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California: Defying All Logic
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Val
Risen From Ashes
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California: Defying All Logic
   

I ran across this story the other day when catching up on my news browsing.

quote:
Oakland police halt DUI checkpoints

Immigrant activists say roadblocks discriminate against those without licenses


By Heather MacDonald, STAFF WRITER

OAKLAND -- Oakland police officers have stopped setting up roadblocks to check whether drivers are under the influence because of a rash of complaints from the Latino community and City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente.
The checkpoints, which allow officers to demand licenses and proof of insurance, are an effective way to get drunken drivers off Oakland's streets, city leaders agree. But the checks also have ensnared dozens of illegal immigrants who are not licensed to drive yet otherwise obey the law.

"These checkpoints make people's lives miserable, not make them safer," said Jesus Rodriguez of Oakland Community Organizations, which filed most of the complaints about the checkpoints. "I've watched while the police have towed away cars (full) of groceries, leaving children crying on the sidewalk."

The complaints and pressure from De La Fuente, who represents the largely Latino Glenview-Fruitvale district and plans to run for mayor in 2006, prompted police Chief Richard L. Word to order his officers to hold off on any more DUI checkpoints while new guidelines are drafted.

"The checkpoints are a great tool for law enforcement," Word said. "We'll develop a better focus on drug hot spots and stopping sideshows."

However, the month-long moratorium on checkpoints has outraged Councilmember Larry Reid (Elmhurst-East Oakland), who calls the change a threat to public safety.

"It is absolutely insane to stop these checkpoints," Reid said. "I would not want to explain to a mother why we stopped doing these checkpoints when we know they work and her son or daughter was killed."

Reid also criticized elected officials for "micromanaging" the police department, although he did not single out De La Fuente for blame. Reid and De La Fuente are usually on the same side of issues before the council and recently worked together to propose a measure to raise taxes to hire more police officers.

The new checkpoint guidelines, which are not final, may call for police to notify Latino community organizations of the time and location of coming checkpoints. The checkpoints will be held after the evening rush-hour commute and rotated throughout the city, officials said.

"It's simple common sense," De La Fuente said. "You don't want to stop people going to or from work. If there are kids in the car, give someone an opportunity to call someone to pick up their kids rather than create chaos."

Legislation that would have allowed illegal immigrants who submit to background checks to apply for a California driver's license was vetoed this week by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Both Word and De La Fuente supported the legislation.

While officers have some discretion, the cars of unlicensed drivers are usually towed. To get their cars back, owners must pay $125, plus any storage fees. That is a significant burden to many illegal immigrants, Rodriguez said.

Reid said he has little sympathy with Rodriguez's position.

"I don't care if they are illegal immigrants," Reid said.

"They should not be driving on our streets without a license, without insurance. I expect the Oakland Police Department to do its job and get them off the street."

The council is expected to take up the issue at its Oct. 19 meeting.

Source

Is it just me, or is California an alternate dimension?
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Post Sat Oct 02, 2004 12:42 am
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corwin
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So I've heard!! What part of the word ILLEGAL don't they understand? Shouldn't these people be sent home? Aren't there laws there covering illegal immigrants? If they were caught here, they'd be on the next plane out, or in a detention center awaiting deportation.
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Post Sat Oct 02, 2004 1:05 am
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Conan The Librarian
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California is a fine place to live-if you happen to be an orange.

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Post Sat Oct 02, 2004 1:11 am
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piln
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Err.. uh.. wha... ?
My brain hurts, I don't know where to start. That's crazy. I particularly enjoyed the proposition of announcing the checkpoints in advance, so that the smarter drunk-drivers can all take detours - it'd be like a booze-fuelled cannonball run down the back roads and alleyways (idea: forget about the drunk drivers, just impose a curfew, so law-abiding citizens can't get run over), and I also like the heart-string-tugging on both sides of the fence (Rodriguez says "do it my way, or you hate crying children"; Reid says "do it my way, or you hate bereaved mothers." Nice work, fellas).

Reminds me of a proposition here in the UK a few years back: people found drunk & disorderly in public would be frogmarched to the nearest ATM by a couple of our fine policemen, whereupon they would be ordered to withdraw cash to pay an on-the-spot fine. The geniuses that came up with this plan overlooked some minor details. Is someone drunk enough to incur a D&D charge really going to be able to remember their PIN? If they do, are they really going to admit it? Could this ever go according to plan without resisting arrest and assault being added to the charge (resulting in a trip to the station and lots of paperwork, thus undoing the intended efficiency of the on-the-spot fine idea). If I was drunk enough to end up in that situation, I don't think I'd be able to pass up the opportunity of knocking a bobby's hat off (it's a month in the tower for that). Total stupidity - but it did make the nation laugh heartily for days after hearing about it, so it wasn't a complete failure.
Post Sat Oct 02, 2004 1:31 am
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EverythingXen
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Let me get this straight:

There's an outrage because checkpoints set up to deter one crime are nabbing people who are committing another?

Well, I suppose that's only fair. I mean ... really... how annoying would it be to be driving sober and arrested for murder because a checkpoint turned up a wrapped up body in your back seat. That would be totally unfair to murderers everywhere trying to dump a body in peace.

