Flying J Effingham Ill

[Scuba]

Did any of you read the story on OOIDA'S web site about what's happening in effingham il <<lower case for a reason. They are allowing the police to come on their property to search trucks. They are waking drivers up in order to do this. The chief of police said that they waited until 06:00 like that is a big deal. I don't know about you guys but many times I may have been asleep for a very short time come 06:00. This is outrageous they are forcing drivers to break their hours of service rules. I would refuse to cooperate it I were one of the drivers. They can run the dogs around the truck on the outside if there is anything in there it will know it.

Ken
Panther Solo Tractor

 

[bernieh48]

Is this even legal? I thought they had to have probable reason? IE think you have drugs or such. I would ask them if they have a warrant.

 

[Broompilot]

To wake you up like this they would have to have probable cause, or a Search Warrant.
I have never had it done to me while asleep, once in a Weigh Station they were more intrested that the BOL matched the freight and that the Packing List matched the BOL.

Asked if I had any Alchol or Narcotics in the truck but never went past the drivers seat when I said no but you are welcome to look in the Fridge for Beer or Liquor.

I would be pretty upset to get a wake up knock by law enforcment as pan handlers already know how upset I will get.

 

[cheri1122]

This is very troubling to me - why are they targeting truckdrivers? Do they have any probable cause, or any reason to be waking the drivers?
Another troubling aspect is the difficulty in finding who's responsible for the idea - Landline got a real runaround, trying to find out whose bright idea it was....
I hope Landline will do a follow up on the issue, cause it looks like unjustified harassment, to me.

 

[Tennesseahawk]

Read awhile back that a KY Pilot had the same issue. As far as I'm concerned, that is harrassment. We are not working! That would be like me knocking on that officer's front door when they're off duty and sleeping.

No longer going to Effingham's J. In fact, I won't get up when someone's banging on the door from now on.

-A bore is a person who opens his mouth and puts his feats in it. - Henry Ford

 

[arkjarhead]

I never liked effingham to begin with.

 

[unorthodoxneon]

>I never liked effingham to begin with.

Me too, i'm more of a turkey guy...



I would be really mad if they came knocking on my door to wake me up. I was told not to step into the cab of the truck cause then you can be harassed like this. If you keep your feet in the sleeper they cant bother you and ask for logs and such. Tell them to come back in a few hours after you get some sleep. If they dont like it they can go get a warrent and search my truck. Untill then dont wake me. Like they say, dont wake a sleeping bear. I'm very angry/mean/nasty if i dont get my sleep and woke by something/body.

 

[Crazynuff]

> This is very troubling to me - why are they targeting
>truckdrivers? Do they have any probable cause, or any reason
>to be waking the drivers?
> Another troubling aspect is the difficulty in finding
>who's responsible for the idea - Landline got a real
>runaround, trying to find out whose bright idea it was....
> I hope Landline will do a follow up on the issue, cause it
>looks like unjustified harassment, to me.
Why truck drivers ? I read often of trucks being found with large shipments of drugs . But I'd like to know why they can't patrol the lot with dogs and only check trucks dogs alert them to . http://www.kve.ky.gov/media/pressreleases/caninecopnorthernkystory.htm

 

[highway star]

This sounds like a witch hunt that's wasting the taxpayers money. The vast majority of searches at customs find nothing and this will be no different.

Like Chong said in the Santa Claus story: "All this recession, man..."

 

[usaf6186]

What exactly are your rights when it comes to searches at truck stops. You know the cops are not going to tell you. Jerry Lee

 

[Streakn1]

I'm afraid that the Homeland Security Act allows ANY law officer the authority to do a complete search of your commercial vehicle at any time, without a warrant, and nothing more than suspicion on the part of the officer. No longer is there the sanctity of one's sleeper. It ALL has become fair game and there is nothing you can do about it. It no longer matters that you are on your sleeper berth break, if you are told to do something by law enforcement and you don't comply, you can be arrested!

Local law enforcement was more limited when it came to searching commercial vehicles prior to Homeland Security going into effect. Beyond isuing traffic tickets they generally involved DOT or Highway Patrol when it came to vehicle searches or inspections.

Its not right, and we can thank the terrorist for this intrusion into our lives on the road!:-(

 

[greg334]

So how do you justify a suspicion?

Random is not suspicion.

I mean it would be more like random searches based on what, profiling?

