Deputies check for driver’s licenses on Ojai Avenue just east of El Paseo Road.By Lenny Roberts
A driver’s license checkpoint on West Ojai Avenue Thursday morning resulted in 19 citations — eight of which were issued to motorists who were driving without or on suspended licenses.
The other 11 citations were issued to people for either not having a license in possession or for incorrect classification. Those cited for not having valid licenses or driving while suspended had their cars towed and face steep recovery fees.
Senior Deputy Jim Popp, Ojai’s traffic enforcement and accident investigation officer, said a total of 542 vehicles were stopped between 9 and 11 a.m. in front of the old Ford dealership. A large road sign provided by the Oxnard Police Department and set up by the Ojai Department of Public Works was placed between El Paseo Road and the actual checkpoint stating “Driver’s License Checkpoint Ahead.”
The purpose of the exercise, according to Senior Deputy Jim Kenney, one of three motorcycle officers from the Thousand Oaks Police Department assigned to the detail, was to ensure safety.
Kenney explained there is not probable cause required to stop people when staging a driver’s license checkpoint. Further, law enforcement agencies often do, but are not required to provide advance notice of checkpoints to the public via the media.
“The California Vehicle Code requires that anyone operating a motor vehicle on a public highway have a driver’s license,” Kenney said. “During a DUI checkpoint, we try to establish a probable cause.”
Ojai Police Department Administrative Sgt. Maureen Hookstra said statistically, checkpoints of this kind help ensure traffic safety by getting unlicensed people off the roads.
At least one valley resident voiced opposition to being stopped. Entering the city, Jennifer Guernsey was stopped and asked to present her license. When she refused and asked why, it was explained that probable cause was not needed. She argued if announcements were made for DUI checkpoints, prior notification should be made for license checkpoints. “It’s a way to get illegal aliens,” Guernsey said angrily. “They were very condescending and I didn’t appreciate that. The whole process is unconstitutional and a waste of taxpayers’ money when we have all these crimes like drugs.”
Kenney was pleased with the outcome of Thursday’s checkpoint, but did not know if future checkpoints were planned within the city. “This would be considered a success based on the number of cars checked and the people cited,” he said.
43 comments:
This is BS watch this video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqMjMPlXzdA
Know your rights. Watch this video for handling yourself with police stops. Police are paid to
arrest, detain and prosecute.
“I don’t consent to any searches sir.” An officer needs probable cause to search, not just a hunch. He needs to see something more tangible. Don’t get tricked into letting an officer search your car. Don’t try to figure if he has enough evidence. You must refuse to consent to his search.
KNOW YOUR RIGHTS
YOU DO NOT HAVE TO TALK TO POLICE: Police often act as if citizens are required to
speak to them. This is NOT TRUE! If police are questioning you, and you do not wish to
speak to them, simply tell them you have nothing to say. If they persist say, “I want to speak
to a lawyer.”
If you are stopped by police, ask them if you are being detained. If they say “yes,” tell them
you do not wish to speak with them and wish to speak to a lawyer. If they say “no,” tell them
that you are going about your business. Then do so.
DO NOT AGREE TO A SEARCH
ON THE STREET: They do not have the right to search
your clothing unless they have probable cause (good reason)
to do so. NEVER AGREE to be searched. Police
may search you anyway, but your lawyer may be able to
have the results of the search thrown out so long as you
do not agree to a search.
IN AN AUTOMOBILE: Police do not have the right to search a
vehicle unless they have probable cause (good reason) to do so.
NEVER AGREE to a search of your vehicle. Police may search the
vehicle anyway, but your lawyer may be able to have the results of the search thrown out so
long as you do not agree to a search.
STOPPING AT A CHECKPOINT -
REMEMBER WITNESSES: Take note of the people who are present when your car is
searched. These people may be witnesses. Even if you do not know their names, your
lawyer may be able to locate them.
REMEMBER POLICE INFORMATION: Take note of the officers searching your car. If possible,
write down their badge numbers and names.
CONTACT INFORMATION:
These checkpoints are illegal and unconstitutional. If you were stopped at a checkpoint, your
car was searched or you experienced an inconvenience due to this act by the police against
our community, call us - the ANSWER Coalition. The ANSWER Coalition is made up of a
number of civil rights, youth and legal organizations that are organizing a community and
citywide response to the checkpoints and police misconduct.
A.
Print this and keep it handy…..
