On Mon, 03 May 2010 14:07:31 -0400, Warp wrote:

> Jim Henderson <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote:
>> No, it's not about offending people, it's about the fact that in the US
>> the constitution specifically prohibits the police from pulling people
>> over "just because".
> 
>   Well, then it's different here, as I have mentioned with the traffic
> police.

Police patrolling the roads here can pull people over for very minor 
infractions (and in some cases, they do in order to 'get a nose in the 
door' to see if there's something illegal going on; for example, between 
Lincoln and Omaha NE, there's a stretch of road that's often used by 
people trafficking drugs.  The profile is cars with out of state license 
plates driving after a certain time at night.

The cops along that stretch of freeway will pull cars over that have out 
of state plates - but only if they have seen a *specific* traffic 
violation.  I've been stopped two or three times along that stretch for 
various things, like not staying in my lane or failure to signal for 50 
(or 100) feet before changing lanes.  It was late, I was tired; the stops 
were perfectly legitimate.

But if I had been a model driver in that section of freeway and they 
pulled me over because I drive a car that does not have NE license 
plates, *that* would be an illegal traffic stop.  Further, under US law, 
if they *did* find illegal substances in my car, if the traffic stop was 
not legal, they would not be able to prosecute because they would have 
lacked probable cause to pull me over in the first place.

Jim

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