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Police Pull Over More Drivers For DNA Tests

schwit1 sends this news from the Washington Times: "Pennsylvania police this week were pulling people to the side of the road, quizzing them on their driving habits, and asking if they'd like to provide a cheek swap or a blood sample — the latest in a federally contracted operation that's touted as making roads safer. The same operation took place last month at a community in Texas. Then, drivers were randomly told to pull off the road into a parking lot, where white-coated researchers asked if they'd like to provide DNA samples for a project that determines what percentage of drivers are operating under the influence of drugs or alcohol at given times. With uniformed police in the background, the researchers also offered the motorists money — up to $50 or so — for the blood or saliva samples."

35 of 562 comments (clear)

  1. three responses by Speare · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Am I being detained?

    Am I free to go?

    No, I do not consent to any search.

    --
    [ .sig file not found ]
    1. Re:three responses by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Am I being detained?

      Am I free to go?

      No, I do not consent to any search.

      It should really be:
      you're all under arrest for inappropriate police action and fraud.

    2. Re:three responses by Connie_Lingus · · Score: 3, Insightful

      "Am I being detained?"

      yes...we are conducting an investigation.

      "Am I free to go?"

      no...not until the investigation is complete

      "No, I do not consent to any search."

      Fine...the dogs will be showing up momentarily.

      --
      never bring a twinkie to a food fight.
    3. Re:three responses by Khashishi · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Queue the "stop resisting" while they beat you to a pulp.

    4. Re:three responses by jedidiah · · Score: 1, Insightful

      It's a shame that such nonsense can't be confined to idiots such as yourself. It would be nice if your stupidity only had consequences for you personally. Unfortunately, that's not the case. Someone else will suffer for your stupidity.

      --
      A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
    5. Re:three responses by Jane+Q.+Public · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Next you'll say that officer testimony that "I smelled alcohol on his breath" should be inadmissible in court.

      I suggest you don't try to predict what I'll say, because most of the time you'll be wrong.

      I do think it should be admissible in court. I do NOT, however, think it should be accepted as gospel. It's just one person's word against another, and it matters not one damned bit if that other person is a police officer. They make notoriously bad witnesses.

      "Personally, I think that agreeing to this type of "surreptitious search" should be a requirement for renewing your drivers' license."

      You are entitled to your opinion. I do not share it, for a number of very good reasons.

      Among those reasons is that breathalyzers do not accurately reflect blood alcohol. If you just had one drink and are leaving the bar, it's going to set the thing off. There is VAST potential for abuse here.

    6. Re:three responses by SirGarlon · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Refusing an illegal search can still get you pepper sprayed or tased. Cops are only held to standards of legality in exceptional cases. When was the last time you heard of a police officer sent to prison for brutality? You can push your luck if you want to.

      --
      [Sir Garlon] is the marvellest knight that is now living, for he destroyeth many good knights, for he goeth invisible.
    7. Re: three responses by AGMW · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Of course in the US asking ANY question when you've been told to do something by an officer is "Resisting Arrest" and can get you in a LOT of trouble! So if you think it may be an official stop (for whatever) reason you just do what you're told for risk of getting into serious trouble!

      --
      Eclectic beats from Leeds, UK
      handmadehands.co.uk
    8. Re:three responses by PRMan · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Because they can say there are drugs in your car on command. And remember those 10% of bad cops we talked about up there? They're just scummy enough to plant said drugs in your disassembled car. Good luck convincing the jury that you weren't guilty since that was obviously the reason you didn't want a search.

      --
      Peter predicted that you would "deliberately forget" creation 2000 years ago...
    9. Re:three responses by readin · · Score: 2, Insightful

      If you were pulled over without probably cause so that the officer smell your breath then yes, it should be only be inadmissible in court it should be recognized as an unreasonable search. Pulling me over and making me open my windows so my breath can be searched is no different than knocking on my door and demanding entry so the police can look around. Both make sense when there is probable cause that a crime is being committed. Both are unreasonable searches otherwise.

