Flying J Effingham Ill
- Thread starter Scuba
- Start date
davebeckym
Expert Expediter
Actually it wasn't Bugs Bunny who said that, It was Mel Blanc....
nightcreacher
Veteran Expediter
years back this same thing was going on at the TA in effingham,TA did come out and say they werent giving permission for the searches,but it was not til being talked about in Overdrive magazine
Tennesseahawk
Veteran Expediter
Night... that wouldn't surprise me either. Cops thinking they are so above the law that they go on private property without permission to harrass us? Heads should roll.
-A bore is a person who opens his mouth and puts his feats in it. - Henry Ford
-A bore is a person who opens his mouth and puts his feats in it. - Henry Ford
greg334
Veteran Expediter
T-Hawk,
I got to tell you that the issue is misplaced. Do you know that the DNR in our state has no such restrictions to go into people's homes for a 'inspection'. They can search cars and garages and pole barns to see if you are poaching. I pull out of my place up north and I have three DNR 'Gods' on 4 wheelers behind me with flashers on claiming I was spotting deer with my car. What a joke that turned out to be.
I got to tell you that the issue is misplaced. Do you know that the DNR in our state has no such restrictions to go into people's homes for a 'inspection'. They can search cars and garages and pole barns to see if you are poaching. I pull out of my place up north and I have three DNR 'Gods' on 4 wheelers behind me with flashers on claiming I was spotting deer with my car. What a joke that turned out to be.
Tennesseahawk
Veteran Expediter
And how does the DNR in Mich have to do with trucks getting searched randomly in a truckstop? I would say go to your lawyer if the DNR didn't have a reasonable suspicion to search your property. However, Northern Mich is made up of small communities; and any outsider could be viewed with suspicion.
What we're talking about in this thread is a particular truckstop, in a particular town, where the police are engaging in a baseless WITCHHUNT. Rest areas are open game, since they are public property, as are trucks parked on ramps. Still, I would demand to see a warrant. And if it means waiting for a couple of hours so they get egg on their face when they find nothing, so be it. But truckstops are supposed to be our safe haven! Most of us stop there to get much needed rest, and get away from the truck. When a PEACE OFFICER invades that sanctity and randomly interogates truckers, I don't see that as keeping the PEACE. Do you?
Now if they got permission to run their dogs around the outside of the trucks, and the dog reacts as if there are drugs, THEN I could see reasonable suspicion. If I were to see it with my own eyes, I would probably agree to allow them to search. Otherwise, while you're getting your warrant, I'll be getting my lawyer!
-A bore is a person who opens his mouth and puts his feats in it. - Henry Ford
What we're talking about in this thread is a particular truckstop, in a particular town, where the police are engaging in a baseless WITCHHUNT. Rest areas are open game, since they are public property, as are trucks parked on ramps. Still, I would demand to see a warrant. And if it means waiting for a couple of hours so they get egg on their face when they find nothing, so be it. But truckstops are supposed to be our safe haven! Most of us stop there to get much needed rest, and get away from the truck. When a PEACE OFFICER invades that sanctity and randomly interogates truckers, I don't see that as keeping the PEACE. Do you?
Now if they got permission to run their dogs around the outside of the trucks, and the dog reacts as if there are drugs, THEN I could see reasonable suspicion. If I were to see it with my own eyes, I would probably agree to allow them to search. Otherwise, while you're getting your warrant, I'll be getting my lawyer!
-A bore is a person who opens his mouth and puts his feats in it. - Henry Ford
You can't call it "baseless" (or even a witch hunt) merely because you weren't informed of the base for the search. You don't know. Therefore you cannot assume. You just assume they were there to randomly harass people, but you don't know that for a fact. It might not have been random at all, they may have been checking very specific vehicles that fit very specific descriptions. A truck driver gets woken up and sees them checking a few vehicles, but not all vehicles, so he assumes it's random, but he doesn't know, either.
"But truckstops are supposed to be our safe haven!"
Says who? Truckers?
"When a PEACE OFFICER invades that sanctity and randomly interogates truckers, I don't see that as keeping the PEACE. Do you?"
Well, when you put it that way, no, I don't. If they are indeed randomly and without any foundation or direction whatsoever interrogating truckers, then not only is that not keeping the peace, it's highly illegal, even under the broadest, most liberal interpretation of the Patriot Act. And if that was, in fact, what happened, I find it hard to believe that a number of lawsuits haven't already been filed and we don't have the ACLU crawling all over Effingham, not to mention that anything that merely hints of litigation is an OOIDA wet dream (and even they failed to pursue it beyond a couple of phone calls).
Oh, and don't kid yourself, a truck stop is not a sanctuary, not a sacred place that can afford immunity from much of anything, and as such, cannot have its sanctity invaded. There is nothing illegal about knocking on the door of a parked vehicle, even a truck, in a truck stop. I've had van drivers, truck drivers, and the police knock on my doors at all hours of the day and night. The ones that I were the least outraged with were the police.
There's also nothing illegal about asking if a dog can search your cab and sleeper. You can let 'em, or not, up to you. You know when you're driving down the road and you pass by a 4 wheeler where a cop is searching the vehicle and all the stuff if laying on the side of the road? That driver gave the wrong answer.
Slow and steady, even in expediting, wins the race - Aesop
"But truckstops are supposed to be our safe haven!"
Says who? Truckers?
"When a PEACE OFFICER invades that sanctity and randomly interogates truckers, I don't see that as keeping the PEACE. Do you?"
Well, when you put it that way, no, I don't. If they are indeed randomly and without any foundation or direction whatsoever interrogating truckers, then not only is that not keeping the peace, it's highly illegal, even under the broadest, most liberal interpretation of the Patriot Act. And if that was, in fact, what happened, I find it hard to believe that a number of lawsuits haven't already been filed and we don't have the ACLU crawling all over Effingham, not to mention that anything that merely hints of litigation is an OOIDA wet dream (and even they failed to pursue it beyond a couple of phone calls).
Oh, and don't kid yourself, a truck stop is not a sanctuary, not a sacred place that can afford immunity from much of anything, and as such, cannot have its sanctity invaded. There is nothing illegal about knocking on the door of a parked vehicle, even a truck, in a truck stop. I've had van drivers, truck drivers, and the police knock on my doors at all hours of the day and night. The ones that I were the least outraged with were the police.
There's also nothing illegal about asking if a dog can search your cab and sleeper. You can let 'em, or not, up to you. You know when you're driving down the road and you pass by a 4 wheeler where a cop is searching the vehicle and all the stuff if laying on the side of the road? That driver gave the wrong answer.
Slow and steady, even in expediting, wins the race - Aesop
Tennesseahawk
Veteran Expediter
Turtle... what I mean by safe haven is that we expect a reasonable amount of privacy to get rest. Yes, other drivers, lot lizards, and beggars bang on our doors all hours of the day and night. But being IN private property ON private property gives you an expectation of privacy.
Greg... I totally agree. Nothing pizzes the "good ole boys network" off more than a dumb trucker invoking his rights. I'm more likely to cave in the deep south, where I'm less likely to get a lib judge. LOL
-A bore is a person who opens his mouth and puts his feats in it. - Henry Ford
Greg... I totally agree. Nothing pizzes the "good ole boys network" off more than a dumb trucker invoking his rights. I'm more likely to cave in the deep south, where I'm less likely to get a lib judge. LOL
-A bore is a person who opens his mouth and puts his feats in it. - Henry Ford