You're Guilty! (even if you're not)

[johnridley]

During an online discussion of ID requirements, someone pointed out this article:
Carrying ID while riding
Here's the basic gist:

Probable cause is ubiquitous. Given the pervasiveness of such minor offenses and the ease with which law enforcement agents may uncover them in the conduct of virtually everyone, the probable cause requirement is so diluted it ceases to matter

and later:

U.S. v. Smith (1986), a Florida case that was appealed to the 11th Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals, revealed that driving in accordance with all traffic regulations matches a drug-courier profile that law enforcement agencies use.

The punchline is that if you're breaking any law whatsoever, there's probable cause to stop you, demand ID, and possibly search you and your property. There are so many laws that it's really likely that you're breaking one. And if you're not, then that's probable cause, because nobody obeys all the laws unless they've got something to hide and don't want to be stopped and searched.

Combined with the post-9/11 scare circus, this is really gaining speed. I think "paranoia" used to be on perhaps a 20-year generation; things considered normal and acceptable would have been considered beyond the pale paranoid rantings 20 years ago. I wouldn't be surprised if we're down to 5 years now; the stuff the crazy black helicopter people are saying at 3AM will not even be in the newspapers in 5 years because "that's just how things are" in these post-(whatever) days.

And just for the record, NOTHING changed on 9/11 other than a lot of people's naive assumptions of invulnerability. Not meaning to sound too callous, but when it happened, I wondered what had taken so long; I'd wondered since I was a young teenager why we'd never been attacked at home; heck, even as a teen I could see that the US was a SUPER soft target. Unfortunately, the only way I can see of being not a soft target is to lose our identity. I'd rather be a soft target, personally.

I know this is old news to a lot of people, and even I've seen most of this before, but every time I see stuff like this, the whole situation just brings me a sense of outrage at what's already been done to this country, and what is probably already planned (but denied) for the future.

Comments

[backrubbear.livejournal.com]

The phrase a number of friends of mine use is "pervasive illegality". The laws are often written in such a way that it is not possible to be in compliance at all times under sane circumstances.

[bwittig.livejournal.com]

I especially love this part of the text:

In Atwater, an officer stopped a motorist after observing that she was not wearing a seatbelt. Even though the only penalty for the offense was a maximum $50 fine, the officer made an arrest rather than citing the motorist.

Taken together, Robinson and Atwater mean that if the police observe a traffic violation, the offender can be arrested and searched without a warrant, even if the violation is so minor that a fine is the only possible penalty.

So the police can arrest you for a minor traffic violation at their discretion, rather than just issue a ticket.

Lovely.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I signed on to a brief to the Supreme Court about this. Didn't help.

B