A lawyer in Wisconsin puts this at the bottom of his yellow page ad…
Your Rights:
Officer, please understand: I refuse to talk to you until I consult with my attorney. I also refuse to consent to any search of these premises or any other premises under my control, or in which I have a possessory, proprietary, or privacy interest, including my car, my body, or effects. I hereby demand to immediately be allowed the reasonable opportunity to obtain the advice of my attorney by telephone. I desire to exercise all my rights guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the state of Wisconsin, to be free from your interference with my person or affairs. If you attempt to question me I want my lawyer present. I refuse to participate in any line-up or to perform any physical acts, or to speak or display my person or property at your direction without first conferring with my lawyer. If I am under arrest, I wish to invoke and exercise my Miranda rights. If you ignore my exercise of these rights and attempt to procure a waiver, I want to confer with my lawyer prior to any conversation with you. If I am to be taken into custody, removed from my present location, or separated from my property, I request a reasonable opportunity to make arrangements to secure my own property. If this reasonable opportunity is denied or unavailable, I demand that only such intrusion occur as is minimally necessary to secure such property, hereby waiving any claim of liability for your future to scrutinize the property or it’s contents prior to it being secured. If I am not under arrest, I want to leave, if I am free to leave please tell me immediately so that I may go about my business. © 1991 John M. Carroll
For more info on your rights, call today to set up your free consultation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6uw7506xMw&eurl=http://www.infowars.com/?p=4527&cp=all
This video is brilliant! So instructional. Some will say if you don’t have anything to hide, why not just answer the questions and be on your way? The answer lies in the Bill of Rights, 4th constitutional amendment:
[The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.]
If some stranger stops you on your way and starts asking you for detailed information, do you have to answer? No, of course not. Just because they have a badge, a gun, an “official” car, and a state or federal license, and even (rarely) if they are polite about it, many feel compelled to give out information they wouldn’t tell to an anonymous stranger (which is exactly what that lady is.)
This man was not antagonistic or even confrontational. It was not emotional. He took control of the situation and asked appropriate questions: “Who are you?”, “Who are you with?”, “Am I being detained?”, “Am I free to go?”. He did not answer her questions. He did not follow her directions (Roll down your window, pull over there). Why should he?
This is an excellent learning video for how to respond when you get stopped at a checkpoint. My wife says, why not just answer? They have a sincere job, border patrol, and the lady is simply doing her job. And I say, because it is unconstitutional for them to stop you and question you in the first place. In addition, why do we assume they are part of some larger beneficent organization looking out for the welfare of the citizens? Any well informed person knows that that is a joke. Checkpoints for the border; checkpoints for alcohol; checkpoints for the curfew; checkpoints for your papers. It logically leads to total authoritarian control and a military/police state. Those are not the American values I am familiar with. You have to learn how to properly handle the situation as a “free man on the land”, and this video is an excellent role model. Well Done!
I want unlicensed drivers off the road; they either can't pass the test, are in the country illegally, or are convicted drunk drivers. Sometimes they get the occasional outstanding warrant as well.
Thanks to all officers involved, they were courteous and professional and moved things along very well. We appreciate you keeping us safe from idiots who shouldn't be driving our roads!
The biggest delusion in America, (other than the one that says there's a separation between church and state) is the delusion shared by those who believe that we live, or that we have ever lived, in a free country.
Your "freedom", such as it is, is revocable at any time, and there's nothing you can do about it. The chance to fix that problem passed us by a long, long, time ago.
We are all free to say what we want. Do, learn, travel and be whatever our capabilities allow.
What is it that you want to do, but are not free to do? I wish there would be more checkpoints, this valley has too many drivers as it is; set it up at 10pm, and you will catch a ton of drunk drivers, illegal aliens, driving without insurance, etc.
Thanks to all law enforcement protecting me from people who think they are better than me and don't have a responsiblity to others on the road.
Right on! If you are not doing anything wrong, you should not be afraid of a checkpoint. I would wholeheartedly agree with a roaming checkpoint on a weekly basis. Thank you to those involved in the program. THANK YOU!
Hey for those of you that think these checkpoints are ok. How about we get some of these. “Lego Block” Prison Cells .Pictures of concrete prison cells being unloaded from wagons in Utah earlier this month have surfaced on the internet, causing a storm of debate over their purpose.
see the photos here
http://www.prisonplanet.com/pictures-lego-block-prison-cells-readied-in-utah.html
big thumbs up to the officers for doing this type of checkpoint- Let's have more of these!!!! If you are in a vechicle you must have a license, otherwise you shouldnt be driving....
Whenever I hear about an event such as the recent checkpoint, the first thing that comes to my mind is "Department of Homeland Security-coordinated drill". I expect that there will be more such events in our future, regardless of where we live. Local officials will not be notified ahead of time, and there will be no press releases before the fact, as there often is before law enforcement carries out a DUI checkpoint. People can complain, but if these truly are drills, no amount of complaining is going to make them stop.
free range radicals must be stoppd enoughta cops killing people you have freedonm you dead? First mandements cop out
Despite the suggestion that this endeavor is unconstitutional under the 4th Amend., it is constitutional if handled corectly by law enforcement( see Delaware v. Prouse, 440 U.S. 648 (U.S. 1979)and Mich. Dep't of State Police v. Sitz, 496 U.S. 444 (U.S. 1990)
). Having said that, it's just not the vision of "community policing" most Ojai residents anticipated--a little to "big brother" for my taste. Especially when we have a huge drug problem--including burgarlies on the rise. It does seem like a big waste of resources for sure. I like the cops, but only when they're needed to help. Of course this type of thing could be corected at the ballot box--the city counsel may need a shake up.
