Roadside Checkpoints - what is their purpose?

[Swift One]

A roadside check does have its place.  Man hunts and sobriety check points. But, the police will use them for fishing expeditions.  I have lost 99% respect and trust in law enforcement.  The older guys are OK.  In the younger ones though, Its all about thrill and power.  Not a bone of "protect and serve" in them.  I deal with them on a daily basis at my job. The ones that show up for the first time at a prison and find out they need to check their guns at the gate before entering are comical.  Their faces totally change when they find out they are going to be unarmed. Some have even left without picking up. Thats pretty much tells me what they are about right their. A person that can only serve the public comfortably with a gun, mace, and taser on their side has no buisiness serving the public seeing how what you use most of the time is your speaking skills.  Nope, they want to be intimidating.  Sorry if I have offended our LE audience, but I have seen too much consistency in this type behavior over the last 15yrs for me to think that only "a small percentage" of LE is "bad apples".
 
 

[OldSchoolRanger]

Oh, I doubt it would be all that bad. Make me down as in favor of order, and having a police force that does its job. Mark me as vehemently against abuse of citizens by cretins under the color of law, who do it because... they can, and they're accustomed to being able to behave in ways that would get me thrown in jail.

Anyhow... checkpoints are useful for generating revenue. They do train citizens to become complaint & accept whatever is handed to them, and they DEFINiITELY do generate business for the law. On occasion, I think they probably do some good, but not enough to justify routine, widespread use of the practice.

In unrelated news... in the case of the infamous Officer Dan Harless in Canton OH - the one that threatened to kill a citizen for carrying a weapon has had his union ride to the rescue... they're gonna delay the investigation until he feels better and gets over his purported PTSD. Remember - he is the officer who threatened to do the killing - would I even be alive if I talked to a cop, the way he talked to the citizen?? I wonder if the citizen he threatened to murder has PTSD as a result of his encounter with Officer Harless?

http://www.cantonrep.com/carousel/x549434878/Harless-hearing-postponed-police-union-cites-stress

YW - Lets' be honest here.  You always bring up stories about bad LEO's.  How many bad ones have you pointed out, versus the total amount of LEO's that do their job on a daily basis honorably, and don't appear in your threads.  I do believe the number of good LEO's more that sightly outnumber the bad ones.  Even if you use statistics based on percentages, you would have to agree with me.  Don't you agree that the amount is miniscule in regards to the total number of LEO's.  I agree with some of your points, but please, don't lump us all in the same basket as the few, and I mean the very few, that are bad eggs.

[OldSchoolRanger]

Swift One - based on your post, it seems like your a currently serving C.O..  I do agree with some of your points, but I have run into some C.O.'s that behave like perps with a badge.  I hope you see my point, you have good ones and bad ones.  To lump them all together just makes a good omelet into a bad omelet. 

[yellowtail3]

YW - Lets' be honest here.  You always bring up stories about bad LEO's.  How many bad ones have you pointed out, versus the total amount of LEO's that do their job on a daily basis honorably, and don't appear in your threads.  I do believe the number of good LEO's more that sightly outnumber the bad ones.  Even if you use statistics based on percentages, you would have to agree with me.  Don't you agree that the amount is miniscule in regards to the total number of LEO's.

Yes, all true. All folks are individuals, and I know that. I try to see through others' eyes, knowing I hope the same from them seeing me.

That said... there are some serious probs in LE these days, in how citizens are related to. I think it has to do with that get out of jail free refrain of 'OFFICER SAFETY' which is too-commonly used to justify things that ought not happen.   

Please believe me when I say, no personal insult intended.
for a bit of inspiration on seeing through others' eyes...

[Swift One]

but I have run into some C.O.'s that behave like perps with a badge

OLd School Ranger,
 
I agree 100% with this statement.  By NO MEANS am I trying to put my line of work ahead of the Police. LOL, Corrections is whole other animal of issues.  The one difference though with corrections, we are generally locked behind a wall or fence and dealing with 100% criminals. But, whatever, the whole system is whacked from start to finish.

[jlwilliams]

OldSchool Ranger, you have hit on a universal truth that goes beyond this conversation about LE and checkpoints.   We never hear about all the guys who go to work, drive home without incident and don't beat their wives.  We hear all about the criminals, the car wrecks and the abusers.  Focusing on the negative is a fact of human nature, my friend.
 
[quote author=OldSchoolRanger link=topic=238982.msg1099379663#msg1099379663
YW - Lets' be honest here.  You always bring up stories about bad LEO's.  How many bad ones have you pointed out, versus the total amount of LEO's that do their job on a daily basis honorably, and don't appear in your threads.  I do believe the number of good LEO's more that sightly outnumber the bad ones.  Even if you use statistics based on percentages, you would have to agree with me.  Don't you agree that the amount is miniscule in regards to the total number of LEO's.  I agree with some of your points, but please, don't lump us all in the same basket as the few, and I mean the very few, that are bad eggs.

