Friday, July 23, 2004
Stop the Traffic Stops
As the summer winds down, the Tennessee Highway Patrol once again is stepping up their program of illegal traffic stops and car searches. Article X, Section 1 of the current Constitution for Tennessee requires all Tennessee Highway Patrol officers, and other elected and appointed state officials, to take an oath to support both the Constitution for the State of Tennessee and the Constitution for the United States of America. Article VI, Section 3 of the Constitution for the United States of America requires an oath to support the Constitution for the United States of America. Yet with the common practice of routine traffic stops, one must wonder if any member of the Tennessee Highway Patrol has even read these precious documents they have sworn to support. Let us take a brief look at what our organic laws say about searches and traffic stops.
Beginning with the current Constitution for Tennessee, Article I, Section 7 states:
"That the people shall be secure in their persons, houses, papers and possessions, from unreasonable searches and seizures; and that general warrants, whereby an officer may be commanded to search suspected places, without evidence of the fact committed, or to seize any person or persons not named, whose offences are not particularly described and supported by evidence, are dangerous to liberty and ought not to be granted."
Now let us examine traffic stops in light of this important section:
Do routine traffic stops protect persons, houses (cars), papers and possessions, from unreasonable searches and seizures? At the law, "unreasonable" means irrational; foolish; unwise; absurd; silly, preposterous; senseless; or stupid. An unreasonable searches and seizures is one that violates the elements of the 4th Amendment to the Constitution for the United States of America.
Do routine traffic stops use general warrants, whereby an officer may be commanded to search suspected places (cars), without evidence of the fact committed? Since routine traffic stops apply to all cars traveling on a designated road, they must by their nature either originate from a general warrant or no warrant at all. The implied purpose of routine traffic stop is to locate evidence of some wrong doing, and thus they cannot be executed upon a warrant based on evidence. In essence routine traffic stops assume that travelers on Tennessee highways are breaking some law. The purpose of the traffic stop is to uncover evidence that proves that people are breaking the law. The judges in Tennessee, who by the way also have sworn to uphold both the Constitution for Tennessee and the Constitution for the United States of America, should dismiss all cases arising from routine traffic stops under a principle of law known as the Exclusionary Rule. The Exclusionary Rule holds that evidence obtained in violation of the 4th Amendment is not admissible in a criminal trial. Law enforcement officers often get around this by asking people if they have their voluntary permission to conduct a search. "Do you mind if I look in your car?" The courts have upheld such a voluntary surrender of rights as allowable.
Do routine traffic stops seize any person or persons not named in the warrant? Legally, "size" means to take possession of someone or something. All that is required for an "arrest" is some act by an officer indicating his intention to detain the or take a person into custody and thereby subject that person to the actual will and control of the officer; no formal declaration of arrest is required. To arrest someone is simply to deprive them of their liberty by legal authority. It makes no difference how long one is being deprived of ones liberty, any time an officer deprives individuals of their liberty they are legally being arrested. So routine traffic stops actually place people under arrest without a bit of evidence to indicate that they have committed a crime.
Do routine traffic stops seize any person or persons whose offences are not particularly described and supported by evidence in the warrant? Since the officers conducting the traffic stops do not know what offenses they will uncover during their traffic stop, it is impossible for them to have a warrant particularly describing and supporting by evidence the offense of people being stopped. This means that at the very least routine traffic stops meet the criteria of being irrational and thus unreasonable.
Clearly the current Constitution for Tennessee, in Article I, Section 7 describes the practice of routine traffic stops as "… dangerous to liberty" and something for which permission to law enforcement "ought not to be granted." Of course the media is more than willing to promote this illegal activity by publishing stories about how a routine traffic stop caught a child pornographer or some other despicable criminal. The media will never cover how many thousands of innocent people had their rights violated by the Highway Patrol to catch that one criminal. These are the words directly from Article I, Section 7 of the current Constitution for Tennessee, which ever Tennessee Highway Patrol officer and judge in Tennessee has sworn to uphold.
Amendment IV to the Constitution for the United States of America states:
"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
Once more unreasonable searches and seizures is not to be permitted. Additionally, warrants shall only be issues, upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. The nature of routine traffic stops makes it impossible for them to comply with the 4th Amendment. The 5th Amendment contains two very relevant phrases to this discussion: "No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury." In routine traffic stops motorist are often being called upon to answer for crime without presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury. In most locations, the Grand Jury has been reduced to a rubber stamp of the District Attorneys cases. So once the illegally obtained evidence from a routine traffic stop is presented to a Grand Jury they will usually approve prosecution without even a second thought of the legitimacy of how the evidence was obtained.
The Tennessee General Assembly is well aware of the legal problems with routine traffic stops. A number of members of the General Assembly are even lawyers. Surely lawyers should be aware of the text of the constitutions they have sworn to support and defend. The Tennessee General Assembly should immediately put a stop to routine traffic stops. Routine traffic stops are just another example of the government using aggression and force to solve problems. Our country was founded to escape from a government that used aggression to solve its problems. In the Unanimous Declaration of Independence Jefferson wrote of the King of England, "He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance." Such has been the patient suffering of Tennessee for nearly 140 years.
