This Is How An LEO Encounter Should Go

[Treo]

Ok, in a (likely vain) attempt to pull this train wreck back on track let me say this.

The (YouTube) OP felt that the minor hassle he endured was worth not answering the officer’s questions. The usacarry op (me) agrees with him.

I view check points of any kind as an invasion of my privacy. I don’t like them and I do believe that part of their purpose is to condition Americans to the concept of being stopped and questioned at random.

Which, IMO, leads to a police state.

I can’t speak for Las Vegas but in Colorado Springs these check points are not limited to sobriety the police ask if you have drugs in the car (if you’re dumb enough to answer that’s on you). They ask if you have weapons in the car (Why? carrying a weapon in your vehicle is legal under CRS 18-12-204). Read that again; in Colorado Springs the police ask you if you are doing something legal when you go through a check point. And they randomly ask to search the vehicle.

So how far do you let them go?

Have you been drinking tonight?
No.

Any drugs, Parphenialia, bombs, bazookas, other weapons or anything else I need to know about in your vehicle tonight? (FWIW I lifted that almost verbatim from an episode of C.O.P.S.)

Do you mind if I search your vehicle tonight sir?

After all the easiest way out of the check point is to comply right?

[Rich_S]

Ok, in a (likely vain) attempt to pull this train wreck back on track let me say this.

The (YouTube) OP felt that the minor hassle he endured was worth not answering the officer’s questions. The usacarry op (me) agrees with him.

I view check points of any kind as an invasion of my privacy. I don’t like them and I do believe that part of their purpose is to condition Americans to the concept of being stopped and questioned at random.

Which, IMO, leads to a police state.

I can’t speak for Las Vegas but in Colorado Springs these check points are not limited to sobriety the police ask if you have drugs in the car (if you’re dumb enough to answer that’s on you). They ask if you have weapons in the car (Why? carrying a weapon in your vehicle is legal under CRS 18-12-204). Read that again; in Colorado Springs the police ask you if you are doing something legal when you go through a check point. And they randomly ask to search the vehicle.

So how far do you let them go?

Have you been drinking tonight?
No.

Any drugs, Parphenialia, bombs, bazookas, other weapons or anything else I need to know about in your vehicle tonight? (FWIW I lifted that almost verbatim from an episode of C.O.P.S.)

Do you mind if I search your vehicle tonight sir?

After all the easiest way out of the check point is to comply right?

Here's the way I see it. You refusing to answer the question have you been drinking is never going to stop the police from running these checkpoints or asking the next car after you the very same question. Obviously there's no way to prove this but I'm willing to bet the majority of the time when you refuse to answer them it will go the way it did in the vids I posted. I'd rather answer no than get pulled out of the car. I've never had to refuse consent to a search because I've never been asked. That may be due to the fact that I don't give cops reason to ask me because I answer basic questions such as have you been drinking. I wouldn't consent to a search if asked though.

[Treo]

Here's the way I see it. You refusing to answer the question have you been drinking is never going to stop the police from running these checkpoints or asking the next car after you the very same question. Obviously there's no way to prove this but I'm willing to bet the majority of the time when you refuse to answer them it will go the way it did in the vids I posted. I'd rather answer no than get pulled out of the car. I've never had to refuse consent to a search because I've never been asked. That may be due to the fact that I don't give cops reason to ask me because I answer basic questions such as have you been drinking. I wouldn't consent to a search if asked though.

You mean reasons like simply driving through a check point in Colorado Springs. We can play dueling youtube videos all night. I'm not giving away my fifth amendment rights

[SGB]

[Rich_S]

You mean reasons like simply driving through a check point in Colorado Springs. We can play dueling youtube videos all night. I'm not giving away my fifth amendment rights

I've driven through checkpoints and never been asked to consent a search. I've been pulled over in shaky neighborhoods in Boston at 2am and never been asked to consent to a search. Maybe the cops out there are a bit over the top. I couldn't say because I've never been there.