Federal contractors have been setting up
roadblocks in cities across the country with the purpose of collecting
DNA samples from passing motorists.
The multi-million dollar federal
program has been disturbing drivers and alarming civil libertarians.
The checkpoints consist of uniformed
agents blocking a public road and flagging drivers into a testing area
or a parking lot. There, the drivers are requested to submit a saliva
or blood sample to the federal government.
The roadblocks were part of a study
orchestrated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
(NHTSA). The agency contracted the Pacific Institute for Research and
Evaluation, based in Calverton, MD, to perform the roadblocks. The
program costs taxpayers $7.9 million over 3 years, according to NBC News Dallas-Fort Worth.
The agency confirmed that the operation is currently being launched in 30 different U.S. cities.
Drivers are offered cash for surrendering
DNA samples. The going rate is $10 for a cheek-swab and $50 for blood
drawn from the vein. The goal, according to the NHTSA, is to decrease
impaired-driving accidents by analyzing raw bodily fluids fresh off the
street.
“They want to find out of all the people
surveyed, how many people were driving with alcohol in their system, or
prescription drugs, things like that,” said Lt. Freddie Turrentine of the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Department, in Pell City, Alabama.
Voluntary or not?
The NHTSA says that the samples are “voluntary,” but drivers have had varying experiences.
Kim Cope, of North Fort Worth, Texas,
said that the checkpoint she experienced was not voluntary at all. She
was forced off the road into a parking lot on November 15th and
pressured into submitting to a breathalyzer. Cope was on her lunch
break when she was forced into the checkpoint. ”I gestured to the guy
in front that I just wanted to go straight, but he wouldn’t let me and
forced me into a parking spot,” she said to NBC Dallas-Fort Worth.
“They were asking for cheek swabs. They
would give $10 for that. Also, if you let them take your blood, they
would pay you $50 for that.” But Cope was not interested in getting
paid. “I finally did the Breathalyzer test just because I thought that
would be the easiest way to leave.”
“How voluntary is it when you have a
police officer in uniform flagging you down?” asked Susan Watson,
executive director of the Alabama chapter of the American Civil
Liberties Union. “Are you going to stop? Yes, you’re going to stop.”
“Although this was voluntary it was not voluntary that you stop and hear the DNA for CASH pitch,” said Alabama resident ‘J. Bosey‘ after experiencing a checkpoint in June.
Carl Olund, another driver was subjected to a roadblock in Fort Worth, told NBCDFW.com that
he was pressured into provide samples of his breath and saliva to the
federal agents there. Not knowing the stop was “voluntary,” he said his
rationale for cooperating was that he felt if he left the roadblock
without cooperating he might have had “4 or 5 cops chasing [him].”
“It just doesn’t seem right that you can
be forced off the road when you’re not doing anything wrong,” said Cope,
discovering the tyranny of police checkpoints. “None of it felt
voluntary.”
And as a Fort Worth attorney discovered
in the fine print, some searches are blatantly performed without
consent. Attorney Frank Colosi pointed out that the fine print on a form given
to drivers informs them their breath was tested by “passive alcohol
sensor readings before the consent process has been completed.”
One such search can be performed with a
breath sensor disguised as a flashlight. When a police officer sticks
his flashlight in a driver’s face, its not just for intimidation and
humiliation. It may also be to perform a warrantless search of their
breath.
“They’re essentially
lying to you when they say it’s completely voluntary, because they’re
testing you at that moment,” Colosi said.
Problems
- The aura of authority. While insisting the program is “voluntary,” the NHTSA is going to the trouble of setting up roadblocks and hiring uniformed local cops to staff them. While they are technically “off-duty” with their local departments — and receiving paychecks directly from the federal government — they are still utilizing their official police uniforms, official police vehicles, and official police equipment to make drivers comply with the roadblocks. To reinforce the claim that the checkpoints are voluntary, the survey takers should be dressed in plain clothes, not presenting themselves as police officers giving orders
- Ineffective. Common sense tells us that if the tests are voluntary, and the goal is to find people who are breaking the law, then the data is going to be useless. The people who are actually impaired on the road are going to make every effort to avoid being caught. The resultant test group will be comprised mostly of people who are not impaired and just want to collect some free Federal giveaway money.
- Expensive. For a country that runs trillion dollar deficits annually, the federal government certainly finds some bizarre things to spend money on. Spending nearly $8 million on an ineffective and invasive survey seems like an easy place to start cutting.
- Searches without consent. Kim Cope’s account draws into question whether the roadblocks are being presented as voluntary at all. And as pointed out above, the “passive alcohol sensor readings” are performed on people without their consent.
- Federal overreach. The roadblocks are, at least in some cases, being set up by the federal government without the local government’s knowledge or approval. In Alabama, Gov. Robert Bentley received complaints about the NHTSA checkpoints and admitted he had not been notified of their presence.
More dubiously, the program has the
passive effect of conditioning the public to accept government agents
setting up roadblocks in their communities for any reason imaginable.
If Americans wish to live in a society that does not accept police
checkpoints as a routine part of their daily lives, it is important to
push back against these programs at every opportunity.
Source:
www.policestateusa.com
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