Police on Old Fairgound Rd. yesterday....

Does anyone know why the police were stopping traffic on Old Fairground yesterday, asking to see drivers licenses at around 11:30am?

 

Probably just a sobriety stop where they are allowed to stop everyone in the off chance they might catch a drunk driver.

Every time I see one of these, I'm reminded of the old cold war movies where someone is stopped and asked for their papers.

 

Having had a family member killed by a drunk driver, I say "he_ _ yes" to checks. Having had a cousin drive drunk, run a red light, T-bone another car and be pronounced died a the scene after being thrown through his trucks windshield and then be saved by an EMT noticing his fingers moving while they loaded him in the ambulance to be taken to the morgue. He spent 6 months total in the hospital/rehab center. He is permanently disabled now, when he once was a very vibrant and talented young man. I say "hell yes" to checks if it means saving the life of another person. As for my cousin, he will never be the same because he made the decision to drive drunk and every day when he looks in the mirror he is reminded of this. Thank God the other driver was only mildly injured. You have to show your ID to buy beer or when you use a credit card in some stores etc. what harm is it to show your ID/car registration at a check point, other than taking a few minutes of your time.

 

I feel sorry for your loss, truly I do. However, if this is your logic, let's take it to it's ultimate ends. I know someone who was killed in a grocery store robbery. How would you feel, then, if there were a cop or two at the door of the grocery store you wish to shop at searching you before you walk in the store?

We live in a free country. The laws of the land do not (or are not supposed to) allow law enforcement officials to stop law abiding citizens on the off chance they might be committing a crime. Think of your life if that's the world we do, indeed, live in. Do you really want that?

 

How do you know they are law abiding citizens? Last time I saw one of these set up during daylight hours it was to check for illegal immigrants and expired or revoked licenses. Most DUI checkpoints are set up in the evening. As far as the laws of the land going, if you're not doing something wrong what difference does it make? Tired of hearing the same old rants about big brother looking over/under and around us! Like I said, if your not doing something wrong, what difference does it make? Now we can move on to the the rants about the change in voting rights legislation! Why shouldn't people be required to show proof of ID before being allowed to vote? I personally don't want illegals and undocumented to have a say in how this country is run! We screw it up enough already. There's a lot of irritating issues out there but it is what it is. I will now step down from my high horse and return your to our normal programming.

 

Unless every single person stopped and checked was an illegal immigrant, then some law abiding citizen was stopped for no reason other than the fact that they were driving down that particular road.

I really hate to argue with someone who has the mindset of "if you're not guilty, what's the problem with the inconvenience?" How would you feel if the cops knocked on your door and insisted on searching it? I mean, you're not doing anything wrong, so what's the problem?

For the record, I'm for voter ID, but that is an entirely different issue.

 

I wonder if McKinleys will serve a drunken illegal immigrant.

 

Damn right brother.

 

Your loss has nothing to do with my constitutional right to privacy.

 

I just re-read your post and need to address this last issue.

If I buy beer I'm asked for my ID, I understand and accept that.

But if the guy in front of me is buying beer and the guy behind me is buying beer but I'm buying toilet paper, they do not ask for my ID. I am not doing anything that warrants them inconveniencing me for something that I'm not part of. And there in lies the difference.

Similarly, if I'm leaving the parking lot of a bar or an ABC store, then I can understand them stopping me on the way out. But if I'm just driving down the road minding my own business, they do not (or should not) have the right to stop me for no other reason than the fact that I happen to be driving down that particular road.

 

Lets remember, driving is a PRIVILEGE in NC, not a right...

 

This is true, but:

Is a right whether I'm driving down the road, walking down the sidewalk, or sitting in my living room.

 

There is no specified Constitutional right to privacy ....

 

And if your car was being searched, that would be different. Requiring you produce your driver's license is not infringing your rights. Big brother is not always out to get you... License / DWI checkpoints, are really in the best interest of the common citizen, IMO.

 

There was one of these a couple weeks back on Barber Mill Road just south of 42 at like 8:30am on a Saturday. You can't realistically call that a DUI Checkpoint. On a back road, that early on a Saturday? Do you really think there are that many drunk drivers out?

Sitting in the line of traffic wasted about 15 minutes of my morning there where I had a lot to do and a meeting that I almost missed a little later.

Plus there were like 6 Clayton cars and officers there. Can you really justify them sitting there instead of out patrolling looking for real crime?

I can understand one of these on like a Friday evening right near an area with a lot of bars, but not there, at that time.

 

Now that's down right funny:lol:

 

You absolutely can call that a DUI checkpoint. A person could be out drinking on a Friday night, get soppy fall over cant get up to save his life drunk and make it home at 2am to sleep it off. He gets up at 8am to go to work or play golf (intsert reason here) and you better believe he could very well be 100% legally drunk. Just because you "sleep it off" for a handful of hours does not mean you are sober.

 

Knocking on your door and checking to see if you have a still or a meth lab is in the public's interest. Do you really want to have the cops knocking on your door? They'll just ask for ID (while sniffing for alcohol or ether).

"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."
Benjamin Franklin 2/17/1775

 

Thank you for your sympathy and I do understand your point of view but no one can dispute the fact that had there been a checkpoint on the road he was traveling things would have turned out different for him etc. For as long as there have been cars and a police force there have been random checkpoints. These are done for various reasons and they do produce positive outcomes for a safer community, be it an illegal immigrant, drunk driver, driving with license revoked etc. they are doing their job. Law enforcement has always had the right within the law to stop people on suspicion of any conduct that may be unlawful. For the over 50 years I been on this earth there have been checkpoints, it was this way when my grandmother owned her first car when they started coming off the assembly line. If I'm not mistaken, Bonnie and Clyde had a mass killing of law enforcement at a checkpoint when the law was after them. I think your over reaching on this issue about law enforcement/government overstepping their boundaries into your rights as a citizen, IMHO.