The law states tat you are required to provide id to the police anytime they ask for it.
This is great work by the Sherriff's Dept., something those of us who pay taxes appreciate.
There is a great deterrent value to this, as well, encouraging citizens to carry their license and to not drive without a valid license.
If we all wait for an unlicensed illegal or drunk driver to cause an accident, we have reduced the Sherrif Dept. to the role of historian. Way to go, law enforcement, thank you for doing a very difficult job.
Livefree, you have lost me.
When any of us goes to a rock concert, we are searched. When we go to a bar, we are id'd. When we get a job, we give a SS# and are background checked.
And when we get behind the wheel, we need to have insurance and a driver's license. 523 drivers didn't give up any rights, they cooperated in a social contract to ensure everybody is complying with license and insurance laws that protect us all.
This checkpoint wasn't without an escape route. There was an obviously placed sign that alerted drives to the existence of the checkpoint, and the sign was placed so that anyone who didn't have the time or the inclination to get involved could have turned up El Paseo. Many people did, and they weren't chased down by the motorcycle officers. Had this event been what some are making it out to be, the opportunity to bypass the check would not have been proffered, nor would anyone have been allowed to bypass the check.
Too bad the blog administrator had to delete the previous comment. I'm sure it was just chock full of sensibility and wisdom. Maybe the commenter could try to tone down, rework, and resubmit his or her comment so that all OVN blog readers could see just how dead-on and incisive it actually was.
To Anonymous 10:20
The post to which you refer from livefreeordie was not removed by the blog administrator as alleged. I'm not sure why it was removed or by whom.
Lenny, you're right. I see now that it says "removed by the author".
Is that possible? Where is the option to remove one's own comment? I have to admit that I've wanted to do that with a few of my own.
There are several of LF or D's comments that say they have been removed by the author. I believe the OVN has been hacked. Is there a mole on the loose.
Likely supposition: LFoD and James Hatch are probably the same OVN staffer.
Nah, that would be too obvious. I know jr high school kids capable of hacking anything. Probably just someone sick and tired of lf or d.
Lenny, what say you?
Hey Lenny, who deleted all the comments under the Rambling Rants? You guys have been hacked.
Here's how it works, kids: if you log in under a Google/Blogger account and make a comment, a small trash-can icon appears at the bottom of the text after you post it. No one else can see it but you, and you can go back and delete everything you ever posted as long as you're logged in to your account.
Now, if you knew someone else's Gmail/Google/Blogger account user- name and password, you could delete all of their comments, too, or you could make comments pretending to be them. What fun, eh? (Or, you could get a real life.)
SPEAKING of real lives, we thought the dog whisperer had retired. NOT!
Why would he retire? Someone has to clean up after you mutts and curs.
The person referenced in the OV News blog as the dog whisperer is (former) regular blog contributor and local pet supply store owner B Dawson...a female. She recently announced her year-long study of the blogging phenomena was complete, and she would not be participating any longer. The comment of 9/28, 9:24 pm prefaced by the initials BD would make it appear as though she could not keep her fingers off her keyboard. Hence, I am guessing, the comment right below the comment by BD that mentioned the dog whisperer. This is NOT in reference to the cute little guy who can make even the most unruly canine behave.
I, by the way, always enjoyed what B had to say.
Nice.... they don't have the money to help start neighborhood watch but they have the money to do this kind of BS. My neighbor multiple car break-ins on a fairly weekly bases and they are doing a check point in the middle of the day. Another example of OPD harrasing locals because they are board, spend the money on getting rid of OSL (old school losers). This is right up their with schools getting shut down yet millions is being spent on getting rid of a dam.
*neighborhood
I'm not B. Dawson.
Let's face it, the cream will always rise to the top. James Hatch toiled in the trenches, only to rise to the occasion as champion. B. Dawson and PL were once challengers, time only proving that they were not worthy opponents.
James Hatch remains. B. Dawson and PL have slipped into that faint sunset so often seen in the beyond the distance of the defeated crawling to their inevitable demise.
This town faces real issues on a daily basis. I mean the kinds of issues that affect us all. The kinds of issues that we all face day in and day out that determine whether we will eat or not. These are the issues that James Hatch addresses. This is why James Hatch remains the voice of reason in a world of chaos; the voice of sanity in an insane town.
Read the past blogs. If you are B. Dawson or PL you will read them and weep.
I am James Hatch, and I approve this message.
It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood when James Hatch roams these streets.
Let's face it, the cream will always rise to the top.
And sometimes turds float, too, James.
Well, I am sorry BD is not B Dawson coming out of retirement. She had more worthy comments than the rest of the group all tied together.
I think James Hatch has 5 different personalities whom all, very highly enjoy blogging with each other. Its like a family affair with all the fun of a real live family all in one person
I am cracking up at the picture of the poor Marborogh Man! I mean he has to pick up everybodys trash then this??? Give a guy a break already!
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