Invoking Your Rights At Police Checkpoints (VIDEO)

A majority of our society essentially walks around without knowing or actively exercising their rights. In fact, some do not even know what their rights are or why they are so important. Moreover, they would rather wave their freedoms afforded in this country at the first signs of a problem. One example of this is during a manhunt for the Boston Marathon bombing suspects, police and federal agents spent the day storming people’s homes and performing illegal searches.

In the Constitution, the word “inalienable” means unable to be taken away from or given away by a possessor. That means these are natural rights are not contingent upon the laws, customs, or beliefs of any particular culture or government, and therefore ours for life. Many of us know this, but still our rights as citizens of the United States are violated by the police. For instance, we all want to cooperate and accommodate police officers when they ask us questions. However, some of those questions are not meant to be friendly, but to gain knowledge on you. While you are cooperating with the police officer and putting forth all of this information about yourself, you are providing evidence against yourself that they can use if need be. Remember? Everything you say and do, can be used against you. In this case, it’s best to remain silent.

In Voices of Liberty, reporter Britt Hysen talks to Nina Hodjat, an attorney for DUI Partners. The two discuss how to speak to officers and exercise your rights respectfully at police checkpoints. Nina states that it is best to stay calm and be respectful when exercising your rights. She states that “human element factors come into play in situations such as this. If you are respectful to the police officers, the situation should not escalate. If you are being aggressive, chances are, they will respond to that and become aggressive back. Just stay calm.”

Know Your Rights

Know that you can invoke your rights. This downloadable card lists your rights and can be used when talking with police officers. When you are going through checkpoints, always be respectful use these tips when exercising your rights:

1. Stay calm. Don’t run. Don’t argue, resist or obstruct the police, even if you are innocent or police are violating your rights.


2. Ask if you are free to leave. If the officer says yes, calmly and silently walk away. If you are under arrest, you have a right to know why.


3. You have the right to remain silent and cannot be punished for refusing to answer questions. If you wish to remain silent, tell the officer out loud. In some states, you must give your name if asked to identify yourself.


4. You do not have to consent to a search of yourself or your belongings, but police may “pat down” your clothing if they suspect a weapon. You should not physically resist, but you have the right to refuse consent for any further search. If you do consent, it can affect you later in court.


5. Be smart and know your rights.

Source: www.aclu.org

Know Your Rights: Police Checkpoints

In an effort to further inform the public, feel free to post this on your social media pages to get the word out on how vital it is for all of us to know our rights. The more we exercise our rights, the more aware we will be when they are being abused.

What advice can you give about protecting your freedoms?

The post Invoking Your Rights At Police Checkpoints (VIDEO) appeared first on The Sleuth Journal.

Police Now Conducting Mouth Swab Checkpoints to Test Drivers for Marijuana

With the legalization of marijuana comes the bolstering of the police state and the new mouth swab checkpoints for weed are evidence of it.

Papers Please! FL Sheriff Warns of ID Checkpoints Hurricane Shelters—Twitter Destroys Him

Polk County, FL — Hurricane Irma is still several days out, however, controversy over how police intend to respond is already here. The Polk County Sheriff’s office is now reeling from a Tweet it made Wednesday morning noting that all people seeking shelter from the hurricane will be made to show ID.

On the surface, the Sheriff department’s post seems benign enough as they explain that this is to deter sex offenders and people with warrants.

“If you go to a shelter for #Irma, be advised: sworn LEOs will be at every shelter, checking IDs. Sex offenders/predators will not be allowed.”

If you go to a shelter for #Irma, be advised: sworn LEOs will be at every shelter, checking IDs. Sex offenders/predators will not be allowed

— Polk County Sheriff (@PolkCoSheriff) September 6, 2017

However, several minutes later, another tweet followed. “If you go to a shelter for #Irma and you have a warrant, we’ll gladly escort you to the safe and secure shelter called the Polk County Jail.”

If you go to a shelter for #Irma and you have a warrant, we"ll gladly escort you to the safe and secure shelter called the Polk County Jail https://t.co/Qj5GX9XQBi

— Polk County Sheriff (@PolkCoSheriff) September 6, 2017

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Naturally, most people do not want to be in a shelter with sex offenders and criminals. However, people with outstanding warrants aren’t necessarily criminals, and because of that fact, Twitter responded to the tweet with a ferocious backlash.

In the state of Florida, you can and will be pulled over and ticketed for driving a car with dark tinted windows. Despite not causing harm to anyone, the state of Florida will claim that your window tint was so dark that you now owe them money.

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If you are unable to pay this money to the state, a warrant will be issued for your arrest. This warrant is issued in spite the fact that you may not be able to pay the fine because have a family to feed or children to support.

During the hurricane, people who may be trying to seek shelter for their families will be denied that shelter based on the fact that they have a warrant. That warrant could be over window tint.

So basically this guy is encouraging anyone with a warrant, which are issued for things such as outstanding parking tickets, to risk death?

— Alt Sarah H. Sanders (@AltUSPressSec) September 6, 2017

As TFTP has reported on countless occasions, laws for victimless crimes like window tint, seat belt violations, parking tickets, etc., hurt the poor the most. Many people have to literally choose between eating and paying an extortion fee to the state for not wearing a seat belt. If you had to choose between feeding your children for two weeks or giving a police department $250 for a seat belt fine, which would you pay?

i actually don"t think you should have to die in a hurricane just because you have a warrant. just my take

— libby watson 🥞 (@libbycwatson) September 6, 2017

Sadly, the sheriff is missing the point and essentially creating a larger problem in the future by encouraging tens of thousands of people to ride out the storm in their homes.

In Florida, the total number of outstanding warrants, both felony and misdemeanor, is 325,000, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Most of those warrants are for nonviolent crimes. In fact, of those 325,000, only 898 homicide warrants, 273 kidnapping warrants, and 565 sexual assault warrants are outstanding. That’s less than one-half of one percent of all warrants.

This definitely won"t cause anyone to try to ride out the storm because they have too many unpaid parking tickets or whatever. Good job

— Patrick Monahan (@pattymo) September 6, 2017

When asked about the potentially devastating crisis created by this papers please policy, public information officer Carrie Eleazer Horstman reminded everyone of the potential for 26,000 sex offenders in the state to seek out shelters and start acting out.

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As the Tampa Bay Times reports, when asked whether the office is worried the tweets might discourage some from seeking shelter, Horstman noted that the office would be held responsible if they allowed sexual predators to share shelter with children and families or if they failed to arrest someone who they knew had an outstanding warrant.

“We see that people [on Twitter] are upset, but the bottom line is the shelters are here to protect people and we want people to be safe,” Horstman said. “If you have a warrant, turn yourself into the jail and if you are a predator, find somewhere to go.”

Even if all the poor folks who have warrants for being unable to pay their traffic fines did turn themselves in, the potential for a different catastrophe arises.

Jails are not magically immune to natural disasters.

People locked in cages during floods are subject to horrifying conditions. While many of the people in those cages deserve to be there—many others do not.

A few days agohttps://t.co/0zvwDZU5lX

— Your🐧Friend🐥Thaum (@ThaumPenguin) September 6, 2017

As you watch this disaster unfold on your TV, as the Florida government scrambles to rescue tens of thousands of hurricane victims from their rooftops, remember many of them could’ve been in shelters but they were too poor to pay the ticket for window tint.