[Peace-discuss] Fwd:[City of Champaign News]Roadside Safety

[Laurie]

Before one gets too outraged, one should determine if said uses of safety &
traffic checkpoints by police departments are legal and constitutional with
respect to court decisions; I think that you will find that on the whole
they are as long as they follow certain guidelines.  What has yet to be
determined is if the Champaign instance falls within the approved of
guidelines and if there were any unreasonable and unwarranted searches
beyond what is in plain sight (i.e., searches without cause of closed and
locked trunks, under the seats, and the like).  Do we know if the checks
were arbitrary and capricious stops and checks or did they display any
systematic bias as to who was stopped and checked when or in what fashion as
opposed to either a random stop and check or one where every vehicle passing
by the checkpoint is stopped and checked?

With respect to such activities, one needs to wonder if the newspaper
description is a description with some spin to it (i.e., emphasizing "an
effort to keep impaired drivers off of the roadways) or a literal
description of the full breath of the actions objectives and purposes which
may include efforts to enforce laws pertaining to maintaining valid vehicle
registration and driver's licenses, getting unsafe vehicles or vehicles with
unsafe equipment off the roads, etc.  But even if it were to keep impaired
drivers off the road, what would someone have against that; I am sure the
Mothers Against Drunk Drivers would not find that an objectionable goal. I
think that some of the reaction may be against what some may be projecting
as being underlying unstated goals and objectives of those stops and
checkpoints as well as the timing of them.  However, before going off
halfcocked, I do think one needs to do some in-depth investigating and
research concerning this to make sure that there is evidence of some
malicious underlying goals and objectives behind the operations and their
timing.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: peace-discuss-bounces at lists.chambana.net [mailto:peace-discuss-
> bounces at lists.chambana.net] On Behalf Of Morton K. Brussel
> Sent: Friday, March 21, 2008 3:42 PM
> To: kmedina at uiuc.edu
> Cc: peace-discuss at anti-war.net
> Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] Fwd:[City of Champaign News]Roadside
> Safety
> 
> A police state action, search without cause. Outrageous. Somehow, we
> should respond. A letter to the N-G would be first step. Champaign
> residents complain at a Champaign City Council, meeting. --mkb
> 
> On Mar 21, 2008, at 3:10 PM, Karen Medina wrote:
> 
> > Dear Peace-discuss,
> >
> > [The following email talks about a Champaign Police traffic
> > checkpoint that was setup on St. Patrick's Day, 2008 on the corner
> > of University Avenue and Wright Street.
> >
> > 500 vehicles were stopped during the 4 hours. I find the stopping
> > of vehicles without cause really creepy and the grant that paid for
> > the checkpoint an incredible waste of taxpayers' money. -karen
> medina]
> >
> > ~~ begin the official report ~~
> >
> > From: General News <lists at ci.champaign.il.us>
> >
> > Greetings from the City of Champaign's email subscription service.
> >
> > In September of 2007, the Champaign Police Department (CPD)
> > received a grant from the Illinois Department of Transportation
> > (IDOT) to conduct a roadside safety checkpoint over the St.
> > Patrick's Day holiday.  The grant funds allowed the police
> > department to pay overtime funds to staff the roadside safety
> > checkpoint, in an effort to keep impaired drivers off of the
> > roadways.On Saturday, March 15, 2008, a roadside safety checkpoint
> > was conducted on University Avenue at Wright Street in Champaign,
> > Illinois.  Champaign Police Officers in collaboration with six (6)
> > University of Illinois police officers and an IDOT work crew
> > conducted the roadside safety checkpoint from 10 PM to 2 AM.
> >
> >  During the roadside safety check over 500 vehicles traveled
> > through the checkpoint.  A list of the cited violations and the
> > types of arrests are as follows:
> >
> >  Seat Belt / Child restraint - 6
> >  Suspended/Revoked Drivers License - 3
> >  Uninsured Motorists - 16
> >  Other IVC Violations - 3
> >  No Drivers License - 8
> >  Failure to Carry DL on Person - 4
> >  DUI -1
> >  Illegal Transportation of Alcohol - 1
> >
> >  In addition to these violations, officers also arrested two (2)
> > people for outstanding warrants, and arrested another person for
> > Obstructing Justice.
> >
> >  Should a citizen have a "traffic concern" in the City of
> > Champaign, please go to the City of Champaign web page at
> > www.ci.champaign.il.us and click on the link to the Neighborhood
> > Traffic Concerns.
> >
> >
> >  You may view the latest post at
> > http://www.ci.champaign.il.us/departments/2008/03/19/roadside-safety/
> >
> > All current online City news items can be read at the following web
> > address:
> > http://www.ci.champaign.il.us/departments/?cat=1
> > ________________________________
> >>
> >>  lists at ci.champaign.il.us
> >>
> >> The following physical address is associated with this mailing list:
> >>
> >> 102 N. Neil St.
> >> Champaign, IL 61820
> >> http://www.ci.champaign.il.us
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> > Also see "The Police Blotter" link at www.dps.uiuc.edu (University
> > of Illinois' Police Department's web site).
> > _______________________________________________
> > Peace-discuss mailing list
> > Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net
> > http://lists.chambana.net/cgi-bin/listinfo/peace-discuss
> 
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