Me Refusing Police at DUI Checkpoint
 

Decided to post this to educated people about their rights and how they shouldn't be intimidated by police.

Same thing should go for questions regarding how fast you were going or in regards to searching the car or popping the hood. Don't incriminate yourself.

Just wanted to go get some ice cream with my girlfriend when we are hit by a DUI checkpoint. After waiting in traffic I was flagged to pull over. My car was surrounded by multiple police officers on both sides of my car, and the officers were getting far too comfortable venturing in past the windows so I decided to roll them up. Know your rights and stop the encroachment of the police state.

Each to their own boss, the first lady seemed polite enough id id have just answered any questions that she had and gone on my way. Im glad that they are doing DUI checkpoints as there are way to many people who drink and drive out there.

I did find it funny that he "detained" you..then 1 min later let you go on your way when he realised he had nothing on ya.

More power to you bro.. Know your rights and exercise them. We need to make it known that we will not be intimidated by law enforcement and the ever more prominent police state. I love how the "deputy" paused and had no clue how to respond or what to say and Just continued to repeat himself. He knew you obviously knew your rights and he had no grounds to detain you any Longer.

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The first cop was being passive aggressive.


All in all, bravo, bra-fucking-vo!!!
I don't have the balls to do that, or I wouldn't do it in my conspicuous car, and on a car that has ANY faults (broken tail light, HFCs, too loud exhaust, whatever) because while I have a deep respect for law enforcement, you need to know that if they want to, they can fuck you too... They can sit there, look over your car, hmmmm, see that you changed your license plate lights, give you a ticket for it being not exactly white, and now... You ARE being detained... And now, your arse is grass

I've had half a dozen stops just for giggles. Almost like "Hey, let me stop this car right here because it looks a bit too sporty, just to see if anything nefarious is going on inside."

Today I begin a 4-day trip from New Orleans to Barstow California and it's my guess that I'll be stopped twice along the way. I never get a ticket, but for some reason folk like to talk to me ... ask me questions ... find out where I'm going. Hmmm...

OK, I have to ask. Of all the California destinations to drive 2000 miles to......Barstow?! :p

I am not sure I understand what was accomplished other than re-enforcing that sports car drivers are ********. I am sure the next guy in a Z that gets the full and legal treatment as payback will thank you.

******* with cops does nothing positive for anyone. In fact I am confident that all it does is burn out good cops. There is a time and place for knowing your rights and demanding them...this was not one.

Awesome. Its not being a d**k, and good for you. This was a perfect time to defend your rights.

They didn't sniff out your test pipes?

Both cops seemed nice, I would have answered their question. But that was messed up, both leaned on your car.
"you are detained..... Now you can go" lmao

I wouldn't have done that, easier to just be lowkey and roll through.

I almost went through a checkpoint last night but turned off a street early instead

That was awesome haha.

:rofl2:

:owned:

:tup:

I think people are missing the point here.. it isn't about being a **** or anything.. it is about exercising your 4th amendment rights.. Police contrary to popular belief do NOT have the right to stop you and or search your person or property without probable cause. A random checkpoint does not constitute probable cause, No laws were broken therefore they you have no responsibility to give LEO any information if you so choose. Its called the constitution read up on it, and exercise your rights.. Because you know what they say "if you don't use them, you'll lose them."

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:iagree:

And all they CAN check (Last I checked) was that you have a DL, once you show that DL, you don't have to do or say or show anything.

Now, I always obey because I don't want to be harassed for my tint, or my whatever as stated above... And that gives the officer "probable cause" or now they have a reason to pull you over and give you a ticket

Its one of those situations where if you give them an inch they'll take a mile.. Our rights and freedoms are being encroached upon on a daily basis, more aggressively with every passing day, tactics like these are used to show that we know our rights and can't be intimidated or broken down to just "get in line" I hope nobody feels my viewpoints are breaching the code of conduct here, as I am not discussing politics merely rights.

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I am 100% ok with what you're saying, but I feel like I see both sides, in THIS instance, if you don't give them that inch, they may TAKE a mile, (again by taking a once or twice over of your car) if that's a risk you're willing to take, go for it, me, I'm not, I'm not going to risk getting a BS ticket because I don't want to answer a few questions

I have yet to experience or hear police officers that were that polite at a check point, if they walked up and were rude as most are, I would have given them a hard time, these officers were polite and handled the situation well. Most are arrogant and verbally abusive, at that point, give them hell, I feel that some people are trying to make a point where it is not needed, thank you social media.

