a trunk full of drugs. The police let them go after checking their story.
Deputy Travis Willey of the Sheriff’s department did field sobriety tests on two people. They both passed, but for a few minutes, it looked as though one of them might not be able to walk the imaginary line. Willey said the man was clearly nervous.
"I explained to the gentleman that it’s not against the law in the state of Maine to operate a motor vehicle with prescription medications. However if those prescription medications impair the safe operation of that motor vehicle, it is illegal. It is operating under the influence just like alcohol and anything else," Willey said.
A woman who was stopped had a handgun under her seat; she had a permit.
A man was stopped and summoned for having a usable amount of marijuana. He told the police officer he didn’t know how it got in his car.
One man was pulled over and gave deputies his name and address. A check revealed he was using someone else’s identity. When they asked him again, he gave police another phony name. He was taken directly to jail.
At the end of the six-hour checkpoint Monday, a Nova Scotia man flashed a police badge and identity card from Massachusetts.
He said he had worked for the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department in Massachusetts in 1992. The deputies called Massachusetts; they had no record of him. The man was handcuffed and charged with impersonating a public official.
And for those who were booked and bailed, it was one-stop shopping.
The Sheriff’s Department had a van at the scene. Inside were corrections officers who were fingerprinting those who had been charged and taking mug shots.
Also inside was Bob Whitman, bail commissioner for Washington County. He was writing bail tickets and collecting the money.
bump
Your papers are NOT in order.
America, Land of the Free.
Am I mistaken or is Maine one of those “blue” states, run by the RAT party?
It's always fun to give your constitution-stomping fascist overreach a cool nickname.
I'm sure there will be a snazzy logo for the participant's service patch.
A Republic, if you can keep it.
For everyone who says “well if you don’t have anything to hide......” I’d like to shove my fist up where the sun don’t shine. Well if you don’t have anything to hide you won’t mind the full body cavity search. Sieg Heil.
Yup. Newspeak.
It was a safety inspection.
“There’s a difference between a checkpoint and a roadblock,” Sheriff Donnie Smith said Monday. “We have the legal right to check vehicles. [We] go to secondary [check] if for some reason they stand out, that’s legal,” Smith said.
...
“What we are doing, we’re just doing an overall check. We’re looking for anything suspicious from illegal aliens, drug trafficking and safety checks.”
If she had a prescription, what is the problem worthy of an arrest?
Libertarian ping! To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here.
Yep they look for anything suspicious. But they would not look too closely at people from certain countries would they? After all, they don’t want to profile anyone.
This is nothing new.
The local police used to set up a safety check between my house and the high school when I was a teenager, and every time I went through they found something else wrong with my VW Bug.
That was in reference to the movie “Great Escape”. However, I don’t “checkpoint” well myself.
Find out the names of the local politicians who authorized the search and make darn sure that people know to vote AGAINST them next election.
Sounds like the Border Patrol checkpoints we have in the southern border states, except our checkpoints are usually not manned and when they are manned they wave almost everybody through. During the medfly scare AZ setup “fruit and plant” checkpoints, state troopers checking if you had anything that medflies might sneak a ride on in your car. Funny part about the fruit and plant checkpoints is apparently we decided it would be rude to single out California so they put them on the New Mexico border too.
I was stopped at one of these so called “Safety checkpoints” here in Florida. I was asked to show registration and proof of insurance. I did and was then asked how many beers I had drunk? “One, two hours ago.” I was then told I was okay to go. ???? Where’s my “Safety Inspection” you promised me? He got a real mean look on his face so I left. Pricks.
Driving While Suspended gets you arrested and your car towed to the impound yard.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.