"Besides the inconvenience, what's the big deal"?, About the Motorcycle Only Safety Checkpoint stops.

OFF THE WIRE
from Suds, Nat'l COIR Commander re: Motorcycle Only Safety-Check Stops

"Besides the inconvenience, what's the big deal"?
About the Motorcycle Only Safety Checkpoint stops.

OK, lets go through the whole scenario of what has happened in NY State since this program piloted in 2008.

1) All motorcycles are required to pull over into a designated area like commercial vehicles. These are usually set up in a Rest Area as a makeshift deal. You have State DPS Troopers and so-called motorcycle experts to inspect your motorcycle for proper registration.
2) You are asked to produce your drivers license and insurance, which is routine in any traffic stop. All of your information had better match your motorcycle, which means your insurance company had better not have any typos on your insurance card with the VIN number.
3) you are asked to give up your civil rights by answering questions about where you are going, do you have anything illegal on your person or motorcycle.
If you actively engage in this conversation, then you are already showing cooperation and are expected to further cooperate.
Elaborating on this (wish I had a flow chart), Answering Yes or No opens the door to further waiving your civil rights by asking if it's OK to search your motorcycle and personal belongings. You either A). give up that right and get searched, or B). Create a suspicion of having something to hide and are asked to wait for the K9 unit.
Back to A.), suppose you are heading home from a weekend run and you didn't finish that bottle of Crown, and the remnants are in your saddlebag. The seal is broken, so in your mind you've done nothing wrong, but in the letter of the law, you now have an open container violation which could land you a ticket at best or arrest at worse.
4) Your motorcycle is being inspected by "trained professionals" for proper tire tread and inflation (possible ticket), compliant exhausts (possible ticket, not to mention whoever inspected your bike could land in hot water), Proper handlebar height (in some states), and now we get to the experts making sure your VIN numbers are good.
Harley makes their number "5" crooked on purpose as a tamper proof mechanism. Half of these 'experts' have only had a few hours of classroom training before going out into the field. All of us who have jobs know that companies do this with their employees as a pencil-whipped approach to allow employees to perform certain tasks without becoming a liability. DPS and Government is no different.
Sharing a personal story, I was in a wreck a number of years back and the state trooper was going to impound my bike because the tags were fictitious. The 'expert' said that the tags were registered to a Honda. If I hadn't had my laminated origional bill of sale showing that I had paid cash, and pionted out that HD did not stand for Honda, that it in fact stood for Harley Davidson, my bike would have been impounded, and Me possibly arrested.
So at best, you produce all of your paperwork, your bike checks out, you answer all questions satifactorliy and you are released. Time: approx 15-30 minutes not including wait in line time.
Worst case scenario, You wind up with several tickets, something is found on your bike that's illegal that you either forgot about or were ignorant to the fact that it was illegal and you are arrested. Something is found wrong with your bike according to an expert opinion and your bike is impounded as evidence.
This leaves you out money for fines, or time in court (and money), and/or you go to jail resulting in bail, fines, attorney fees and court costs, and/or finding an alternative mode of transportation because your ride has just been confiscated.
Keep in mind that if you go to jail, and your bike doesn't then it will still possibly be towed, and the longer your bike stays in jail, the price goes up, whereas the longer you stay in jail, the bail price goes down.
Now all of this reflects on you as an individual. Lets broaden the scope a bit. Picture if you are riding with a group of folks for a weekend and this happens to you, one of your friends or all of you. Now everyones weekend is ruined, not only because the fun has ben spoiled, but true friends will pool their money to help you out, which is taking away from the fun they had planned, not to mentioned the time it has taken EVERYBODY to go through the process... hopefully unscathed.
Now, the horror stories that have come out of NY. One guy had his bike confiscated and was waiting notification of his hearing. Too much time had passed so he called to check his status, only to find out that his bike had been sold at auction as a legal machine to a new owner.
Another guy had two bikes confiscated because his info had been taken down at a checkpoint and a DMV officer came to his place of business and confiscated two bikes because of the crooked "5" on the VIN number. He went to court, and the judge ruled in his favor, but holier-than-thou DMV did not return the mans property, but in fact filed an injunction against the judges ruling stating that they were not complete with their investigation and refused to release the mans property.
More time and money, the NY State Supreme court ruled that DMV needs to show up at the local court, apologize to that judge, show up with the mans property or be jailed for contempt until the mans property is released to him.
In the end justice prevails, but look at the time and money wasted on having to prove one's innocence over a beaurocrat "expert's" opinion and decision.
My question to the folks who ask "besides the inconvenience, what's the big deal ?".... WHAT is YOUR definition of inconvenience ?
Respect,
~Suds
National COIR Commander, U.S. Defenders/COIR Division
http://usdefenders.org/
http://coctx.org/