It definitely isn't about being a **** to law enforcement, but more about being a free citizen.

I have actually protested random searches citing my 4th amendment rights... but... what's sad is that the Supreme Court generally upholds warrantless searchers given (a) probable cause, which can literally be something the cop kind of makes up, and (b) cars are considered public space, thus no warrants even really needed to at least do a brief search.

It's the old "if ya got nothing to hide, why protest the search" argument... which ignores the deeper question of whether or not such attitudes should be acceptable in an allegedly free society.

Could be worse. There could be a massive warrantless monitoring and scooping up of telecommunication info...

Oh.. wait...

Anyway, there's never any point in being anything other than polite and (reasonably) cooperative. Wrong time and place to be a wiseguy... rarely helps.

I'm all for people exercising their rights. Both you and the cops were being polite, so no harm no foul. I keep a little cheat sheet in my car of a statement to make to officers about how I am not answering any questions. I wouldn't have thought to keep my window mostly rolled up to keep them from leaning in my space, good to know.

Last time I checked you have to be asked for permission to search your personal vehicle.. only exception being if you are on a military base where as being active duty you really have no rights on base, or you signed a paper when you got your visitor pass authorizing searches of your person or property at any time for any reason.. same for civil service who work on base. You sign that to get your base stickers aka DD Form 2220.

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:tup::tiphat:

So if the police do not have the right to stop in this case then they are braking the law? Strange because police usually don't do that so publicly without a watchdog taking note and suing them. FACT: What there are doing IS legal, whether you like it or not. They at no point searched him or his property. They didn't even try to.

I think you are missing my point...cops have a valuable job to do and for the most part do it well. Ask yourself how your mood and attitude would change if every day smartasses walked in to your job and were ********. You'd get pretty burned out pretty fast, don't fool yourself. So maybe instead of 'exercising your rights' for no other reason than to pump up your balls you smile and politely say, 'No nothing to drink'. THEN when they try to pull a fast one and ask to search your car...THEN you say, 'No, you may not and I assume I am free to go.'

IMHO.

I agree. I have experienced both the very good and very bad. I behave as if they are the very good until they show me they are not.

And no ****, rule #1 in my house that I have taught my kids since they were little: Never let a cop in to your house unless he has a warrant. I don't care what he says happened to me...he can tell you on the lawn.

When I was last stopped at a random checkpoint I rolled my windows down completely due to my tint being 5%. The last thing I wanted was a fixit ticket or something similar. When the officer came back with my License I had rolled my window up halfway. His reply as he walked up to the car was, "Sir, please roll down that window because I cannot see you and I don't want to have to write you a ticket."

Now my windows always stay down.

Props to you for flexin your rights though OP

I try to get other people to do things they don't have to do at work all the time. Most of the time they do it, sometimes they don't. If cops are going to ask people to do things that the people don't have to do, they have to expect some push back. If dealing with a public who generally wants to be left alone by police is something that's going to burn them out, I would say they picked the wrong job.

IMHO.

The police is this case acted professionally, but its not always the case and even though you may be well with in your rights to refuse them.

It all depends on where and how the police will treat and act in a particular situation.

Far to often you hear and read about a simple traffic stop or check point stop, turning into something really bad, for all parties involved.

The best thing to do is know your rights and not do or say anything to incriminate yourself, any simply comply with the police requests.

Its far better to just say yes Sir, no Sir and be on your way, then spend the night in jail or dealing with a DUI tests and your car towed at your expense.

Not sure why the haters, god forbid someone exercise his constitutional rights.

Well done! Protect your rights!

A constitutionally questionable DUI checkpoint is the best place to keep your mouth shut and not comply, not only on the grounds of what is right, but for your own protection.

They would not have asked to search the car next. They would have asked for me to submit and do their light test. From there they can say I failed there test. If I never take the test, they have nothing further to go on. Best to always keep your mouth shut.

Just a note: I got pulled over a couple weeks ago. Only questions I was asked were if I had a front license plate at home and if I liked my car, both of which I answered.

The video doesn't capture it but there were two cops on the passenger side window encroaching into the car, very invasive stop. Also, I was flagged to pull over from the main street, and they did this in a parking lot. There were like 6 stations for cars to be parked.