Now I see truckers will have to join the ACLU, which is not a bad idea anyway for another reason.

 

[Tennesseahawk]

I agree with Greg. Here's an idea of how it should go in court...

Defense Attorney (DA): Officer Jones, did you have reasonable suspicion to search said vehicle?

Officer Jones (OJ): Yes I did.

DA: And what was that suspicion?

OJ: That his logbook was false.

DA: And what made you come to that conclusion?

OJ: He was a trucker.

DA: And that gives you the right to search his vehicle?

OJ: Yes... the Patriot Act does.

DA: Let's assume you're right about the Patriot Act, for now. We'll get back to that. What exactly did you think was wrong with his logbook?

OJ: That he was out of hours.

DA: And what would've brought his hours back?

OJ: 10 successive hours of rest.

DA: And by disturbing his sleep, you broke that successive rest period?

OJ: Yes, I suppose so.

DA: And did you check other truckers?

OJ: Yes I did.

DA: Reasonable suspicion?

OJ: Yes. The Patriot Act allows me...

DA: Yes, we know that. Did you search ALL the trucks at that truckstop at that time?

OJ: No... only some of them.

DA: What made you suspect the ones you did, and not all?

OJ: We didn't have time to check all of them. It was random.

DA: Your honor, I move for a dismissal.

Judge: Granted.

-A bore is a person who opens his mouth and puts his feats in it. - Henry Ford

 

[Tennesseahawk]

BTW... the Patroit Act HAS been beaten in court.

And the terrorists didn't write the Act. It took a politician to use the terrorist as an excuse to write it.

-A bore is a person who opens his mouth and puts his feats in it. - Henry Ford

 

[usaf6186]

But these cops were not local. According to the news item they were from another town 10 miles away. The terrorist are not the only ones to blame. We can also thank our members of congress for passing knee jerk laws to show they are doing something. As,I think,Jefferson said. If we give up rights to be secure. We will will have neither rights nor security. Jerry Lee

 

[RichM]

A couple of years ago I spent a Saturday night at Rip Griffins T/S on I 20 east of Dallas. I parked up front in the car lot over by the trees. On Sunday morning I was drinking coffee and reading the Dallas News when a local K9 unit pulled in. He drove around and eventually came to me . We did the license registration insurance thing and then he brought the dog out to walk around the truck. The dog stayed calm and he told me to open up the box door. The dog jumped into the box and continued to stay calm. Then he told me to open the doors and the dog would go into the cab and sleeper.

I refused and told him that I don't have a dog in my bedroom at home nor do I want one in my bedroom on the road. So he said " Tell you what Richard,we can do this the easy way or the hard way. The easy way is to let the dog in and do his drug search. The hard way is if you refuse, I get a search warrant and we impound the truck for as long as we think is necssary to search the truck". Well I replied" Tell you what Officer Benson lets do it the hard way and while you are getting your warrant on Sunday morning I will be calling Fedex and they have attorneys everywhere and one will be out here wanting to know what your probable cause was to search this truck".

Well he backed down,gave me back my documents. I started up and got out of that county asap. In retrospect I took a hel- of a chance by getting a local cop poed. They could have really gone after me and maybe even planted something in the truck. But you have to stand up for your rights,this is America not Mexico. I have been there and have seen how the police treat private citizens.

 

[cheri1122]

To me, the most disturbing aspect is the 'passing of the buck', when Landline tried to find out on whose authority or orders the operation was performed - when no one wants to accept responsibility, I have to wonder why.

 

[Turtle]

Oh, I dunno. A police chief likely isn't really authorized to answer many of the "why" type or other questions about a special detail, particularly one that's working on behalf of another branch of law enforcement like the DEA and Homeland Security. What looks random to a driver who just woke up may or may not be all that random. There are just too many holes in the story, too many unanswered questions, for me to get all that outraged about it.

Slow and steady, even in expediting, wins the race - Aesop

 

[Tennesseahawk]

Because it's a: "Hey Clem, let's go down an harrass suma dem der truckers."

"Sounds good, Earl."

-A bore is a person who opens his mouth and puts his feats in it. - Henry Ford

 

[usaf6186]

Cheri; I agree with you. I sent an e-mail to the author of the news item requesting that he keep on it to find out who Authorized this. After 9-11 most people in government, led by our president, think the constitution is not much more than a substitute for Charmin. completely off subject, the actor that played Mr Wipple pasted away about two weeks ago.