Let's not talk about the possibility that there's a child tied up in the backseat. It would be utter lunacy to arrest a person at a DUI checkpoint for kidnapping. I put forward that any criminal activity that is discovered while checking for another unrelated criminal activity be dismissed as a cause of detainment or arrest. After all, we wouldn't want people to feel that breaking the law was unlawful.
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Post Sat Oct 02, 2004 5:19 pm
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sauron38
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quote:
Originally posted by corwin
So I've heard!! What part of the word ILLEGAL don't they understand? Shouldn't these people be sent home? Aren't there laws there covering illegal immigrants? If they were caught here, they'd be on the next plane out, or in a detention center awaiting deportation.


Master corwin, eyes can look the other way concerning such laws when there is a quid pro quo deal happening. It just happens that with California, it is having its economy held up by such illegal immigrants. ... ...
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Post Sun Oct 03, 2004 1:20 am
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Dhruin
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Bizarro world.
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Post Sun Oct 03, 2004 1:35 am
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xSamhainx
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I bet Oakland Raiders fans love this!

They can get totally smashed watching the game at a bar and drive home with impunity Cheers!

Or should I say "Salud!"


I just love this quote, such a typical drama queen activist quote-

quote:
"I've watched while the police have towed away cars (full) of groceries, leaving children crying on the sidewalk"


Yeah, I bet pal. You want drama?
How about "I've watched while the wrecker tows away what's left of someone's mangled vehicle to the scrapyard, leaving relatives crying on the sidewalk"
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Post Sun Oct 03, 2004 6:42 pm
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EverythingXen
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Well, two words for the crying children on the sidewalk as a car full of groceries are towed away.

Boo. Hoo.

It's not that I'm not sympathetic to the motivations for entering the US ... I am. You do what you have to in order to provide a better life for your family. It's simply that I feel exceptions must be left to the court, not written into the law itself... especially in cases like this.

Homicide is homicide ... some states have Justifiable Homicide but you're still arrested and tried for murder until evidence proves it was justified. Ideally ths would hold for all things: An illegal immigrant caught and detained for any reason would have deportation proceedings initiated. If during the deportation process it was proven that sending them back to their home land would violate their human rights (a certain deathtrap, for example) then a temporary visa could be issued.

Of course, if they started doing that 1) California's economy, tenuous enough, would fail. 2) That's all the court system would do, and 3) There may be an armed revolution.

It's still a very bad idea to cancel screenings that could save lives so lawbreakers could keep breaking the law (and remain happy).
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Post Mon Oct 04, 2004 2:57 pm
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vaticide
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Back on again:

http://www.oaklandtribune.com/Stories/0,1413,82~1865~2432116,00.html
Post Mon Oct 04, 2004 3:07 pm
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EverythingXen
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Yay. A politician that isn't an idiot and who doesn't cater to the feelings of his community to the point of public risk.

Of course, I guess it helps that a lot of the complaint comes from people who can't vote for him and so he could care less about what they think.
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Post Mon Oct 04, 2004 3:20 pm
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Chekote
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quote:
Under the new guidelines, Oakland police will notify the public of the general area of the checkpoint, and set it up after the evening rush-hour commute. In addition, the roadblocks will be rotated throughout the city, Word said.


Not yay. He did exactly what they wanted.

I am a white male, and I REALY think that I need to go driving a car through one of those checkpoints (I dont have a Car Licence cuz I drive a motorcycle) and see if they tow my car.

I know they would, and they would have the biggest freaking racial discrimination lawsuit they have ever seen.

This shit makes me sick...
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Post Mon Oct 04, 2004 5:31 pm
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EverythingXen
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Well, in Halifax/Dartmouth the police set up checkpoints in the same 'general' areas all the time. After 9pm on weekends and holidays, you can expect to see one somewhere on Portland street (15 kilometer road), somewhere on Cole Harbor Road (15 km road), somewhere on Main in the city, and a dozen other places.

These are all major streets or highways ... going around them would require a fair bit of planning since you don't know EXACTLY where a checkpoint is going to be. These roads are huge with dozens of streets branching off them. The idea is that if you're drunk you'lll have no chance of dodging deliberately...

It's probably a similar compromise in Oakland's case there. Sober people can dodge the general area (sometimes) and the DUI still get caught.

Now, of more concern is the fact that 5/6 of the last fatal accidents involve unlicensed drivers. Perhaps they should focus on THAT a little bit...
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Post Mon Oct 04, 2004 7:23 pm
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Darrius Cole
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It looks to me like it is a comprimise to allow the sober ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS to dodge the checkpoints and avoid deportation.

Some laws are unjust and must be broken and some laws are necessary and just. I don't feel that the laws against illegal immigration are unjust, and therefore the government is working against the people by delibrately, hindering their enforcement.
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Post Mon Oct 04, 2004 8:39 pm
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Lintra
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I know this has been said before, but I just have to chime in.

These are illegal immigrants, and apparently, not very smart ones. How easy is it to make a simple error while driving and get pulled over for not seeing that the speed limit changed from 35 to 25? Or getting rear ended while sitting at a stop light? Or misinterpeting a road sign (or lighted arrow) and getting pulled over?

All of these things could happen easily. So these folk are taking a big chance just by getting behind the wheel to drive.

Only in California!!
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Post Fri Oct 15, 2004 1:19 pm
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