Loss of Privacy

Joel Chandler was detained at a toll booth in Florida because he paid for his toll with a hundred dollar bill. The toll booth worker told him he would not be allowed to leave until he provided his personal details. It turns out, a large portion of minorities are having their information taken.

It is a policy the Florida Turnpike authority instituted for people who paid with $20, $50 or $100 bills. After it happened once, Chandler kept testing the system and taped his encounters as he went through the toll booths.

One time a toll taker told him, she wouldn’t give him his change unless he gave her the information. Chandler replied, “So I’m being detained.” He asked why he was being detained but never got an answer.

Chandler says this is a serious criminal offense, to detain someone without proper legal authority. He says that is exactly what the department is doing.

The practice continued at toll booth after toll booth and, if someone refused to provide the information, they were threatened with arrest. One toll taker told Chandler’s brother Robert, “I could call FHP. Would you like me to do that, sir?” Robert Chandler asked why she would call the Florida Highway Patrol when he was being illegally detained and the toll taker said he could come up with another form of tender.

The best part of the story is that the FDOT were caught lying about knowing anything about the program.

Chandler continued to complain and on July 21st at 7:19 p.m., he received an email from the assistant General Counsel of FDOT saying essentially the department didn’t know what he was talking about and they don’t have sufficient information to investigate. However, earlier that same day, there were a flurry of e-mails going back and forth in the department saying shut the program down, temporarily suspend it and who should call Chandler and what should they say.

Chandler is being criticized for his behavior when it should be the FDOT’s policies that should be criticized. If a $20, $50, and $100 bills are legal tender in America, which they are, then a person should be allowed to pay in those denominations even if the total bill is only $1. Many people travel on vacation to Florida and other states with tolls and have no idea that there is a toll until they get there. They are then faced with what to pay with. They might not have anything smaller at the moment.

Focus should remain on the FDOT. They are happy to illegally detain people and racial profile others. When they were caught, the first thing they did was try and cover up their actions. Chandler broke no laws, but it appears that the FDOT is going to have to brace themselves for several lawsuits due to their behavior.

New Year’s Eve is always a deadly time to be on the roads. Many people drink too much and still think they can drive home and be okay. This year, with New Year’s Eve falling on a Friday night, it could be deadlier than normal.

With that in mind, Tampa, Florida is preparing DUI checkpoints that drivers won’t be able to refuse. If you’re stopped at a police checkpoint and refuse the breath test, there will be a biased judge on site who will issue a warrant for a mandatory blood test. You will be told that, because you refused the breathalyzer test, you must submit to the blood test.

The police will administer the blood test on site. It is uncertain, however, whether or not police officers will be trained as phlebotomists or have any training at all in order to take your blood or read your test results. Also uncertain will be how often the breathalyzer device will be calibrated for accuracy or how accurate the blood test will be.

DUI defense attorney Kevin Hayslett sees the mandatory blood test as a violation of constitutional rights.

“It’s a slippery slope and it’s got to stop somewhere,” Hayslett explained, “what other misdemeanor offense do we have in the United States where the government can forcefully put a needle into your arm?”

Supporters, though, say you could see the “no refusal” checkpoints in the Bay area by October.

“We don’t want to violate people’s civil rights. That’s the last thing we want to do, but we’re here to save lives,” Unfried said.

While saving lives is definitely a good thing, trampling on people’s civil rights is not. One should not be replaced for the other. This is a violation of a person’s constitutional rights against unreasonable search and seizure. The police do not have probable cause. They are on fishing expectations with their checkpoints. If you do not have probable cause, you cannot force blood to be taken.

She adds that this type of checkpoint would be heavily advertised, with the goal of deterring any drunk driving.

Heavily advertising it just allows drunk drivers to avoid the checkpoints and go home a different way. It won’t deter them. The police would do better setting up their checkpoints at the exits of bars.

The fact is driving is a privilege. Drunk driving is a serious crime. Pulling every single car over and violating their fourth and fifth amendment rights is illegal. Probable cause means you did something wrong first, such as having a broken tail light or swerving on the road. It does not mean being pulled over and told to take a breathalyzer test and, if you refuse, you’ll be forced to give up your blood. This is not about your safety. It’s about your forced compliance.

This is a frightening step down the slippery slope of complete denial of rights. If you aren’t doing anything wrong, you shouldn’t be stopped at all. Forced incrimination should be illegal if one were to follow the Constitution. Unfortunately, despite all that I’ve written above, if you have a Florida driver’s license, you’re required by law to comply to the officer’s requests.

if you are pulled over and the officer asks you to take a blood, urine or breath test you are required to comply. Florida has the “Implied Consent Law”. When you sign your drivers license you have agreed to take these tests upon request. Refusal to take any of the tests will result in an immediate suspension for one year. A second refusal will result in an 18 month suspension.

Presumed guilty and implied consent are two sides of the same coin. Floridians would do well to work to get this law repealed. It is despicable that the state of Florida has such a cavalier attitude towards its citizens.

A local newscast has exposed that, when some Florida police officers write you a traffic ticket, an extra “smiley face” message is given to the judge, unlawfully characterizing you without your consent or knowledge.

It doesn’t matter if the judge ignores any of the smiley faces or not. It’s the public perception that matters. It is corruption because a police officer is intending on influencing a judge’s decision, which affects whether a person is guilty or innocent and whether the city’s coffers get filled just a little bit more.

Two months ago, REAL-ID went into effect in Florida and many residents are having problems proving their identities to obtain the new driver’s licenses. Florida is one of the few states complying with the law as many states have said that REAL-ID is too expensive to implement and the federal government has extended the deadline several times.

Read the rest of my latest article at The Daily Censored.