Police Begin Fingerprinting on Traffic Stops <table id="wnStoryBox" name="D20" align="left" bgcolor="#ffffff" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="3" width="180"> <tbody><tr> <td> <!--AD 180x150 LOCAL--> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr> <td align="center"><iframe id="wnsz_20" name="wnsz_20" allowtransparency="true" style="visibility: visible;" border="1" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0" height="150" scrolling="no" width="180"><SCRIPT LANGUAGE='JavaScript1.1'>if (document.layers) {document.write('<SCR' + 'IPT language=JavaScript1.1 SRC=/Global/ad.asp?type=single&cls1=News&src1=loc&spct1=100&sz1=wnsz_20&callType=script />'); document.close();}</SCRIPT></iframe><script language="JavaScript1.1">coreAdsCreate('wnsz_20', 'loc', '100', 'wnsz_20', 'News');</script> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center"> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> By Sarah Thomsen If you're ticketed by Green Bay 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. "What we've seen happen for the last couple of years [is] increasing use of false or fraudulent identification documents," Captain Greg Urban said. Police say they want to prevent the identity theft problem that Milwaukee has, where 13 percent of all violators give a false name. But in Green Bay, where police say they only average about five cases in a year, drivers we talked with think the new policy is extreme. "That's going too far," Ken Scherer from Oconto said. "You look at the ID, that's what they're there for. Either it's you or it's not. I don't think that's a valid excuse." "I would feel uncomfortable but I would do it," Carol Pilgrim of Green Bay said. Citizens do have the right to say no. "They could say no and not have to worry about getting arrested," defense attorney Jackson Main said. "On the other hand, I'm like everybody else. When a police officer tells me to do something, I'm going to do it whether I have the right to say no or not." That's exactly why many drivers are uneasy about the fine print in this fingerprinting policy. Police stress that the prints are just to make sure you are who you claim to be and do not go into any kind of database; they simply stay on the ticket for future reference if the identity is challenged.
Blackjack, Evenglischatiest and Hartage: This is wandering off Seacowboys' topic, but it looks healthy so far. If all three of you guys agree, I'll move the posts from #4 onward to a new thread. Edit to add: By agreement, the off topic portions of this thread have been moved to http://www.survivalmonkey.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8061 Thanks to the protagonists, gentlemen all. Carry on --
I wonder if the right to say no without concern of being arrested would be anything like the right to refuse to sign anything includeing a ticket without fear of being arrested or anything? Maybe you just get tased and given a place to recover instead of being arrested, kind of like for refusal to sign the ticket.
I'd likely comply - Having been in the military and security worlds, I've been fingerprinted innumerable times. It's not a big deal. We even once had fingerprint readers on some doors here at work - had to have them taken and put into a database. It was quirky though, and retired. Somewhere . . . that database still exists. I'd still consider it an infringement on personal freedom though.
Like Seawolf, I've been fingerprinted by the .gov for security reasons and such. I would still deny the officer my prints though. My reasoning is that the military prints were mandatory in nature thus falling under the 5th since I didn't voluntarily provide the evidence against myself. If you provide it to the cop of your own free will they are legally allowed to put it in the database and use it as evidence against you.
Right or wrong, legal or not, I'm making a stand on this one. Just say no! I may be the next taser video on youtube, but I will not submit to this.
Hmm, I wonder if it is legal to wear a prosthetic skin over your thumb giving you a different print ?
It probably is illegal. In many (most?) places, it's illegal to wear a mask. http://www.infowars.com/articles/ps/man_arrested_for_wearing_grinch_mask.htm I'd expect that anything intended to conceal your identity would be covered under the same laws. And if you voluntarily give fake prints, as opposed to none at all, that could easily fall under perjury laws.
I'm kinda curious how fingerprinting people on a traffic violation helps prevent identity theft, maybe I'm missing something. So to try and catch an approximate 13% of violators everybody is subjected to fingerprinting. What's next cavity searches looking for drugs? Not disputing the percentages, just the reasoning. Yeah, we have the right but should just submit. Even the defense attorney has no backbone.
Which is a shame. Cops are allowed to lie, deceive, use mental stressors, weakneses and they are free and clear. Cops can say they are not cops when they are. They can say their name is whatever they want it to be (under cover) for their own ends. But do it to them and it's illegal ? Whatever happened to do onto others as you want done onto you ? Look up the Crowe case in Escondido. Police used every lie and cheap trick on the books against 13yo kids. They had the kids thinking they did things the evidence showed they never did. You know what happened to those piece of garbage cops ? NOTHING. I would love to have those cop's kids exposed to their own garbage. Have their kids be put under so much stress they admit to crimes they never commited. Have those cops waste their life savings in lawyers to defend against false accusations from their own.
