Heads up - weed

[IanC]

The checkpoint thing seems so ineffective anyway. The check point going into Blythe, CA, they pretty much just wave you through - sometimes ask if you're a citizen - but I've seen them wave through semi after semi. Maybe they were national trucking companies and small companies are more likely to get scrutinized, I don't know. It's like the shipping containers where they search 1 out of 100 or something like that and FDA meat inspections where they inspect randomly. Better than nothing, but.......

" it's just a cumulative opinion after so many shootings of people doing nothing or very minor things wrong."

Remember the days when an officer was proud to say that he had never fired his weapon in his career? Now it seems to be the go-to response, doesn't it? I used to watch 'Cops' a lot. Damn, even some dude walking a block home from the bar after a few too many has to be slammed on the hood of the patrol car and handcuffed. Give the friggin citizen a ride home, for Christ sakes if you aren't doing anything else. Any every other person needs to be taken down face first onto the pavement. It's the heavy handed, obey or else, **** that is turning more and more, formerly LEO respecting citizens sour.

 

[Blanch]

The checkpoint thing seems so ineffective anyway. The check point going into Blythe, CA, they pretty much just wave you through - sometimes ask if you're a citizen - but I've seen them wave through semi after semi. Maybe they were national trucking companies and small companies are more likely to get scrutinized, I don't know. It's like the shipping containers where they search 1 out of 100 or something like that and FDA meat inspections where they inspect randomly. Better than nothing, but.......

" it's just a cumulative opinion after so many shootings of people doing nothing or very minor things wrong."

Remember the days when an officer was proud to say that he had never fired his weapon in his career? Now it seems to be the go-to response, doesn't it? I used to watch 'Cops' a lot. Damn, even some dude walking a block home from the bar after a few too many has to be slammed on the hood of the patrol car and handcuffed. Give the friggin citizen a ride home, for Christ sakes if you aren't doing anything else. Any every other person needs to be taken down face first onto the pavement. It's the heavy handed, obey or else, **** that is turning more and more, formerly LEO respecting citizens sour.

The Blythe station is a California Agriculture station. We often refer to it as the BUG stations. They are checking for firewood and homegrown food that may have pest infestations. The Border patrol is there sometimes, but it is not their official station. California has BUG stations at most highway entrances to the state.


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[IanC]

The Blythe station is a California Agriculture station. We often refer to it as the BUG stations.

 So those dogs are bug sniffers then?

 

[IanC]

The Blythe station is a California Agriculture station. We often refer to it as the BUG stations.

Pretty sure they asked me if I was a citizen. No? But again, my point is how do they know if anyone is carrying "home grown food" or firewood if everyone gets waved through?

 

[Blanch]

 So those dogs are bug sniffers then?

Nope. As I said border patrol hangs out there sometimes, but it is a California Agriculture Station. It is clearly marked as an agriculture station and run by California.


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[Kathleen]

I've heard that they walk around the outside of the vehicle, and then signal the dog to alert, which gives them probable cause, so they can 'legally' search the vehicle w/o a warrant.  In TN (and other states), once they're in the vehicle, they can confiscate anything, like cash, which is really what they're looking for, because it's fast and easy.  They can grab it and keep it -- w/o any proof that it was acquired through a criminal act.  Despite the fact that the Feds are apparently no longer allowed to indulge in asset forfeiture, no such rule applies to most of the states, who can still do it.  Here is a map which shows sort of how likely each state would participate in asset forfeiture:  http://reason.com/blog/2015/06/09/this-map-details-whether-asset-forfeitur

Here is a video of TN cops stopping and searching a car.  But the man whose car they're searching is a Federal Police Officer at the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar (Calif).  Note the two reasons that particular car was pulled over:  out of state plates, and a non-white driver.  Also note that there are three officers:  one takes the wife back to his car, one keeps the husband near the fence, and the third takes the dog around the car (the dog supposedly 'alerts' on the driver's side, after not alerting at the open window facing the owner), out of sight of both victims.  One of the cops actually says they expected to find money with them going that direction (4:35).  

This is no longer the America you grew up in, so don't expect to be considered honest and law-abiding just because you are.

 

[Kathleen]

This is important info. Weed is not my thing, but seizure of any assets is horrific. Maybe I'll skip going to the low grade states and just circulate round New Mexico.

 

[Kathleen]

Police departments have also been buying a system that lets them suck all the funds out of any prepaid cash cards they find.

OK was the state that first got notoriety for that. Everyone was told to avoid driving thru OK.

 

[Kathleen]

While doing a little online research on this, I ran across something cute:

Drug Checkpoints (it’s a trap!)
 
