Cops to run DWI checkpoints

[Dave Ridley]

Ok so enough talk...what are we going to do about this?  What are *you* going to do about it? 

I'm writing a note to the reporter at the Herald and an LTE:

---

Dear Mr. Cronin:

Regarding your April 28 article on the planned DWI checkpoints...That was one heck of a free advertisement you gave the Rockingham/State Police bunch in their effort to run these guilty-until-proven-innocent driver stops.

Whether or not there is a case to be made for such checkpoints, there is a second side to this story which I hope you will tell.  You can hear it by contacting the New Hampshire Liberty Alliance at 358-5079 / info@nhliberty.org / www.NHLiberty.org.   Ask them why checkpoints are a bad idea and though they may want to confer among themselves a bit before giving you an official position, you'll likely get some answers that will make you think.   

It's wrong of you to present only one side of this.

cc: Letters to Editor

[FTL_Ian]

What's up with the photoshopped halos around the cops!? 


Also, I think this would be the perfect opportunity to introduce the cops to NH Copwatch.  Too bad it doesn't exist.  You guys could have a little fun by getting a handful of of activists to come to a checkpoint and video tape...

[FTL_Ian]

Perhaps ask them some interesting questions while they are on camera.  About freedom, authority, etc.

[KBCraig]

What's up with the photoshopped halos around the cops!? 

Same as if it was done in a darkroom... correction of a poor photo. Doing it digitally doesn't mean it's wrong.

But yeah, it's pretty obvious.

Kevin

[aries]

Perhaps ask them some interesting questions while they are on camera.  About freedom, authority, etc.

Person: "Do you feel that this DWI checkpoint constitutes a reasonable search per the fourth amendment to the US Constitution?"

Cop: "Yeah, this is reasonable."

Person: "So you suspect that every person on the road is a drunk driver, somehow reasonably, and you are performing these searches... what, to prove yourselves wrong?"

He'd probably get angry.

[Dave Ridley]

Here is another idea:

One or more of us could simply go to a checkpoint and hold a sign that asks drivers to pull over and check in with us if they feel their rights have been compromized by the checkpoint,  or any one or more persons could stand in front of the check point with a sign that says  "this checkpoint is wrong" or something like that.  oh, even better, you could stand a mile or two before the checkpoint and have a sign that says "cop checkpoint ahead one mile"

[FTL_Ian]

I've heard of harassment/arrests resulting from alerting drivers to speed traps / checkpoints,  but those are good ideas, Dada.

The cops have probably NEVER had to deal with situations involving what we're talking about...

[tracysaboe]

Stand a mile down the road on both sides with a sign. And have somebody their with a video camera that streams to the internet directly.

Then have 2 or three people aproach the cops and ask them those questions. Again, with a camera with it being a live interview.

Be completely peacefull about it. If cops harrass you, you're releasing the video's to the media.


You'll probably do that anyway of course.

TRacy

[Atlas]

If you use your imagination, you can see horns coming out of either side of their heads.

[Dave Ridley]

Here is contact information for some of the perpetrators mentioned or interviewed in the article above.  I will call them, and I hope you will too.  Again,we need action, not discussion among ourselves.

Rockingham County Attorney Jim Reams

Mailing address:
P.O. Box 1209
Kingston NH 03848

Physical address:
10 Route 125
Brentwood, NH 03833

Telephone: 603.642.4249
Fax: 603.642.8942


Lt. Robert Quinn of New Hampshire State Police Troop A,
couldn't find him, but here is his boss:

Colonel Frederick H. Booth
Director
Division of State Police
Department of Safety
33 Hazen Drive
Concord, NH 03305
603-271-3636


Hampton Police Chief Jamie Sullivan,
(603) 929-4444
100 Brown Ave
Hampton, NH 03842
hamptonpd.com


If some of you make calls to these guys I will likely list more numbers for you such as numbers for those below.

Seabrook Police Chief David Currier,
Portsmouth Deputy Chief of Police Len DiSesa,
Candia Police Chief Mike McGillen

[Dave Ridley]

i've called the three numbers above and left messages for the perps. 

also put them in my speed dial so I can call them in the future and let them know that I'm still pissed.

[KBCraig]

oh, even better, you could stand a mile or two before the checkpoint and have a sign that says "cop checkpoint ahead one mile"

Here's the problem with that... it's a not-too-unusual tactic for police to put up official-looking signs warning of DWI or "drug interdiction" checkpoints, "x distance ahead". They're positioned so that drivers can see them just in time to suddenly brake and exit. Exit right into the waiting arms of the real checkpoint, that is.

I don't know if everyone has wised up to that tactic and they've stopped using it, but I used to see it every few months when driving on our local interstate, which is considered a major transportation route for drugs.

Kevin

[tracysaboe]

Karma for Kevin.

Cause I don't understand why it's so low.

Tracy

[KBCraig]

Karma for Kevin.

Karma for Tracy, as part of our mutal admiration society.

Cause I don't understand why it's so low.

*feh*

I've stopped trying to figure it out. I've obviously pissed someone off. Probably someone who lurks but doesn't post, and possibly even logs in under multiple IDs in order to smite people with whom they disagree.

I don't think I personally rate such efforts, but the smite fairy seems to strike several people at once.

Myself, I only applaud people these days. I can't remember the last time I smited someone. I try to let people know my opinion of their posts by engaging in dialogue with them, instead of anonymously smacking them.

Kevin

[Russell Kanning]

I'd like to see some cops' careers ruined after they leave a bar and run through their own checkpoint.

What if they let them pass?