Alabama police set up roadblocks to request DNA samples from drivers

[AJBB87]

And Fox News is fair and balanced right?

Is that your stance?

Here I am telling people not to believe everything that they hear, read, and see without getting informed about it and you ask me a question like that?

 

[AJBB87]

I read a few pages of the report you linked.

Which pages? Please be specific...

Basically, they used the implied authority of LEO to stop unsuspecting motorists, who were minding their own business.

Yep but again, given the methodology of the survey, what other way of even attempting to stop a given number of cars on the road [for a survey] would be better?

What happens after that is all well and good. But stopping me (and as far as I could tell, the motorists had no way to know if the stop was required or not)

Obviously, slowing down for a cop in the road is probably required but according to the report, they could turn around, drive through, or participate without fear of retaliation. They were told when stopped that they didn't have to participate.

just so you can ask me if I would participate some scientific experiment of yours is abuse of authority.

Noted.

Who should have been trying to stop the cars?

 

[kiddchaos]

You are..... NOT the father!


I'd tell them to no.

 

[GodFearinGunTotin]

Who should have been trying to stop the cars?

Nobody.

Nobody that was implying police authority in the eyes of the motorists that did not want to be detained. In my view the ends do not justify the means. Had there been "some guy" that just held up a sign, on the side of the road imploring people to stop, do you think anybody would have stopped? There would have been a few, probably. But it probably would have ruined their quasi-random methodology, so they used "off-duy" cops. They used them because they knew they could defraud the people into stopping that may not have wanted to.

 

[rambone]

So...? I like me some overtime too.

That's fine. That's different from "off duty" though. They're not just volunteer survey takers. They are representing the government in uniform.

Given the goal of the survey, that's arguably the safest method...

A safer method would be in a clinic.

The survey is in conjunction with the NHTSA, why wouldn't they get federal funds?

So many reasons are coming to mind. I'll start with the fact that the country is running trillion dollar deficits annually. Its safe to say I would close this program without hesitation.

Ok, so you just invalidated every survey that encourages participation for a reward. (edited to add: That's, more or less, every successful survey conducted in the history of surveys)

Eh. Not really what I said. To me, a self-reporting survey would be something that people do without reward. Perhaps on a website. This is not self-reporting, this is paid. Paid by me.

According to the report, this sample (only 600 participants) wasn't enough to draw any conclusions about the country as a whole. It did prove that their method of obtaining data was good.

In your last reply you said you did not argue the fact that people with something to hide would mostly be driving away. That tells me that the data is excluding most of the impaired drivers. The survey is pretty uninteresting without all those drivers being tested. Its useless data. To me that is not 'good.'

If the people running this survey follow through with their plans, This will be done on a larger scale nationwide in the future.

*hangs head*

 

[Kutnupe14]

Nobody.

Nobody that was implying police authority in the eyes of the motorists that did not want to be detained. In my view the ends do justify the means. Had there been "some guy" that just held up a sign, on the side of the road imploring people to stop, do you think anybody would have stopped? There would have been a few, probably. But it probably would have ruined their quasi-random methodology, so they used "off-duy" cops. They used them because they knew they could defraud the people into stopping that may not have wanted to.

actually, it's up for debate that this is more intrusive than stopping a person on a sidewalk. Now, I don't like this tactic one bit, but as long as people were forced to submit a sample nor compelled to identify themselves, this is well within the law.

 

[armedindy]

60 bucks....thats the price the sheeple are charging for the freedoms their forefathers died for.

 

[GodFearinGunTotin]

actually, it's up for debate that this is more intrusive than stopping a person on a sidewalk. Now, I don't like this tactic one bit, but as long as people were forced to submit a sample nor compelled to identify themselves, this is well within the law.

Maybe it is well within the law. I would suppose if it weren't we might also be reading of law suit(s) on this event as well. But here on the internet, we also get to grouse about such tactics and debate as to whether they should be lawful.

 

[Mark 1911]

No thank you, officer.

However, I could just picture some good ol' Bama boy handing them his plastic coke bottle full of chew spit, with a big smile.

 

[88GT]

No see, in order for data to be useful, you have to compare it to other data.

You presume you have a right to said data in the first place. In the second place, there are plenty of instances where your statement is false.

Those aren't excuses. That's how the survey went down.

Do you not know the difference between methodology and justification? Telling me how something is done is just a fact. You went a step farther and attempted to attach a justification to it because it was done a certain way. Justification = excuse.

Ok, whatevs. Like...that's your opinion man.

Stunning rebuttal. What other tripe do you have up your sleeve?

How is it not clear that no one was unwillingly detained?