The Supreme Court has ruled that random checkpoints for the purpose of finding illegal drugs are unconstitutional

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_Indianapolis_v._Edmond>.

However, some police departments have devised a deceptive method to work around and exploit this restriction. Here’s how their trick works.
 
Police departments sometimes put up signs warning drivers of upcoming drug checkpoints. (This alone is not illegal.) But they will /not/ pull
over people who go through a checkpoint – because there /technically/ is no checkpoint. Instead, officers will watch for vehicles approaching the
nonexistent checkpoint and pull over for vehicles who make illegal u-turns or discard contraband in order to avoid the fictitious “Drug Checkpoint Ahead.”
 
So if you see such signs, keep driving and don’t panic. If there’s a rest area following the sign, DO NOT pull into it. If you do, you might find yourself surrounded by drug-sniffing dogs.
 
Police departments, especially in the Mid-west, have been pushing their luck with this tactic, so if you encounter anything resembling an actual
drug checkpoint, please contact that state’s ACLU Chapter <http://www.aclu.org/affiliates/index.html>. Similarly, if you’re arrested as a result of a real or fake “drug checkpoint,” you must contact an attorney to explore your legal options.

Found it here:

https://www.flexyourrights.org/faqs/my-rights-at-checkpoints/

I'm not into drugs but this is important info too. Lots of rules and regs stuff posted today. I think I need to print it all out and keep a manual on my front seat.

 

[steamjam1]

Every state in the union has their own little rules when it comes to weed. What may be OK in NM maybe a huge no-no in TX, or AZ. What no one cares about in CO maybe a shooting offense in OH, or MO. Its a mess of a system really....

Out here in Ca, NO ONE GIVE A SH*T about weed anymore. Same for OR, and WA. No one cares. BUT if your in WA and you cross into ID with like a dime bag.. YOUR GOING TO PRISON...

 

[Gary68]

well that pretty much traps me on the west coast which is just fine with me

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

This is important info. Weed is not my thing, but seizure of any assets is horrific. Maybe I'll skip going to the low grade states and just circulate round New Mexico.

Source:  http://personalliberty.com/a-map-that-grades-each-states-asset-forfeiture-laws/

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

I was poking around over in the Escapees forum, reading a thread about those Border Patrol checkpoints - where they also use drug AND explosive sniffing dogs - and somebody mentioned that whenever they pass through one, they tell the agents that they have both a dog and two cats with them.

Does make me wonder if the dogs will react to the presence of our pets . . .

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

Out here in Ca, NO ONE GIVE A SH*T about weed anymore. Same for OR, and WA. No one cares. BUT if your in WA and you cross into ID with like a dime bag.. YOUR GOING TO PRISON...

If it hasn't been OFFICIALLY repealed, it's still something a cop can get you for if you've done something to really piss him/her off.

 

[IanC]

Does make me wonder if the dogs will react to the presence of our pets . . .

The people I spoke to who got busted said they made them remove their dogs from the truck and put them in crates.

It still seems strange that citizens of the same country can be legal in one state but become criminals just by stepping over a state line.

 When I was in Bolivia I ran into some pretty shady folks at the hotel - A guy who was sending Macaws back to the States in cages that sure looked like they had a false floors to me. Also a gypsy family from Spain who used to buy tablecloths at the market and ship them back home, and a young Puerto Rican girl who said she was a secretary in NYC who said her boss had sent her on a vacation (to Santa Cruz that just HAPPENED to be the cocaine capital of the world at the time).  I wonder how many of them ended up in a Bolivian hell hole prison.

 

[Zizzer_Zazzer_Zuz]

The Supreme Court ruled several years ago that drug dogs do not in fact require special training and that even though they kdogsl have a 50/50 chance of alerting on drugs ... or on no deugs ... that it is still probable cause to search a vehicle. So, even if there are no drugs and the dog alerts they will search the car and you ans take you to the local ER to have you x-rayed and a cavity search. NEVER AGREE TO A SEARCH. No matter what. Don't pull any of this "if you have nothing to hide' BS either. Once you agree to the search you are screwed.

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[John61CT]

And say nothing AT ALL substantive without a lawyer.

Even (especially) if you are innocent.

 

[Every Road Leads Home]

Ahhh this thread is killing me! Sure we have some problems with government but we are far far FAR from some corrupt, extorting, bribe taking 3rd world countries. This thread is scaring people who have yet to make it out on the road and it's reaffirming the fears brainwashed into them that they need not be scared about!

Be informed yes, be scared to travel around your own country, please don't be! It's not scary out there folks.