Tuesday, January 25, 2005

 

Abu Ghraib-style Traffic Stops

Here at Andromeda, we love all animals, especially cute, cuddly doggies! With their glowing red eyes and surgically replaced stainless steel teeth and their lovable growling, barking and biting, they are exactly what we need to make your average traffic stop more comfortable and relaxing. On January 24, 2005, in Illinois v. Caballes (pdf), the United States Supreme Court approved the use of drug-sniffing, bomb-sniffing, crotch-snuffling, dogs at ordinary traffic stops and anything found during cavity searches resulting from their random "alerts" (i.e., pointing, sitting, scratching themselves) can and will be used against you in a court of law.

Justice Souter points out in his dissent that dogs have a "false positive" error percentage of between 12.5% and 60%, depending on how long the search lasts. This means at least a 1-in-8 chance of a search even if you're innocent.



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