Posted on 09/02/2013 6:46:50 AM PDT by lowbridge
Labor Day: another holiday, another excuse to push the limits of the police power over citizens. All across the state, Tennessee police will be performing another round of highly-publicized “no refusal” blood-draw DUI checkpoints this weekend. With police armed with a 2012 law that allows them to forcibly extract blood from drivers, its a bad time to be a citizen who does not consent to searches.
Forcible blood draws began in Tennessee in 2009, being used only for cases of vehicular assault. In all other circumstances, the blood draws were not forcible. They could be declined, with the understanding the DUI suspect’s driver’s license would be suspended. Tennessee calls it the Implied Consent Statute.
That changed January 1, 2012, with the enactment of a new law that took away that choice for suspects to decline with a license suspension. Ever since the law took effect, police can obtain rubber-stamped warrants to forcibly extract blood from any driver they decide is a DUI suspect.
Additionally, the new law now mandates blood be drawn from citizens in a variety of circumstances. No longer limited to vehicular assault cases, police are not required to take the blood of any DUI suspect who has ever had a DUI conviction in their life, according to WBIR. The other requirement is that blood be drawn from any suspect who has a person under the age of 16 in the car. The rest of the blood-draw cases are done upon seeking a readily available warrant.
In light of these new powers, the latest fad in Tennessee law enforcement is setting up “no refusal” checkpoints, having a judge or a judicial commissioner on call to churn out blood warrants on demand.
(Excerpt) Read more at policestateusa.com ...
Who will draw the blood? Will troopers be trained phlebotomists? I would demand to see some credentials that document their skill in drawing, sampling, testing, infection control, hazardous waste collection and disposal for starters. This could get very messy if lets say a medical malpractice atty decided to make this a crusade.
At the slightest hint that this has ever been used for purposes other than getting murdering drunks of the public rights of way, I’ll be with you. Is there any such allegation, or is this just people getting their knickers twisted over the rights of heavy drinkers to commit mayhem?
So you're good with being randomly stopped and detained at any time for any reason, as long as they promise you it's for your own safety? "Probable cause" and "reasonable suspicion" don't rank highly with you?
Warrant-less blood draws are a HUGE issue for healthcare workers. Most did not sign on to non-treatment medicine. So the warrant-less blood draws are even a tougher issue. And a roadside blood draw at that? Who is responsible for malpractice if someone has a bad draw with side effects? Did they exempt those laws too?
I’m not a big fan of any whole sale interference in people’s right to “be secure in their persons...without due process of law”. Why are those words important?
DK
Not for any reason, but to catch drunk drivers, yes.
Have a cell phone? Belong to social media? All checkpoints are texted, Tweeted, and Facebooked. In other words, even though this is still a clear violation of the 4th, those actually driving under the influence are avoiding the checkpoints anyway. Waste of time, waste of money, waste of parchment and ink on the part of the Framers.
The oppressors have to be the ones waking up dead, or just disappearing. Otherwise it will eventually be us. Those who GIVE THE ORDERS must be the primary targets.
I used to like TN but they just lost this tourist’s vacation money.
And this is how tyranny always begins. All the government has to do is get their foot in the door with a "reasonable" law under the guise of public safety and then they chip away at our freedoms in incremental steps until there are none left.
We moved to Tennessee one year ago and found that it is not the Conservative strong hold that we had heard it to be. There is an underlying problem of graft and corruption that is in every county government here. I think this state is still the Demoncratic stronghold that it has been for years, with the demons driven slightly underground by the rise of the Republican party in recent years. In most of the poor counties, it seems to be business as usual.
We are leaving for Texas in two weeks!
What about forced blood tests for drivers to determine the level of nicotine in their systems? Although smoking in a vehicle is not illegal (well, it is in some instances), how could you argue against that? After all, the driver may be impaired by being hopped up on nicotine, or they could drop a lit cigarette in their lap, or they could reach for the pack and lose control ... and on and on.
My point is that although I agree with you that we must remove from the road (and punish severely on the first offense) people who drive drunk, "safety" as an absolute is in direct conflict with liberty (and the Constitution recognizes that).
There is no way a cop is going to draw my blood on the roadside. Cop will need to knock me out by some means and drag me out of the car. I'm series.
FMCDH(BITS)
Think they’ll be sure to use new equipment between draws?
You know, just like a hospital?
Or will it be the TSA blue gloves/thousands of passengers?
If you find out they’ve used the same needle several times, you know, that ‘revenge’ that seems to inhabit the brains of a certain demographic, will you have legal recourse if you find yourself infected with a blood borne disease later?
Just making sure all the empty drives in Utah are filled with DNA and other relevant medical info...
Heck, the police text and tweet their own locations! I receive road and traffic info from the local police dept and they make sure all sobriety check points are sent out days ahead of time. In fact I have changed my route on several occasions in order to avoid the traffic backup I know will occur.
You probably smile when you get in line to go through the x-rays at the airports, too.
I'll thank you not to surrender my freedoms to catch your drunk drivers. Find another way.
Yeah.
And the IRS only audits those evil tax criminals. Except when they have a political target.
And the EPA only goes after evil polluters! Except when they have a political target.
I’m sure this power will NEVER be abused in a political way.
And I’m sure they’ll NEVER use those blood samples to populate a national DNA database. Never I say!
There’s nothing stopping them from stopping everyone to get a blood sample. Yours included. Can’t be too safe, right?
I’m sure you have no problem with this, correct? If you have nothing to hide. Right?
And I’m equally certain they’ll be absolutely certain to use CLEAN and SANITARY procedures with this. A clean and new needle with every draw! Just like the TSA uses the same blue gloves on the exposed genital area of multiple passengers. And complaints about this are taken to be harassment of the TSA workers.
So roll up your sleeve, citizen! You have only the HepC infection of the previous driver through the checkpoint to fear!
Congratulations! You've won the Police State Supporter Award for this thread. The award can be collected through your local jackboots. I'm sure you know how to get in touch with them.
That is the most horrible reasoning I’ve ever heard on FR. Let’s give up our rights and become a police state with the kind, compassionate traffic Nazi’s ensuring law and order by sticking us with needles. After all, the state has our best interests at heart, of course! They would never lie, switch blood samples, infect us with diseases, lie, tamper with evidence, inject us with drugs unknowingly, use NSA date to persecute conservatives through this process...
Let’s just let them do whatever they want!!! It’s all for the peace and security of the state! After all the silly old rights of the individual are so passé. We must submit for the common good!
major /sarc of course
I wonder if criticism of these Tennessee police state tactics would be considered a form of “south bashing”?
Maybe we should ask our resident expert.
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