      --
      I often don't like the choices people make, but I like the fact that people make choices. That's why I'm a conservative.
  2. WTF by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What the **** does a DNA sample have to do with the percentage of drunk drivers?!?!?!?

  3. that is why the cops are there ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    to make sure everyone understands that it is voluntary.

  4. Re:Um.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Tons of people. People are taught to always listen to cops. Lately I'm more scared of the police than any criminal. Police can ruin your life and easily kill you without repercussions. Cops are trained to always maintain control of the situation no matter how minor or petty. That is why so many people are tazed, beaten, or outright murdered when they tell cops they are wrong or the cops are doing illegal things.

  5. This administration by oldhack · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Obama administration is getting uglier by the day.

    --
    Fuck systemd. Fuck Redhat. Fuck Soylent, too. Wait, scratch the last one.
  6. Who the fuck... by PvtVoid · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ... approved this study?

    Pretty much all studies involving human subjects in the U.S. have to be approved by a review board for compliance with ethical and safety standards. This study is an obvious fail in multiple respects, and I can't imagine a reputable review board approving such a thing. And if it wasn't reviewed, the study participants^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H victims of the study probably have standing to sue.

  7. Re:Um.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The thing is, the people who have something to hide because they're drunk or stoned behind the wheel are exactly the same people who won't buy into it. So, the statistics gathering will be highly skewed. Researchers probably know this because it's obvious, and it's likely just a cover story.

  8. Re:Um.... by SecurityGuy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    They aren't the same people. I wouldn't buy into it, and I've never been stoned, and am almost a non-drinker. I would just find getting pulled over and being asked for a cheek swab to be a bizarre and highly intrusive request.

  9. Re:Um.... by Khashishi · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Right. Either the test is voluntary, and suffers from selection bias, or it is involuntary, and is draconian.

  10. Re:Not taking DNA, allegedly by EdIII · · Score: 4, Insightful

    We only need to know one thing:

    They abused their power and position in the community to forcibly detain motorists under false pretenses .

    There is only ONE instance in which an officer can use a marked vehicle (never stop for unmarked ones) with their lights and/or sirens to pull a citizen over. The officer either witnessed a crime or has reasonable cause to suspect that a crime has been committed.

    Yes, using the lights and/or sirens is forcible detainment. It's not like you have a choice do you?

    It falls under the same bullshit of a fishing expedition. The cop pulls you over just to look inside the windows and fuck with you. Asks a bunch of questions trying to trip you up, to obtain a legal reason for detaining you in the first place when all they had was a hunch .

    We don't need any further accuracy into their actions. Absolutely nothing justifies that initial act of forcible detainment.

    The state should lose a couple million dollars in nice fat settlements to everyone pulled over. It's the only way they ever learn.

  11. Re:Participation not exactly "voluntary"... by nitehawk214 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Just having an officer present is coercion enough. Perhaps they think they have plausible deniability since they are calling it "optional".

    --
    I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
  12. Re:Um.... by ColdWetDog · · Score: 5, Insightful

    That's true of individual policemen / women. Whether it applies to the political and financial designs of the 'Police Department' (and associated governmental agencies) is another thing entirely.

    --
    Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
  13. $50 by Iamthecheese · · Score: 4, Insightful

    $50 is a lot more to a lot of people than you think. If you have a secure job or a lot of money it may seem like surrendering your privacy for nothing important. But for some people that means a chance to eat more than beans and rice this month, a phone card that could land them a job, or a 5 month overdue oil change.

    Perspective is important.

    --
    If video games influenced behavior the Pac Man generation would be eating pills and running away from their problems.
  14. Definition of voluntary by tatman · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Voluntary is having a sign "$50 for a cheek swab, next right". Involuntary is police directing you to testing area. Period.

    --
    I've always said English was my second language. Had Romeo and Juliet been written in C, I might have understood it.
  15. Re:Um.... by pegr · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "The overwhelming majority of police are, frankly, pretty good folk who actually enjoy serving the public."

    Ah, no. Good cops cover for bad cops, and that makes them bad cops. No such thing as a good cop.

