TN-No Refusal checkpoints roll out over New Year's Eve

Because nothing says Freedom like having ten cops wrestle your ass onto a stretcher and stab needles in your veins.

LOL @ the Fifth Amendment.


No Refusal' checkpoints scheduled during New Year's

Posted: Dec 28, 2012 8:42 AM EST Updated: Dec 28, 2012 04:15 PM

http://www.wkrn.com/story/20439381/police-step-up-dui-enforcement-during-new-years

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -

If you think you might get away with drinking and driving this holiday weekend, consider this: law enforcement officials no longer need your consent to get a sample of your blood.

It's called the "No Refusal" law, and it went into effect in July.

The law lets law enforcement officials, such as Sgt. Matt Perry, get a search warrant for your blood.

"Once we obtain that search warrant then we can take your blood from you, take you to the hospital and get your blood drawn, regardless of whether you want to or not," said Perry.

After nine years with the THP, Perry said he has seen his fair share of impaired drivers.

"Whether they have watery eyes, blood shot eyes, [or] slurred speech," Perry said he knows what to look for.

It can be tough work, late at night, but it's work Perry told Nashville's News 2 he takes very seriously, adding, "You see these signs now showing the fatal numbers that we've had this year and hitting 1,000. It's just, everybody's got to do their part to stop that."

According to THP, alcohol related crashes are on the rise in Tennessee.  So far in 2012, there have been more than 7,500 across the state so far this year, which is 182 more than 2011.

Authorities said they believe the new law will help them in their fight against impaired driving.

"In the past, if we stopped somebody that we believed was impaired, we would offer them a chance to submit to a blood test or a breath test and they had the option or opportunity to refuse," explained Perry.

THP organized its first "No Refusal" event over the Fourth of July holiday weekend just days after the new law took effect.

During that operation 48 people were arrested for suspicion of DUI. Officers obtained eight search warrants for blood tests during that first operation that took place in five counties.

Over the Labor Day weekend there were 74 people arrested for suspicion of DUI and one person who refused to voluntarily provide a blood sample.

The most recent operation during the Thanksgiving holiday netted 78 arrests and five people who refused to voluntarily provide a blood sample.

Already if someone has a previous DUI conviction or if children are present during a DUI stop an officer can obtain a blood sample from the driver without their consent and without a judge's approval.

That is the same for people who have previous DUI convictions.

The Wilson County District Attorney's General office told Nashville's News 2, having this blood evidence makes it easier to convict impaired drivers.

"It's definitely more tangible, it's more clear cut," added Perry, "You can see the legal limit is point oh eight, and it shows they're above it or below it. It makes it very easy."

If the "No Refusal" part of DUI checkpoints keeps just one impaired driver off the streets, Perry said that's a start.

(I think Officer Perry and his pals ought have the right to randomly search your homes for possible threats. More people die from slips trips and falls around the house than from drunk driving. If it saves one person, right....right??? - AF)

"It's there every night, and we want people to know that," Perry added. "Hopefully, that alone will deter them from driving while impaired."

Friday night's check point in Wilson County at the intersection of Central Pike and South Mt. Juliet Road is from 11:30 p.m. until 1 a.m. Saturday morning.

Sorry, I think it is a terrible invasion of our rights. As a matter of fact, I just heard on tv yesterday that there are more distracted driver accidents than DWI accidents. So what are they going to do about that?

WHL wrote:Sorry, I think it is a terrible invasion of our rights.  As a matter of fact, I just heard on tv yesterday that there are more distracted driver accidents than DWI accidents.  So what are they going to do about that?

More people die in slips trips and falls around the house than in drunk driving accidents.

Don't worry though, I'm sure our Benevolent Protectors will find some way to "solve" this horrible carnage.

Funny how they set their minds on something and away we go, huh?

WHL wrote:Funny how they set their minds on something and away we go, huh?

They have stopped even paying lip service as to whether something is legal or constitutional.

They just do it.

For our own good of course. Now, I don't think for a second that those at the highest levels have any regard for our well being at all, but for the middle and lower level minions, they think they really are doing the Lord's Own Work.

Which makes them impervious to logic, reason or argument.



“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

They may be more likely to go to Heaven yet at the same time likelier to make a Hell of earth. This very kindness stings with intolerable insult. To be "cured" against one's will and cured of states which we may not regard as disease is to be put on a level of those who have not yet reached the age of reason or those who never will; to be classed with infants, imbeciles, and domestic animals.” ― C.S. Lewis

Exactly, they do just what they want!!  

“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

They may be more likely to go to Heaven yet at the same time likelier to make a Hell of earth. This very kindness stings with intolerable insult. To be "cured" against one's will and cured of states which we may not regard as disease is to be put on a level of those who have not yet reached the age of reason or those who never will; to be classed with infants, imbeciles, and domestic animals.” ― C.S. Lewis

All this protecting ourselves from ourselves has got to stop!!!!!