Beginning with the current Constitution for Tennessee, Article I, Section 7 states:
"That the people shall be secure in their persons, houses, papers and possessions, from unreasonable searches and seizures; and that general warrants, whereby an officer may be commanded to search suspected places, without evidence of the fact committed, or to seize any person or persons not named, whose offences are not particularly described and supported by evidence, are dangerous to liberty and ought not to be granted."
Now let us examine traffic stops in light of this important section:
Do routine traffic stops protect persons, houses (cars), papers and possessions, from unreasonable searches and seizures? At the law, "unreasonable" means irrational; foolish; unwise; absurd; silly, preposterous; senseless; or stupid. An unreasonable searches and seizures is one that violates the elements of the 4th Amendment to the Constitution for the United States of America.
Do routine traffic stops use general warrants, whereby an officer may be commanded to search suspected places (cars), without evidence of the fact committed? Since routine traffic stops apply to all cars traveling on a designated road, they must by their nature either originate from a general warrant or no warrant at all. The implied purpose of routine traffic stop is to locate evidence of some wrong doing, and thus they cannot be executed upon a warrant based on evidence. In essence routine traffic stops assume that travelers on Tennessee highways are breaking some law. The purpose of the traffic stop is to uncover evidence that proves that people are breaking the law. The judges in Tennessee, who by the way also have sworn to uphold both the Constitution for Tennessee and the Constitution for the United States of America, should dismiss all cases arising from routine traffic stops under a principle of law known as the Exclusionary Rule. The Exclusionary Rule holds that evidence obtained in violation of the 4th Amendment is not admissible in a criminal trial. Law enforcement officers often get around this by asking people if they have their voluntary permission to conduct a search. "Do you mind if I look in your car?" The courts have upheld such a voluntary surrender of rights as allowable.
Do routine traffic stops seize any person or persons not named in the warrant? Legally, "size" means to take possession of someone or something. All that is required for an "arrest" is some act by an officer indicating his intention to detain the or take a person into custody and thereby subject that person to the actual will and control of the officer; no formal declaration of arrest is required. To arrest someone is simply to deprive them of their liberty by legal authority. It makes no difference how long one is being deprived of ones liberty, any time an officer deprives individuals of their liberty they are legally being arrested. So routine traffic stops actually place people under arrest without a bit of evidence to indicate that they have committed a crime.
Do routine traffic stops seize any person or persons whose offences are not particularly described and supported by evidence in the warrant? Since the officers conducting the traffic stops do not know what offenses they will uncover during their traffic stop, it is impossible for them to have a warrant particularly describing and supporting by evidence the offense of people being stopped. This means that at the very least routine traffic stops meet the criteria of being irrational and thus unreasonable.
Clearly the current Constitution for Tennessee, in Article I, Section 7 describes the practice of routine traffic stops as "… dangerous to liberty" and something for which permission to law enforcement "ought not to be granted." Of course the media is more than willing to promote this illegal activity by publishing stories about how a routine traffic stop caught a child pornographer or some other despicable criminal. The media will never cover how many thousands of innocent people had their rights violated by the Highway Patrol to catch that one criminal. These are the words directly from Article I, Section 7 of the current Constitution for Tennessee, which ever Tennessee Highway Patrol officer and judge in Tennessee has sworn to uphold.
Amendment IV to the Constitution for the United States of America states:
"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
Once more unreasonable searches and seizures is not to be permitted. Additionally, warrants shall only be issues, upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. The nature of routine traffic stops makes it impossible for them to comply with the 4th Amendment. The 5th Amendment contains two very relevant phrases to this discussion: "No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury." In routine traffic stops motorist are often being called upon to answer for crime without presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury. In most locations, the Grand Jury has been reduced to a rubber stamp of the District Attorneys cases. So once the illegally obtained evidence from a routine traffic stop is presented to a Grand Jury they will usually approve prosecution without even a second thought of the legitimacy of how the evidence was obtained.
The Tennessee General Assembly is well aware of the legal problems with routine traffic stops. A number of members of the General Assembly are even lawyers. Surely lawyers should be aware of the text of the constitutions they have sworn to support and defend. The Tennessee General Assembly should immediately put a stop to routine traffic stops. Routine traffic stops are just another example of the government using aggression and force to solve problems. Our country was founded to escape from a government that used aggression to solve its problems. In the Unanimous Declaration of Independence Jefferson wrote of the King of England, "He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance." Such has been the patient suffering of Tennessee for nearly 140 years.
Comments:
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The more I read other blogs it really gives me great ideas. Your is good.
My submit business article site site is all about submit business article site.
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My submit business article site site is all about submit business article site.
I think you will like it.
Weird. I always thought the Rettop Method was the best for generating traffic. I am going to book mark this blog, nice topics discussed
By the way... I have a exit traffic exchange site. It pretty much covers Traffic related stuff.
Come and check it out if you get time :-)
By the way... I have a exit traffic exchange site. It pretty much covers Traffic related stuff.
Come and check it out if you get time :-)
I would argue that Exit Traffic is actually one of the best forms of traffic generation. I am going to book mark this blog, nice topics discussed
By the way... I have a houston traffic cam site. It pretty much covers Traffic related stuff.
Come and check it out if you get time :-)
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By the way... I have a houston traffic cam site. It pretty much covers Traffic related stuff.
Come and check it out if you get time :-)
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