  16. Sheeple testing by WaffleMonster · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This isn't about DNA or road safety it is a test to see how much shit people will take from their government and what additional compliance can be purchased with money.

  17. Re:Um.... by CanHasDIY · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The overwhelming majority of police are, frankly, pretty good folk who actually enjoy serving the public.

    If you really believe this you are either willfully ignorant or a child,

    ... or a cop.

    --
    An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
  18. Re:Remember by CanHasDIY · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Remember: It's only being done in red states by state police.

    Since when is Pennsylvania a "red state?"

    Better zip up, your confirmation bias is showing.

    --
    An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
  19. Re:Not taking DNA, allegedly by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The state should lose a couple million dollars in nice fat settlements to everyone pulled over. It's the only way they ever learn.

    No.
    The officers doing these illegal fishing expeditions need to GO TO JAIL. Along with the chief of police, mayor, and governor.
    You think these guys are going to shed a tear over losing millions of taxpayer dollars? (note: these are the same people burning DHS handouts on tactical armored personnel carriers, drones, license plate scanners, "less than lethal" toys, and machine guns for their SWAT teams)

  20. Re:Um.... by Flagran · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Is that before or after the guy

    with the gun and the radio

    shoots you?

    --
    Make love, not sigs
  21. Re:Um.... by JeffAtl · · Score: 4, Insightful

    But you were also only privy to what they didn't mind you seeing or knowing about. The other 90% were just more careful.

    Like you said, the other 90% already displayed that they were criminals by covering up for the 10% that were brazen with their criminal activities.

  22. The appropriate response by jimhill · · Score: 3, Insightful

    "You can have my DNA when you suck it out of my dick."

    --
    Learn to spell: nickel, missile, lose, solely, amendment, speech, kernel, probably, ridiculous, deity, hierarchy, versus
  23. Re:Um.... by JeffAtl · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Cops are the ones that refer to non-cops as "civilians".

    Look, all cops have to do to win back support is to start arresting bad cops on the spot.

  24. Re:Um.... by BattleApple · · Score: 4, Insightful

    And in most cases, they could tie the DNA sample to your name using your car registration number.

  25. Re:Remember by ElementOfDestruction · · Score: 4, Insightful

    He's likely referring to the presidential election. As the electoral votes are awarded on a popular vote, with gerrymandered districts NOT figured (directly..) into the outcome, he clearly forgets that the State GOP has deemed that their continued representation of a minority through use of gerrymandered districts is more important than having a representative democracy.

    Happens all the time.

  26. Re:Um.... by hairyfeet · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If you actually believe its about driving drunk, where they already can do a Breathalyzer or blood sample? i have a bridge you might be interested in. Its about getting as many citizens in as they can into their DB, specifically the poor. they know the person driving that Lexus is gonna tell them to get bent while the mother of 3 in that 94 Dodge? Not so much.

    I never thought I'd say this but I'm glad my beloved grandfather and great uncles are gone, they fought against fascism in WWII and this kind of gestapo shit would disgust the hell out of them. I could probably wrap his body in some copper wire and run my entire neighborhood from all the revolutions he's turning in his grave.

    I urge everybody who hasn't seen it to watch Naomi Wolf's lecture which shows how shit like this and the TSA intimidation fits into the bigger picture, because its fucking SCARY folks. This is the same plays that have been run since the time of Lenin and El Duce, get the population used to being confronted, cowed down and intimidated, makes things easier when they inevitably clamp down. Never forget that in 1930 Germany was a democracy and the NSDAP was a fringe bunch of kooks. Countries don't go from free to non free slowly, the shift is VERY fast but there is warning signs that a shift is occurring. I'd say shit like this and the NSA watching everything you do would be good indicators.

    For those that think this kind of shit doesn't have a chilling effect? remember that when the wall fell it was found that the STASI had less than 7% of the population on their lists yet the entire population lived like they were always under the boot because everyone thought that they were one of the 7%. It really doesn't take much to break the will of a populace, just intimidation and fear used in the right places.

    --
    ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.