How is it not clear to you that the issue is bigger than the single tree you so adamantly insist I focus on?

If you want to call the amount of time it would have taken for a cop to explain the survey "detainment" then I would assume you get upset for being detained at stop lights as well. Do you also get upset for being detained by road work? How about rail road crossings?

It has nothing to do with the amount of time someone was detained. Another logical fallacy on your part.

Besides, no one was stopped to be asked if they wanted to participate, [unless a spot in the que was empty].

So what you're saying is that if you didn't want to be stopped, you wouldn't be stopped unless they stopped you to fill an open bay?

And what if someone didn't want to be stopped to fill that open bay? Did someone have the ability to refuse the request by LE? Did that someone, did all those someones, understand that they had the right to tell the officer's to pound sand? Or did they have to be stopped to be told they could leave and it was all voluntary?

Here's the forest you're missing: this is data mining under the guise of implied authority. If it were truly voluntary, authorities would have made it completely voluntary instead of waylaying drivers who have been conditioned to obey LE. If it were truly voluntary, they would set up shop and let the public come to them. If it were truly voluntary, they wouldn't have needed to don the badges to coerce the public into compliance. You seem to think that it's enough to call it voluntary because they didn't require the people to spit or bleed on a stick. Some of us here have a more developed understanding of what it means to be free and recognize the use of the badge as coercion in this case.

 

[armedindy]

^

 

[Vlad the Impaler]

Voluntary?
Certainly not the wait! Sit in a line when you should be moving toward your destination instead of having your fourth amendment rights challenged.
Something tells me the turn out wouldn't have been too good if it was truely voluntary, like with a newspaper ad requesting folks come to the station and subject themselves to saliva and blood sampling. Amazing what folks will do under FTF intimidation by law enforcement.

 

[fullauto 45]

LOL! He said DNA sample and Alabama, right! IT'S ALL THE SAME!

 

[richardraw316]

I used to be a police cadet when i was a kid? i guess that means cub scout but with police officers. the officer told us a story about how the fire department could stand at any intersection, holding their boots, and get donations for this charity, or to help the firehouse, but police officers could not do this. If the police did the same thing, many people would think some sort of curruption was going on. examples: you had to donate or risk a ticket later. Make a big donation and maybe they will turn their heads next time you run a stop sign. And the final one: People will stop for the police as we were told to do since we started walking.
How is this any different? its an abuse of authority.
and collecting dna from everyone is very suspect as well.

 

[Trooper]

CLAIR COUNTY & BIBB COUNTY, AL -- Over the past weekend, police set up roadblocks where they would stop drivers and request that they submit a DNA sample. They had the option of submitting blood or saliva.

The roadblocks were part of a study conducted by the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, working with the National Highway Safety Administration. The samples were voluntary.

"Although this was voluntary it was not voluntary that you stop and hear the DNA for CASH pitch," said Alabama resident 'jbosey.'

Drivers were offered $10 for a mouth swab, and $50 for a blood test. Surely this is a worthy expenditure of stolen tax dollars.

We have no indication about what purpose the DNA collection might serve, or why it was done using police roadblocks instead of something more conventional, like an ad in the newspaper.


Why were roadblocks in St. Clair and Bibb counties asking for blood and DNA samples this weekend?

Roadblocks in Alabama - DNA Collection!

​

There was concern that this was a test run for doing mass infection of the population. While I do not agree with paranoia, it would be easy to infect a population with a disease that could thus purge the weak from society.

 

[rambone]

Feds collect blood and saliva at Alabama roadblocks, Governor & AG vow to get to the bottom of it

Matt Murphy followed up on the story this evening, taking to Twitter with news that Governor Bentley’s office had no knowledge of the program. That is an especially salient point considering the ongoing national debate over the federal government’s intrusion into our personal lives and their frequent disregard for states’ sovereignty.​

 

[Hawkeye]

-Average participant waiting times:
-Written Survey and BAC: 5-7 Minutes
-Written Survey, BAC, and one Oral Fluid Sample: 10-12 Minutes
-Written Survey, BAC, Oral Fluid Sample, and Blood Sample: 20-25 Minutes

How long was the wait for s stool sample?

 

[hornadylnl]

How long was the wait for s stool sample?

I always keep a turtle head poking out for such occasions.

 

[KG1]

Wrong...........they all suck at some level, not just conservatives.

Yes but I heard that alot of Conservatives and Republicans live in houses. Houses suck.

 

[rambone]

"How voluntary is it when you have police officers in uniform flagging you down?



NHTSA program includes police roadblocks asking for blood samples - CNN.com