However reasonable and good intentioned at the start, as Pink Floyd put it, it’s one more brick in the wall.
Police Begin Fingerprinting on Traffic Stops
If you’re ticketed by Green Bay [,WI] police, you’ll get more than a fine. You’ll get fingerprinted, too. It’s a new way police are cracking down on crime.If you’re caught speeding or playing your music too loud, or other crimes for which you might receive a citation, Green Bay police officers will ask for your drivers license and your finger. You’ll be fingerprinted right there on the spot. The fingerprint appears right next to the amount of the fine.
Police say it’s meant to protect you — in case the person they’re citing isn’t who they claim to be. But not everyone is sold on that explanation.
In related news, check out what the FBI is spending a billion on which could make use of those fingerprints, not that the cops would ever pass on this info to them, of course. I wonder what they would say if the FBI asked for one? Or all of them.
__________________________
“Entirely too much energy of our state police force is spent controlling honest citizens, simply because it is something they can succeed in doing.”
– Robert W. Burke
If you are looking for a needle in a haystack, add more hay.
Paperz Pleaze….
Just one more cog in the police state.
If they really wanted to ID everyone they arrested, they’d do DNA swabs. Fingerprints are more art than science and are only useful when taken under near perfect conditions. I don’t see how fingerprints taken on the side of the road are going to be useful in the future at all.
It is more than that. The fingerprint ID systems Texas uses can evaluate fingerprints pretty quickly. I would not be surprised that these handhelds will eventually be tied into these large databases and scan for possible matches to wanted people ‘while you wait’.
Imagine… A handheld used by a cop at traffic stop takes your fingerprint. The digital print is instantly transferred to the station or state computers for comparison. If you happen to be wanted on a warrant, on a NSA watch list, kicked your dog today, etc, badmouthed the gov. The cop is notified within a few minutes and you are taken in for more detailed fingerprint/id match etc.etc.etc.
They could probably lift more than half the black population from the hood of police cars.
#5 – NappyHeadedHoHoHo (in deference to the season)
“They could probably lift more than half the black population from the hood of police cars.”
As a wisecrack, that gave me my first real laugh in a couple days; as an admittedly somewhat hyperbolic sociological observation, unfortunately it’s more true than not…
Fingerprint experts will tell you they get quite a few false positives. That computer you see on CSI where they scan the fingerprint and it comes back with a match showing the driver’s license of the person – that’s a bunch of crap.
But since the vast majority of people (currently) in the FBI fingerprint database are either convicted criminals, or people who have been arrested for serious crimes, then the system still (mostly) works.
Yes, everyone’s fingerprints are unique. But only a little bit. Your fingerprint may have 10 data points in common with a serial rapist.
If the serial rapist has been previously arrested, then he’ll be in the database, and the FBI will go arrest him.
With this new system, when you get a traffic ticket for failing to signal when changing lanes, the police officer will fingerprint you, the computer will scan it, and 10 seconds later you’re getting tasered (if you’re lucky).
“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”
A moving violation is not probable cause to search a vehicle, how is it make a person scan their hands? It is the same leap in logic.
Don’t they already have most everyones fingerprint? It’s called a birth certificate.
@eyeofthetiger
Haven’t you heard? The Constitution is just a god damned piece of paper. Your “rights” mean nothing.
Just give the cops the finger” instead of all 10 …
If I was there, I would refuse to give any fingerprints, period.
Mind you, I’ll never go to the States anymore and I tell everyone I know not to go as well. Just helping the US government with their isolationist policies.
Are we all criminals here? What’s wrong with finger printing someone who is stop for a violation? How many cop shows have you seen where a simple traffic stop turns into someone with a warrant or drugs or weapons. I for one would not be concerned because I do not break any laws. I do not mind police trying to stop crime. Is that not what they are suppose to do?
In Texas they have begun using a roadside print scanner. You get ticketed and they scan your print, allegedly for the purposes of identification. The only problem with this is that to get a Texas drivers license they take your thumbprints and when they use the roadside scanner they want an index fingerprint. Does anyone besides me see the incongruity in this? If all they were doing is seeking verification of your identity why not use the already available thumb print? I am not paranoid, but it seems to me that a database of some sort is being compiled.
