Legislation to allow sobriety checkpoints by Oregon law enforcement agencies to be heard in committee Thursday.
(SALEM, Ore.) - Just when you wondered if you had any civil rights left, we learn that the state of Oregon is contemplating the establishment of checkpoints where police can legally violate your rights with the blessing of the law.
At sobriety checkpoints, drivers are stopped without reasonable suspicion, and can be tested summarily and without probable cause. I've talked to police officers who agree that it isn't very American.
It's something you would expect in Nevada or Texas, but not in Oregon. Fortunately, the voters will have a say in it.
It looks like the secret unmarked police cars doing traffic enforcement on our streets and highways aren't enough of a problem. Trust me, that shouldn't be allowed either. Members of our legislature are so completely out of touch with reality and our rights that they would vote for anything if they thought it made them look good.
Police need to do their job the way they always have; by responding to crime rather than anticipating it.
Trapping innocent people in checkpoints is reminiscent of tactics used in Communist countries and in parts of Mexico and Afghanistan. No Oregonians should be subjected to these violations at the hand of their government.
The Senate Judiciary Committee will hear legislation Thursday morning that would allow law enforcement agencies to conduct these so-called "sobriety checkpoints".
Senate Joint Resolution 7 would refer the issue to Oregon voters during the state’s next primary election in 2010. That will give us all plenty of time for people here to find a trustworthy state they can live in.
Oregon politicians like Senator Rod Monroe, a Democrat from Portland, are trying to lower Oregon drivers into the vat.
"Checkpoints are an important tool to keep our streets safe from dangerous impaired drivers," he said. Monroe is the chief sponsor of the bill.
He says, "It’s time for the voters of Oregon to decide whether they support sobriety checkpoints."
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With luck, that decision will be a resounding "no" and in the end will probably go down as another huge expenditure or waste, of time and taxpayer money. If you let people like Monroe go long enough, and you won't have any rights left at all.
It always happens that way when you review history.
Oregon actually has an established history of supporting its citizens rights on this issue in the past; in fact a 1987 Oregon Supreme Court ruling barred police from conducting sobriety checkpoints.
But Monroe doesn't appreciate the decision of our state's highest court. He wants Oregon voters to amend the state constitution, allowing law enforcement to once again utilize checkpoints to stop drivers who have no reason to be stopped and questioned by police.
At this time according to Wikipedia, 38 U.S. states and the District of Columbia currently allow sobriety checkpoints. The United States Supreme Court has found them to be constitutional.
Michigan's Supreme Court ruled that sobriety roadblocks are be a violation of the Fourth Amendment.
However, by a 6-3 decision in Michigan Dept. of State Police v. Sitz (1990), the United States Supreme Court found properly conducted sobriety checkpoints to be constitutional.
Although acknowledging that such checkpoints infringed on a constitutional right, Chief Justice Rehnquist argued that the state interest in reducing drunk driving outweighed this constitutional right.
On the other hand, Justice Stevens who dissented, countered that "the findings of the trial court, based on an extensive record and affirmed by the Michigan Court of Appeals, indicate that the net effect of sobriety checkpoints on traffic safety is infinitesimal and possibly negative."
Those interested in attending The first public hearing of SJR 7 in the Senate Judiciary Committee at the state capitol, should mark their calendars for Thursday, April 2nd at 8:30 a.m. It takes place in Room 343, Oregon State Capitol, Salem, Oregon.
To learn more about this practice in the U.S. A. visit: checkpointusa.org
Tim King is a former U.S. Marine with twenty years of experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor. In addition to his role as a war correspondent, this Los Angeles native serves as Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor.Tim spent the winter of 2006/07 in Afghanistan with Oregon troops. Tim recently returned from Iraq where he covered the war there while embedded with an Oregon Guard aviation unit. Serving the community in very real terms, Salem-News.com is the nation's only truly independent high traffic news Website, affiliated with Google News and several other major search engines and news aggregators.You can send Tim an email at this address: newsroom@salem-news.com
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