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Fairfax Underground
Welcome to Fairfax Underground, a project site designed to improve communication among residents of Fairfax County, VA. Feel free to post anything Northern Virginia residents would find interesting.
Welcome to Fairfax Underground, a project site designed to improve communication among residents of Fairfax County, VA. Feel free to post anything Northern Virginia residents would find interesting.
DC Checkpoints Ruled Unconstitutional... Implications for Fairfax Checkpoints?
Posted by:
pgens
()
Date: July 10, 2009 09:27PM
I thought this was interesting... not sure if this can relate to FCPD sobriety checkpoints or not. In this cases the police would deny passage on the roadway to some if the citizen did not give a good enough reason to be in the area, so that is a key difference.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/10/AR2009071002750.html?hpid=topnews
In part...
Court Condemns D.C. Roadblocks
Police Action in '08 Ruled Unconstitutional
By Maria Glod
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, July 11, 2009
A federal appeals court ruled yesterday that checkpoints set up by District police in neighborhoods beset by violence are unconstitutional, effectively ending a crime-fighting tactic that officials say was used in only the most dire circumstances to protect residents.
In a strongly worded opinion, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit condemned the roadblocks, which police used last summer in the city's Trinidad neighborhood in Northeast Washington. The checkpoints, which have not been used in about a year, were a response to a spate of shootings, including a triple homicide.
"It cannot be gainsaid that citizens have a right to drive upon the public streets of the District of Columbia or any other city absent a constitutionally sound reason for limiting their access," Chief Judge David B. Sentelle wrote for a three-judge panel. "It is apparent that appellants' constitutional rights are violated."
With homicides and other crimes on the decline, officers said they had no plans to set up more roadblocks. But D.C. Attorney General Peter Nickles said that officers would work to find a "more creative way to deal with very unusual circumstances that is consistent with the Fourth Amendment," which protects against unreasonable search and seizure.
Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, an attorney for the Partnership for Civil Justice, which sued the District on behalf of four residents, hailed the ruling as a victory for law-abiding drivers who were questioned at checkpoints. In an effort to quell a series of shootings, drivers were forced to stop at roadblocks and were asked whether they had a "legitimate" reason to be there. Some were denied passage.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/10/AR2009071002750.html?hpid=topnews
In part...
Court Condemns D.C. Roadblocks
Police Action in '08 Ruled Unconstitutional
By Maria Glod
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, July 11, 2009
A federal appeals court ruled yesterday that checkpoints set up by District police in neighborhoods beset by violence are unconstitutional, effectively ending a crime-fighting tactic that officials say was used in only the most dire circumstances to protect residents.
In a strongly worded opinion, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit condemned the roadblocks, which police used last summer in the city's Trinidad neighborhood in Northeast Washington. The checkpoints, which have not been used in about a year, were a response to a spate of shootings, including a triple homicide.
"It cannot be gainsaid that citizens have a right to drive upon the public streets of the District of Columbia or any other city absent a constitutionally sound reason for limiting their access," Chief Judge David B. Sentelle wrote for a three-judge panel. "It is apparent that appellants' constitutional rights are violated."
With homicides and other crimes on the decline, officers said they had no plans to set up more roadblocks. But D.C. Attorney General Peter Nickles said that officers would work to find a "more creative way to deal with very unusual circumstances that is consistent with the Fourth Amendment," which protects against unreasonable search and seizure.
Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, an attorney for the Partnership for Civil Justice, which sued the District on behalf of four residents, hailed the ruling as a victory for law-abiding drivers who were questioned at checkpoints. In an effort to quell a series of shootings, drivers were forced to stop at roadblocks and were asked whether they had a "legitimate" reason to be there. Some were denied passage.
Re: DC Checkpoints Ruled Unconstitutional... Implications for Fairfax Checkpoints?
Posted by:
nope
()
Date: July 10, 2009 09:39PM
This is apples and oranges. This won't have any influence on sobriety checkpoints.
Re: DC Checkpoints Ruled Unconstitutional... Implications for Fairfax Checkpoints?
Posted by:
Thurston Moore
()
Date: July 10, 2009 10:54PM
Yeah, this isn't really about roadblocks, it is about the police restricting access to public roads based on whether or not they approve of the reason you give them. And about asking for a reason, in the first place.
As far as I know, my driver's license doesn't have any restrictions on it about only driving on roads that I have a "reason" to drive on. It does have a restriction on it (a law) about driving while intoxicated.
As far as I know, my driver's license doesn't have any restrictions on it about only driving on roads that I have a "reason" to drive on. It does have a restriction on it (a law) about driving while intoxicated.
Re: DC Checkpoints Ruled Unconstitutional... Implications for Fairfax Checkpoints?
Posted by:
Clobbersaurus
()
Date: July 10, 2009 10:57PM
Zero implications as they're completely different things.