Travel warning for Tennessee (people of color beware!)

[Wcross]

There is a "drug interdiction" scam going on in Rutherford county Tennessee on I-24 South of Murfreesboro to the county line. They have been pulling this crap for the past year, but now they have doubled the number of cops involved to six from three. (I-24 runs thru Nashville to Atlanta)

The reason I am warning people of color is I travel that route everyday and have observed that minorities are targeted unfairly. They always have someones trunk popped open and all the luggage out and rifled thru! They do have a drug dog, I guess thats the excuse they use to search cars.

So be cautious in this area between Manchester Tennessee and Murfreesboro. There is an alternate route, just hop off the interstate and go down rt. 41- it runs right alongside the interstate bypassing the danger area.

[DarkPhenyx]

1. You are...of course...

...assuming that the people being searched are being searched unfairly. You realize, of course, that this is not necessarily so. You also have not addressed the sociatal statistics for that region of the country, particularly as it affects the traffic on the streach of the highway. You might also want to discuss if that particular highway is indeed a "drug corridor" and therefore worthy of such an interdiction operation.

You'll notice that I have not said you are wrong. Simply taht you are lacking some key information needed to arrive at a rational conclusion.

[Jokerman]

4. Any search without probable cause is unfair

I don't know the details of the drug interdiction stops in Tennessee but if they are like the ones up north they pull over a group of cars and if there is something "suspicious" about the car, driver or passengers, they get searched.

Around here, many cops consider any minority "suspicious".

[DarkPhenyx]

5. You are assuming no probable cause.

Also, if I recall, on a traffic stop they don't need probable casue to pat you down, adn can ask to search your car. You can, of course, refuse. They can search, w/o your permission. those areas within dirtect control of the driver.

[Paperclips]

8. Not true

They can not search your car for no reason.

You can refuse a search, upon which the officer has two options. Get a warrant, or get a drug dog. If he gets a warrant the search proceeds. If he gets a dog, and the dog responses, that is legal basis to search the vehicle.

[DarkPhenyx]

9. The police are allowed to conduct a body saerch...

...on a traffic stop. They are also allowed to search teh area within your direct control. The question come in where they try to determine if the backseat was under your direct control as opposed to under the drivers seat. The trunk of a car is never under direct control, unless you have a backseat that opens diretly into your trunk, and it is open at the time.

[Padraig18]

12. Wrong

The police may search YOU and the interior of your car without a warrant. They may only search the trunk with your permission, a warrant or upon a 'hit' from a drug dog.

[DarkPhenyx]

15. Thanks Padraig.

Appreciate the backup.

[Padraig18]

19. YW!

My boyfriend is a cop, and he's explained in detail what they police can and cannot do on a traffic stop, and why. :)

[DarkPhenyx]

22. Always helpful information to have.

Helps to keep oneself from being terminally stupid at a time when one can ill afford to be.

[Capn Sunshine]

13. In the meantime

you wait by the side of the road for the judge to issue a warrant or in a jail cell on suspicion for cause. Making you a little late for your destination.

This for the general social faux pas of Driving While Black.

[DarkPhenyx]

16. We have no proof that in this case...

...your assumption is correct. This assumption, based on absolutely no facts or supporting evidence and in the complete absence of any evidence other than the original post, makes it a racist and bigoted assumption in it's own right.

[RapidCreek]

10. Actually you are WRONG

Police cannot search your car without probable cause or your permission...PERIOD. If anything in plain view appears to be of an illegal nature they may investigate....that's it.

RC

[DarkPhenyx]

11. Yes they can.

It's an amazing thing really. You should read up on it.

[RapidCreek]

23. I'm curious DarkPhenyx...

What reading would you recommend? Evidently your research on the issue makes you more of an authority on the Fourth Amendment than the United States Supreme Court.

Here is what they have to say about Drug Interdiction Road Blocks.

As to the person who asserts they know more about warrentless search than I because their boyfriend is a "cop". The job description "cop" does not bestow upon its holder, confirmation of innate legal expertise. It does however, require that said holder know the laws which he or she is being paid to enforce. That being said....it might be wise for your boyfriend the cop, to learn them. I did when I was a cop.

In short, barring reasonable cause and/or plain site exception, an officer of the law may not legally perform a warrentless search of your vehicle without consent.

If you'd care to debate the legal fine points concerning this subject further, I'd be more than happy to do so. I would ask, however, that you cite legal precedent such as CARROLL v. U.S., 267 U.S. 132 - Page five paragraph six or CITY OF INDIANAPOLIS et al. v. EDMOND et al. In other words something of a bit more weight than the opinions of ones boyfriend or baseless blanket assertions that I am not well read.

Have a nice day,

RC

[Padraig18]

14. No, YOU are wrong.

This issue has been settled by the SC. See the above posts.

[RapidCreek]

24. It has has it?

See post #23. I'd be more than happy to debate Constitional Law with you...when you cite some.

[Brian Sweat]

18. They need probable cause to pull you over.

[Padraig18]

20. Probable cause is...

... also known as 'slight cause': any minor traffic offense, erratic driving, and obscured license plate, a defective signal light, changing lanes without signalling, etc., etc., etc. .

[John_Shadows_1]

17. f*** that!

It's police-state, extra-constitutional action by it's nature.

[DarkPhenyx]

21. No, it isn't.

There is nothing at all extra-constitutional in this case.

[RapidCreek]

25. See post #23

Do a little reading yourself, chief.

RC

[Noordam]

2. Maybe AAA needs to add warnings like Speed Traps

to their maps for that area.

[Hubert Flottz]

3. Too bad Rush took the other route they might have saved him..

too! The Gestapo is out doing Asscroft's work!

[Lars39]

6. They are usually on I-40 westbound, right before Bellevue exit, too.

Campers, small panel trucks, vans tend to be the target, especially if you are black or hispanic. Passed them many times, enough to notice it is usually not white people that get stopped. Anecdotal, but it makes you wonder. :shrug:

on edit: an extra "t" when what I needed was more caffeine.

[HFishbine]

7. Probale Cause out the Window

Either the need for probable cause is a constitutional guarantee or it isn't.

When people, some even here on DU, make excuses for the TSA's passenger screeing database; when they say that it's necessary for the government to maintain survelience dossiers on American citizens in order to profile them for re-emptive detention at airports, they are undermining the very principles that would prohibit profiling for traffic stops.

We can't accept pre-emptive detentions in airports and expect to have a legal argument against them on our roads. So, which is it? Do we defend the principle of probable cause or not?

[Catherine Vincent]

26. Thanks for the tip!

I have a sister that drives from Texas to Louisiana a couple of times a year and she will probably have a bag of weed with her. I tell her all the time that one day she is going to get stopped and get sent to jail but she thinks she won't get caught. Does anyone know if this were to happen and I were a passenger, would they arrest me too? I don't do drugs (except prescription drugs).

[retyred]

27. Just a thought

"Since Jesus, Moses and Abraham were not European, would they be escorted off planes if alive today?"



Retyred In Fla
So I Read This Book