recaffeination wrote:Even with its flaws, I get the impression it's got a higher success rate than DWI checkpoints. That is to say, the percentage that are flagged by the system and don't have insurance is probably a lot higher than the percentage of drivers stopped at the DWI checkpoint who are intoxicated. I also think both ae guaranted to beat the TSA track record. If people want to complain about civil right violation, TSA and DWI are bigger problems than the insurance database.
57Coastie wrote:Sometimes they catch a fish, AM.The Annoyed Man wrote:...that IS a fishing expedition....
Does not a person commit a Class C misdemeanor if the person operates a motor vehicle in Texas without financial responsibility established for that vehicle? Is that not a "crime?" Is a fishing expedition per se illegal in Texas? Is scanning license plates in Texas an unlawful search in violation of the 4th Amdt.? Whether the system is in fact "notoriously unreliable" (a very broad and undemonstrated statement) may be one of those legal questions for a trial judge after the defendant attempts to prove it, when he goes to trial after being arrested and charged. It may be a question for appellate judges if one is convicted. (I'll stick my neck out and speculate that in fact the system's alleged reliability, or unreliability, if you prefer, is "notoriously unknown" by an overwhelming percentage of Texans. I'll stick it out further by speculating that there are indeed those here on this very forum who never heard of its reliability or unreliability, before this thread, or a predecessor here, came along.)
These rhetorical questions quotes you, AM, only because you mention fishing expeditions -- one of the issues here. In fact it is addressed to all those who tend time and again to confuse legal questions with the fact that they do not like something. The fact that they do not like something does not make it illegal, even if it offends their sense of justice, even though they may think an LEO, a DA, or the Texas legislature, or all the above, are "tyrants," to quote another commentator here.
My comments are particularly directed to those whose automatic and unthinking reaction to too many such questions is "I, the tough macho guy that I am, would refuse to permit the search without a warrant. So there!" As one who was a federal LEO for more than 20 years I can guarandarntee that this is a very good way to get the law tested, since "macho man" just volunteered to be the test case.
This is intended not to be critical, but rather to perhaps someday be helpful to macho man when the rubber hits the road, when he is called upon to fish or cut bait.
Jim
...when's the last time you heard of results from a DWI checkpoint in Texas???