Here is a story appropriate for tax day, April 15. A county in Missouri is planning a “No Refusal” checkpoint this weekend. Here is a story. A “No Refusal” checklane means that if you get stopped in the checklane and then refuse to take the goverment’s breath test, they will hold you down and forcefully take your blood from you. So, there will be no refusals. The way they do this is by having judges on hand to authorize search warrants on the spot. Kansas DUI law does not allow for forced blood draws (yet) unless someone has been in a car accident resulting in death or a serious injury. Missouri DUI law, though, does allow forced blood draws if a judge authorizes it. So, law enforcement has co-opted some judges to assist them in making this quick and easy on the side of the road. This is something that has been happening in other states for the last couple of years.
This is interesting since, as I have blogged about ad nauseum, checklanes are about the least effective means of finding drunk drivers. Hundreds of people are stopped, and there may be a handful of people who get arrested (of course, some of those arrested will later be determined to be innocent). A DUI checklane in Kansas City, MO last weekend stopped 321 cars and netted 7 arrests for DUI. That is a success rate of about 2% which is about average. The other 98% of the public who are not breaking the law will now not only be stopped by the government without cause, but be confronted there by judges with pens at the ready to authorize the police to bend you over the car hood and pull your blood. It could be a TV show, “When Governments Attack!” Seriously, this makes me understand a lot of “tea parties” that were happening today protesting”big government”. This is our tax dollars a work.