I could tell from the flashlights being shined in that there were more police involved that what we could see on camera.

In most states refusing to submit a DUI test will result in your drivers license either being suspended or revoked , by your state DMV or a local judge, so if you haven't been drinking its a foolish move.

Also if you have been drinking and refuse the test, its hard for the police to get a conviction on a DWI charge that requires a certain alcohol blood percentage. But what they can get a conviction on is driving while impaired, which doesn't require a test, only the police officers trained observations.

So refuse the test, your end result will be a instantly revoked license and a possible impaired conviction, even driving while falling a sleep and get you nailed for this in most states.

I discussed this top for about 2hrs. with a NYS town judge that had a regular business during the day and what I stated above, is what he said happens most of the time a driver refuses a alcohol test.

He said the best outcome from a DWI arrest is that if it results from a simple traffic stop , its best to comply with the police, be professional if you can, try and not incriminate your self and in the end most of the time its plead down to driving while impaired and you keep your license.

Fight it and the DA may hammer you.

This isn't about getting out of a DUI its about your rights and how many and what ones you're readily willing to give up

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You cannot be forced to submit to a sobriety test- 5th amendment. Refusing the test should not lead to license revocation. Also this is not a traffic stop.

This is a DUI checkpoint, which is a bit shady. So, their workaround is to ask for your license and ASK if you've been drinking. In which you can refuse to answer questions.


Now, in CA, even if you ARE drunk, (and it's your first time being pulled over for it) you can refuse ALLLLLLLLL tests. Blower, blood, everything, and the MOST they can charge you of is SUSPICION of driving under the influence, and your license will NOT be taken away, and the penalty is MUUUUUCH less harsh.

I know this because my gf got a DUI not too long ago...



AGAIN, if they see you as being a prick, and critical was a BIT (but I still love/hate him ;) ) they can take a look over your car and if something is readily wrong, then they can ticket you and now you're their bitch.


Same goes for smog tests (at least in CA, [MIGHT be a city thing too because some of the commie CA cities have their own ordinances],) they call them smog observation stations, if you get on their rolling road you are convicting yourself almost, so yeah, if you want to hire a lawyer, I bet you can get out of it... But if you refuse, they really can't do anything.
And I know in other states they have cameras, like speed cameras, that somehow detect pollution and they send you a ticket (these are usually at freeway entrances)

At the end of the day, this is it.
Exactly

The problem is that you have your rights that protect you under the constitution, which the poster is correct.

But where it differs is in your rights concerning driving a car or drivers license.

Its already been decided years ago in the high courts, that driving a car is not a right, its actually a PRIVILAGE granted to you by the state where you reside and can be taken away on you at the states discretion, based on their state laws.

So refuse the DUI test, most states have laws that refusing the test will result in your license being revoked for a certain amount of time and you then need to re apply again for a new license. You also have the insurance ramifications to deal with.

This is also 100% correct! :tiphat:

The law gets muddy when you are granted the privilege, and you're within the confides of it.
Case in point, OP is granted the privilege to drive a car, OP was asked proof of this, OP provided his license.
Done.

If OP had broken a law while driving, or it was readily apparent that a law was broken (let's say window tint [100% illegal here in CA on your front 3 windows]), THEN the officer now has "probable cause" to give you a ticket, then detain you and THEN is he wants, check your car.
The right to checking your car is lost once you accept a driver's license.
YES, you CAN refuse, in which you'll lose.
YES, you CAN lock your glove box and trunk and refuse to open it (lets say you have some sort of kill switch and you're in a car with a regular trunk,) the officer cannot pry, but while you're sitting on the curb in handcuffs and you have refused to open those, they now have MORE "probable cause" to get a warrant to open your glove box and trunk and check whatever they damn well please

Maybe I'm just a fraidy cat but I don't see the point of not rolling down the window. You don't have to answer their questions, no doubt, but not rolling down the window just makes it look like you're trying to hide alcohol on your breath.

The 4th amendment talks about persons being secure against UNREASONABLE searches and seizures. Courts have ruled DUI checkpoints are reasonable. You and I may disagree but we are a nation of laws and the courts have decided. Now, I have no problem at all with not answering questions. If I were questioned by cops about anything these days I'd not say anything but my name until I had a lawyer with me.