Blogs > Liberty and Power > A New Police Power Emerges

Sep 16, 2009

A New Police Power Emerges




Now, in Idaho, cops are going to tie people down and forcibly take blood samples if they refuse breath tests. This will spread nationwide even faster than Taser usage. Why even pretend the 4th and 5th Amendments still exist? The Associated Press news story entitled "Police say syringes will help stop drunk driving" opens....

When police officer Darryll Dowell is on patrol in the southwestern Idaho city of Nampa, he'll pull up at a stoplight and usually start casing the vehicle. Nowadays, his eyes will also focus on the driver's arms, as he tries to search for a plump, bouncy vein."I was looking at people's arms and hands, thinking, 'I could draw from that,'" Dowell said.

It's all part of training he and a select cadre of officers in Idaho and Texas have received in recent months to draw blood from those suspected of drunken or drugged driving. The federal program's aim is to determine if blood draws by cops can be an effective tool against drunk drivers and aid in their prosecution.

If the results seem promising after a year or two, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will encourage police nationwide to undergo similar training.

For more commentary, please visit wendymcelroy.com.



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Elizabeth Cregan - 9/18/2009

If we lived in a free country where people took responsibility for that freedom and did not act like idiots, we would not need such protection. I don't like the loss of freedoms represesented, but I don't like drunk drivers more


C.J. Maloney - 9/17/2009

If we lived in a free country, any police officer who tried such a thing would have his blood drawn instead.


negator - 9/17/2009

i for one welcome our new, phlebotomist overlords.