When I was in school 1984 was required reading. I have to assume this is no longer true since so much of the public appears to be ready to sacrifice their freedom for the illusion of security.
@John S
As a footnote here, John, how many “cop shows” are you watching? And how many of those show all the people who DO NOT have outstanding warrants, drugs or weapons? People who have done nothing other than failed to signal a lane change and now have a name and fingerprint on file somewhere have lost their right to privacy. It is not the criminals I am concerned with, it is the innocent people who for a minor traffic offense have suddenly become a part of a database someplace. Is the erosion of your rights of no concern to you? Could you truly live in a glass house? “Are we all criminals here?” you ask. As a matter of fact, yes we are. And so are you. It is only a matter of the means to provide the evidence for enforcement that keeps us all out of court. If universal surveillance for the purpose of eliminating crime becomes available what will we have gained? It should be obvious what we will have lost. Not only our freedom, but our humanity.
#12 – that’s a tasing! Anyway, we’d appreciate it if you didn’t come here anymore as well. And please, tell all you friends including the non-swimmers.
#13
So you would invite a cop into your house to search when he was just happening by the neighborhood because ‘I for one would not be concerned because I do not break any laws. I do not mind police trying to stop crime. Is that not what they are suppose to do?’
How about unreasonable search and seizure? How about right to privacy?
How about a full body cavity search for the same reason?
How about searching your kids rooms at 3:00 am because you didnt have anything to hide?
What if a SWAT team searches your house for no reason? You have nothing to hide right? They are just doing their jobs. Trying to fight crime.
Remember, our illustrious pres. can declare ANYONE a enemy, even citizens for ANY reason. They may be looking for you next!
This is far more than those that fought England for liberty and freedom were willing to die for.
“Those Who Sacrifice Liberty For Security Deserve Neither”
Think about that… Isnt that EXACTLY what the US citizenry is doing? Yes I am afraid we will get EXACTLY what we deserve.
yes, it is a rant, but this really makes me angry.
*phew* I just got a ticket in Green Bay a couple months ago. Got in just under the wire 🙂 … On a side note, The Village of Allouez charges almost $100 if you show up in court for your ticket, even if you just plead guilty. There is no warning on the ticket that showing up in court will cost you extra money – seems like THAT should be illegal!
Time to say it again: Right to privacy does not mean right to anonymity.
Paranoid chicken littles need to learn the difference and THEN be on the alert for Government Abuse, which is plenty.
@Bobbo
The government == abuse.
#20 Paranoid chicken littles need to learn the difference and THEN be on the alert for Government Abuse, which is plenty.
Only once did history’s definition of a police state involve jackboots and marching in step. All other functioning democracies that have marched to fascism did so 1 small step at time, little by little as to go unnoticed by the citizens until it was too late.
Warrantless wiretaps.. step
Patriot act… step
Enemy combatants.. step
Fingerprints on demand.. step
I would rather be a little chicken and scared of our current situation than an ostrich.
“How lucky for those in power that people don’t think.”
I never drink and drive not do I approve of it, however…
I’ve always had problems with forced Breathalyzer tests. It seems like a clear violation of the constitutional right to not self-incriminate.
The fingerprint seems a little different than that, because a fingerprint in not incriminating — like a breath full of alcohol.
I lived in Wisconsin… the SS tattoos on the old guy in the 7/11 tipped me off that I wasn’t in the US anymore..
Papers! you must have Papers!!!
#17 – You bet. I’m more than happy to go to other cities, countries and continents that don’t have the letters US of A in them. As I’ve said, I feel so bad for the nice Americans (I know many) because their country is going to the dogs and there seems to be no way out of it. It’s so, so sad because your country was, at one time, a great place to go to and now, it’s a place to be avoided. Way to go Bush, your work is done.
“If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear.”
– official STASI (East German Secret Police) slogan
Curious how far we have sunk.
I was stopped for allegedly running a stop sign (the fact that I did not run the stop sign is irrelevant – innocent until proven guilty is a thing of the past.)
The officer tried to fingerprint me!!!! REALLY? For the “dangerous crime” of running a stop sign?
His explanation was that the fingerprint would prove my identity. Isn’t that what the signature is for? Does the government really think EVERYONE is stupid?
That made me madder than the $100 ticket. Heil