[Empty Quiver]

JL you bring up a point I have always suspected. LE has about the same percentage of high class and low class individuals as any other occupation.


In every walk of life you will find those who excel, those who get by, and those who need to find new employment in something that better suits them. As a percentage the first two categories rule. With the right attitude you can bring out just about any response from these fellas you want. The latter group will come down to simple incompetance or spite and vindictive behaviour generally. Those encounters are the ones that we hear about, man bites dog stories if you will.


Treat an officer as you would your parents or anyone else you respect and you can generally count on a reasonable response. There are crop failures but generally you can expect to reap that which you sow.

[Bugflipper]

I really don't agree with roadblocks either. I can see if there were a murder or something of the sort. To inconvenience a few in the hopes of catching someone would be understandable. But to just assume everyone traveling on a specific road at a specific time is up to no good just seems wrong.
 

[mcwoodduck]

In southern CA there are three boarder check points on major roads.  I understand the idea of checking cars headed north from Mexico to catch illegals.  The problem I have is the one just south of Temecula CA it is not a choke point.  The exit before the check point there is a service road that skirts the check point.  and other local roads that allow you to bypass the check point completely.  I have no problem with the check point I have a problem with being able to go around it.  Anyone doing illegal things would simply either skirt the check point on side streets or just hit the service road and go around it.   If you were planning on smuggling wouldn't you fid ways around it?

[SHOOTALL]

the silly part is illegals are allowed to pass in many places. If they are sick, have a plan to harm America or any number of bad things in their plans they will harm more than a drunk , whats up with that ? A drunk could kill all on a bus or twu an illegal sould kill 10 bus loads . Set check points at the border ?

[briarpatch]

Went to NC this weekend traveling up I-95. About ever 15 or 20 miles between Cocoa Florida and above Daytona there were border patrol vehicles parked in the median. Sometimes two sometimes one.
They had no one stopped, just setting.
My guess is they are visible to make the masses think they are doing something. I also think we will see much more of this. MOO.
If there is another reason for it, maybe someone will post.

[SHOOTALL]

You may be correct. I think they show force to get folks used to seeing it and start to not pat attention. It becomes the norm. It may be good or bad depending on the reason for doing it.

[Cabin4]

I believe that many a LEO love the thought of ordering people to do things they don't want to. They derive great personal and egotistical satisfaction in this. Thus the high divorce rates in this field of work. They can’t stand having someone else around that can have a word of equal value. I’m not sure if it’s the training that over takes them or just the people who are lured by this field of work. Perhaps it’s a mix of both. The best LEOs I’ve ever met are the ones that had a mutually successful marriage and with the uniform off or off duty, you’d never know they were a LEO.

 

[SHOOTALL]

cabin good points. Don't forget they often blame the job for their misfortune.

[jlwilliams]

Again, Cabin4s points can be equally applied to 'Type A" personalities in all walks of life.  Some of those sorts of people become shop foremen so that they can boss people around.  Not just a cop thing.
 
  Thinking more about this, the problem with this sort of behavior form police (verses the same behavior from people in other walks of life) is that when you get an overly assertive jackass with a badge you can't just walk away from him.  If a cop is having a bad day and dishes it out on you, you pretty much have to take it because of his position. ( I know many cops who confuse the respect their position brings with respect they think they themselves are due.)  A clerk or craftsman dishes out on you, you can take your business elsewhere.  A cop does it, you are a captive audience to his ego trip.  That is a big reason why so many of us have a strong visceral reaction to police egotism.  Not really because they are A-holes at any greater rate than other careers, but because when they are they have an unparelled platform to exert their A-holery on people.

[Cabin4]

, but because when they are they have an unparelled platform to exert their A-holery on people.

 

[jhm]

     I also agree with Cabin4 I had a son in law now a X son in law and we got along great as long as he maintained his drinking, however when he got a belly full of LOUD MOUTH it came out of him he was a LEO and that he could make anyone do as HE wished as he had the law on his side no matter what, I have daily contact with both the local and state police more with the locals but find the State police to be much more professional and respectful of others, there have been some members here that with every post they had to tell everyone that they were a X LEO as if that really mattered in the topic, for the most part I get along with the on all levels but I always keep in mind that they are the police and they can and will use anything against you even if they have to twist it some.   Jim

[yellowtail3]

That is a big reason why so many of us have a strong visceral reaction to police egotism.  Not really because they are A-holes at any greater rate than other careers, but because when they are they have an unparelled platform to exert their A-holery on people.

Yep.

[guzzijohn]

Quote from jhm:
I have daily contact with both the local and state police more with the locals but find the State police to be much more professional and respectful of others

My experiences over the years mirror the above. Given the choice I would always prefer to deal with a state trooper over any other type of LEO. More local LEOs are always a crap shoot as to how professional they will be and how able they can control their own emotions
GuzziJohn