Driving back from AR...
 

Two weekends ago (on Martin Luther King day) we drove back from Arkansas. As we neared the St. Louis suburbs, we saw a sign on the interstate, just before and exit that said something like: "Drug checkpoint 1 mile ahead/Drug dogs in use." Of course, one mile down the interstate, there is no checkpoint. There was a similar sign in East St. Louis once we got over the rive, just before an exit, and no checkpoint.

In recalling my case law from college, I seem to remember a case that got to the SCOTUS about this tactic. In this specific example, the police were stopping/searching all cars that got off at the exit--there was no checkpoint on the interstate. I also seem to call that the SCOTUS ruled this tactic was unconstitutional.

I think all checkpoints are a gross violation of the 4th Amendment. That the SCOTUS allows them at all is reprehensible.

In this case the checkpoint was presumably only for cars that exited after being warned of a checkpoint.

Even more outrageous - being targeted because you need to get off at a certain exit or would like to avoid an unreasonable search and/or seizure.

I was hoping this thread was about talking like a pirate... me buckos...

My buddy is a fisherman, and thus sometimes is on the road very late or very early... and gets stuck in these road side sobriety checks.

he always takes a moment to politely inform the officers that they are violating his constitutional rights.

I was once pulled over in one of these and the cop asked me for license and registration. I looked at him funny for a few seconds until he said, "Is something wrong?"

I immediately recovered and handed him my ID as i said with a totally straight face, "No, i was just expecting you to say "Paperz Pleezz" (in my best faux german accent).

He gave me a look, but he got my point.

"It's a privilege, not a right. If you don't like being subjected to it, ride the bus or walk."

That's where the "logic" behind this is going. I'm waiting for someone to say it for real.

Actually, that was not Rehnquist's reasoning in his majority opinion that sobriety checkpoints are kosher. He flat out said the state's compelling interest in safe roads outweighed our right to not be subject to unreasonable search and seizure. Yes, really.

So how do you feel about the "decoy" cop car parked on the side of the interstate, with the REAL cop/radar gun 1/2 a mile down the road? Entrapment?

I imagine it's different because there is no intrusion into your life to see wether or not you're speeding.

Yep, I know the one you're talking about and that checkpoint is exactly as you describe. There is one exit between the signage and the supposed location of the checkpoint. The REAL checkpoint is around the bend on that exit. The reason it is in that particular location is, well, approximately NOBODY uses that particular exit. It leads to nowhere anyone would want to go, and there is no access to any goods or services from that exit. Especially if you're from out of town, dead giveaway to the coppers if an out of state plate takes that ramp.

There's no traffic stop involved, so I don't see how it could be considered any kind of search or seizure. Cops are as free to run radar as I am to run a detector.