You didn't need that right to be free from warrantless searches anyway. [Read]
Or in "Only One" parlance, "What have you got to hide?"
You didn't think "Governments are instituted among Men" to "secure...rights," did you?
Just change that pesky concept to "officer safety" and we've got ourselves a compact!
[Via The_Chef]
Under this guise, they could, with a little finnageling and a sympathetic, progressive judge, just do a neighborhood sweep, turn everyone out and go through everything in everyones home, for "Officer Safety". The question the progressives always like to ask, "what have you got to hide?", is the poking-their-nose-in-your-business-question. The question is accusitory and the kind that presumes guilt. The basis of resistance to govt. search is that it is none of their damned business in the first place. The basis for the govts' position is that they are always on the hunt for slaves and gold.
ReplyDeleteScenario: Arrest takes place in an area with a high immigrant population. Officers declare a protective sweep of 500yrds to protect them from rifle fire. so in a 3000 ft diameter area they go door to door, removing people from the house to give it a once over, which of course give "plain sight" rulings essentially gives them carte blanche to do whatever they want. They then demand ID from EVERYONE they search, lock up people without proof of citizenship (guilty until proven innocent). This remind anyone else of the NKVD/KGB sweeps in Russia?
ReplyDeleteno SEan, they can't. I have stopped them more times than I can remember quickly, but one thing is paramount. Otherwise they will just do what they want despite the law and your protests. The one thing that is paramount? They have to believe you won't let it go, and it's over when you say it's over. It doesn't hurt if they hear 'Amazing Grace' in their mind's ear.
ReplyDeleteThe only search ever performed on me was when I wasn't there. They had to hide the deputy who did it because I made it known I was going to kill him if I caught him. Told the sheriff, told the DA. That was 1975, the day I lost all respect for law enforcement.
When they thought I was just a dumb construction redneck and a badman, they did what they wanted. when they found I could and would bite, you couldn't melt one of those chickenshit sonsofbitches in Ardmore, Ok and pour him on the same Goddamned block I was on. YeAH YOU LITTLE REDHEADEd piss poor Marine turned pussy cop, I'm still around. Wanna try again?
sorry, got sidetracked there, but I haven't forgotten how "bad" they were when they didn't have to back it up and what pussies they were when they had to.\
Back to the point, don't ever let them search you or your vehicle or your home unless they have a warrant.
I had one once say "I don't understand, if you didn't have something to hide, you wouldn't object." To which I replied " take off all your clothes, bend over grab your ankles, if I'm satisfied you're not hiding anything you can search as long as you stay naked." He declined. To which I replied "What have you got to hide"? Pissed him off, but there were a lot of witnesses.
A guy I know got stopped in a commercial truck inspection in Connecticut. The trooper insisted on searching his cab and sleeper. The driver refused the trooper permission. The stop became very popular with the other troopers and the supervisor. Despite the fact they had a half dozen trucks stopped.
The supervisor tried to intimidate the driver. Didn't work . the driver said he would allow a search of his tractor if the trooper would turn out all his pockets, take off his coat and hat and shoes. The supervisor agreed. Unfortunately for him the very first pocket the trooper turned out had a baggie of marijuana in it. They turned the driver loose, didn't check his log book, didn't check his BOL, didn't do a damn thing but tell him to leave. Well, in all fairness they did cuff the trooper and put him in the back of a cruiser.
But the driver was never called to testify, was never informed of a court date and he never heard anymore from the incident.
Anybody want to bet they took him down the road and told him how to hide his "plants' so he didn't get caught an put him back on duty. Hey, go ahead, bet, I'll give odds.
This is sickening. The cops are always so proud of themselves when they get a ruling like this.
ReplyDeleteNo matter what the cops do, it was the right thing to do cuz it was the cops what dunnit!
As long as you have your superhero costume and your magic shield, you're impervious to wrongdoing!
Yeah, officer safety and all that...
Where are all those "good guys, who just want to do the right thing..." that we keep hearing about? Where are all of the oath keepers? Where are the principled men in Law Imposement who care deeply and truly for our Constitution and our civil liberties? Where are the police who police the police?
As usual, the silence is deafening.
I have nothing to hide from honest people, but honest people don't have any desire to pry anyway. I have everything to hide from thieves and murderers, which is what modern LEOs are.
ReplyDeleteI do not recall any measures to ensure the safety of anyone but "the people" in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
ReplyDeleteIt must have something to do with interstate commerce then, right?
John Hall really hits it in his FourthAmendment.com blog. Good reading.
ReplyDelete