Manchester sobriety checkpoint — 2008-09-05

[J’raxis 270145]

According to the 2008-08-28 Manchester Express there will be another sobriety checkpoint somewhere in Manchester on 2008-09-05. It didn't say when or where, but these are usually on Bridge Street or Queen City Avenue, from 00:00–02:00. Previous ones talked about here on NH Free:—

• 2008-03-28
• 2008-07-18
• 2008-07-25/26

Something like this might be a good idea if we can get enough people to do it. Or perhaps just go out there and protest and/or videotape it.

Thoughts? Ideas?

[Dave Ridley]

i'd love to ride with one or more of the drivers and have a video camera.  get shots of them objecting to the process.

i'll likely be doing a preview video about this event regardless 

[bigmike]

i plan on standing on the corner nearby with a sign that reads "sobriety checkpoint ahead" so people won't turn in its direction. i'll be there soon.

i wonder if i would be arrested for aiding and abetting? 

saturating the checkpoint with sober drivers that turn around to pass through repeatedly is a great idea. hope you guys can pull this off. i can't wait to see some videos of confused faces from officers as they begin to realize what is happening.

[Dave Ridley]

awesome mike  its going to be a busy day in manic manchester

check the calendar for details

[ByronB]

I wish some of you could help me out here in Chicago land area with there seat belt checkpoints, next time I see one I plan to do something similar... just see how many tickets they will write me as I am going back and forth without a seat belt on. 

[J’raxis 270145]

/bump

Anyone interested in doing something related to this (provided we're not all in jail as a result of the earlier event)?

[bigmike]

awesome mike  its going to be a busy day in manic manchester

check the calendar for details

thanks dave. i'll see you in october.

[J’raxis 270145]

awesome mike  its going to be a busy day in manic manchester

check the calendar for details

thanks dave. i'll see you in october.

I'm sure there'll be plenty more of these Polizeiprüfpunkte once you get here—they're becoming a regular occurrence now.

[bigmike]

awesome mike  its going to be a busy day in manic manchester

check the calendar for details

thanks dave. i'll see you in october.

I'm sure there'll be plenty more of these Polizeiprüfpunkte once you get here—they're becoming a regular occurrence now.

not just there, everywhere.

that's why i think it's so important to broadcast videos of these events being disrupted so people in other states that can't move to the shire will make their own stands.

good luck free-staters

[Dave Ridley]

my recommendation....if you want to get involved in this just be in manch tongiht, keep an eye on this thread or on porcupine 411

somewhere between 11p and 2a we're likely to pin down the exact location of the suspicionless checkpoint

as an alternative you can just head up and down elm around 1a and it should be there

[J’raxis 270145]

Dave Ridley and I found the checkpoint on Elm Street, between Queen City Avenue and the bridge near the Keyspan complex, at about 00:36. I made a Porc-411 call reporting it. The police—three cruisers, a motorcycle, and seven cops—didn't mind our presence. Dave went around videoing while I held a "Report complaints here" sign. After a little while, Mike from CA and Bill D. showed up, then Dan G., Andy H., and Andrew C.. Everyone held various signs or a Gadsden or New Hampshire State flag.

No one actually reported any complaints to us, but we got a lot of honks from people leaving the checkpoint. I didn't count how many people were stopped by the checkpoint, but they did force a few people to pull over and wait to be picked up (I'd guess they were either DUIs or perhaps registration violations?), and they arrested a young girl in her 20s, in one of the Manchester Police vans. The cops naturally didn't want to answer any questions about who they were stopping or why. At one point, a car stopped to pick up someone at the checkpoint; one of the people in the car was a Ron Paul supporter and chatted with us for a while.

It wrapped up about 01:55. Another random group of guys walking down the street stopped and chatted with us; turns out they were Ron Paul supporters too, and knew Dave.

There'll no doubt be a Ridley Report up about this soon.



Andrew and I discussed an idea of placing people ahead of the checkpoint, with signs like "Checkpoint ahead", "Remember your right to remain silent!", "Complaint report station after checkpoint", and similar, and then have the "Report complaints here" sign and people with flags afterward. If we can get people far enough back, we could have some sort of "Checkpoint ahead—detour this way" sign. We now seem to have enough people show up to make something like that viable in the future.

Considering that it's 03:42 on Saturday and I've been up since Dave's event on Friday morning at 06:00, I'll post more about this in the morning.

[JonM]

Drove past you guys at around 1:30 and they did not deem us worthy to stop.

[FTL_Ian]

Be prepared for harassment/arrest if you do that, J'raxis.

[J’raxis 270145]

Be prepared for harassment/arrest if you do that, J'raxis.

Probably. I was somewhat surprised how friendly and unconcerned they were last night when Dave went up to one of the cops and explained what we were doing there; I'd guess it was because they know that 5–6 people standing past the checkpoint protesting accomplishes almost exactly nothing. We might as well be in a "free speech zone" a mile away.

What's interesting about these checkpoints is that the cops always set them up in a manner that oncoming traffic can't see the checkpoint until it's too late—clearly an indication they're trying to make them secret in some sense. (The last one I was at was on the west side of the Bridge St. bridge, taking advantage of the arch of the bridge and the fact that you can't see over it until you're on a one-way divided street. This one was over the crest of the bridge south of Murphy's. By the time you saw it, they saw you, so if you turned around, they'd know you were trying to evade it.)

Yet, they send out press releases which the local newspaper publishes, and the police will actually tell you where they are, if you ask. So, ostensibly, there's nothing secret about them, and they can't take issue with us simply passing on the information to everyone else in the city—say, 100' in front of the checkpoint, right?

Lauren came out to protest one of these checkpoints in Manchester, several months ago, didn't she?—including putting up warning signs for oncoming traffic. How'd that go?

[TackleTheWorld]

Applause to those who policed the police last night. 
Nice turnout!  Turnout, road block, get it?   
Previously Dave, I and others were there too.  It was at the same location.  The police didn't bother us except to say, hey take your "Checkpoint Ahead" sign with you when you leave, OK?