Shortly after 7 p.m. on Saturday, a day of St. Patrick’s Day festivities, Maryland State Police (MSP) along with allied law enforcement agencies set up shop along Route 50 just west of the bridge. According to a MSP release, “The goal was to locate impaired drivers and to promote public awareness of the dangers of impaired driving.”
The checkpoint, which ended about 90 minutes after it began, resulted in 291 vehicles being checked and two drivers evaluated for impairment, according to MSP, which was joined by the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office, Natural Resources Police and Berlin Police Department as well as State Highway Administration handling traffic responsibilities. One driver was arrested for driving while impaired.
8 comments:
Looks like Andrea Bounds was the only one stupid enough to drink and drive through Ocean City on St. Patrick's Day!
1 person out of 291 people who were "searched without a warrant"
Welcome to Israhell
Anon 2:02pm,
So checkpoints aimed at preventing an illegal action that could potential harm or kill innocent people is wrong?
I firmly believe in my constitutional rights - I love my guns, my freedom of religion, my freedom of speech, my right to vote and all of my inalienable rights including my 4th amendment rights; however, I would not consider DUI checkpoints to be an "Unreasonable search and seizure." It is not unreasonable to ask drivers to stop to check for sobriety and it can be argued that the cause can be justified in this scenario being that there are statistically a higher number of drunk drivers on the road due to St Patrick's day events. Sure, it is an inconvenience for those legally driving through the checkpoint, but personally I would rather see the drunks off the road than to find myself, friends or family in a morgue. There is also a determination on what is considered a "search." I wouldn't say that the systematic or random surveys of travelers through a checkpoint would be considered an illegal search. They certainly don't root through your vehicle looking for drugs and alcohol without probably cause; if they did then that would certainly be illegal. Tell me what part of slowing down traffic and talking to motorists constitutes being "searched without a warrant."
"Israhell" all you want, you just sound like a bigot. DUI checkpoints are simply a way of keeping drunks off the road and helping to ensure the safety of the general public. If you haven't been drinking then you shouldn't have anything to be worried about, just sit back and be patient while you are stuck in the traffic.
The fact is they need probable cause that is not manufactured or is obtained through intimidation. I am not saying that in theory check points are not there to save lives. But you just violated 290 peoples 4th amendment rights to stop one person that may have been a little tipsy or may have been incredibly smashed, who knows which it was. Not to mention the "allied" resources that went into 1 single arrest. Seems like this was a waste of effort.
3:50 PM you are entitled to your opinion and I do understand your point, hell I would have agreed with you as little as a year ago. But at this point in the game I have a ZERO tolerance policy for the violation of your rights, my rights and anyone else's rights. Check points are a violation of our rights, period. The police need to adjust the way they find drunk drivers because this is unacceptable.
4:30 if you lost a loved to a DUI I bet you'd be the first to defend checkpoints. Also there is no violation of your 4th amendment rights, because probable cause is established through observation or of the smelling of suspected alcohol on or about their person. Those that aren't stopped under probably cause continue on there way without detention. Why do people try to make up reasons based on opinion rather then law?
Also there is no violation of your 4th amendment rights, because probable cause is established through observation or of the smelling of suspected alcohol on or about their person. Those that aren't stopped under probably cause continue on there way without detention. Why do people try to make up reasons based on opinion rather then law?
March 21, 2014 at 5:54 PM
They have to be stopped in order for anyone to smell anything. They have no PC for the stop. It's called fishing. You are suspected of a crime just by driving down the highway.
Let's line every cop up outside their barracks and take blood samples for drugs. If none is in their system, they are free to leave.
If you're not drinking and driving, you have no worries. I want the person who feels like it's okay to drink and drive to get caught.
Cops are tested for drug use, as they should be.
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