What's going on, Albuquerque?

Morning Fix: Dirt City and Beyond

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Comment by missy on December 6, 2007 at 8:32am: actually i think the correct spelling is "keistering" with an acceptable variant being "keystering"...either way YUCK. makes me really, really, really thankful not to be hooked on meth or anything else that needs to be concealed in such a way at a traffic stop!

Comment by bleve on December 6, 2007 at 10:30am: The targeting of the S. Valley... although it netted some offenders is racist... yes you should target crime areas but checkpoints on the way to work is not about crime its about ticket quotas. I guarantee if you set up checkpoints outside the downtown area on any given night you'd find "visually impaired" drivers by the boatload... yikes!

Concerning the recruiting story... the budget comes from the Army's advertising budget and is done as a "public service for cash strapped schools"... gimme a break. The article states that Abq High's Activities Director blatantly lied to a parent about clearing the assembly with the districts communications office.

Comment by SoyJames on December 6, 2007 at 11:10am: "not about crime its about ticket quotas" Agreed.
Are these "random" roadblocks even legal? Isn't it search and seizure without probable cause?

Comment by bleve on December 6, 2007 at 11:34am: Federally I believe they are legal... if they are random, the Supreme Court had cases involving this in 2000 and 2004... the 2004 case allowing them.

If they are targeting simply to increase revenue because the demographic will have higher rates of "expired registration or outdated insurance" I think its an issue that definitely needs to be brought up at the City Council.

Comment by bleve on December 6, 2007 at 1:07pm: EFP, I"m not following your logic... none of the things you stated is racist... nor did I imply that. The policy of setting up a road block in a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood to boost your ticket quotas is.

The fact that they got one guy shoving drugs up his *ss isn't really the point. If you wanted to catch impaired drivers you'd have a couple of cops outside of every bar in town. How many hundred's of people were basically stopped on their way to work simply because they live in a certain area of town... that's not right.

By the logic the sheriff's dept is using, its acceptable to stop any older, run down car cause the driver may not be able to afford insurance. It may be true in some cases but it's against the law.

Comment by bleve on December 6, 2007 at 1:49pm: The article starts out "Bernalillo County sheriff's deputies said they knew a morning checkpoint at Bridge and Goff in Albuquerque's South Valley would result in plenty of tickets."

Seeing how the reporter had access to Sgt. Andrew Ortiz, who is the head of the traffic division in the Sheriff's Dept, and no other reason was mentioned for the checkpoint, I don't think its exactly a wild fabrication.... I just "conveniently" used my brain buddy.

Comment by bleve on December 6, 2007 at 2:19pm: Ha... laws being broken on what assumption, driving to work. Happy profiling... be afraid... be very afraid... of.... the other.

By the way EFP is that you on drums jamming with Sheriff "White".... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcxDPJ5a5oQ