FACT: In 1996, there were over two million 911 calls nationwide which received no response at all. Due to the failure to respond to hundreds of thousands of 911 emergency calls, with people being robbed, assaulted, raped and murdered, lawsuits were filed against many states.
FACT: A rapist in this country serves less than nine months on average in jail.
FACT: To no one's surprise, four State Supreme Courts ruled in favor of themselves stating that: "State Governments have no general responsibility to provide public services, such as police protection, to any particular individual citizen."
ONE MURDER EVERY 21 MINUTES
ONE FORCIBLE RAPE EVERY 5 MINUTES
ONE ROBBERY EVERY 46 SECONDS
ONE AGGRAVATED ASSAULT EVERY 29 SECONDS
ONE LARCENY THEFT EVERY 4 SECONDS
ONE MOTOR VEHICLE THEFT EVERY 9 SECONDS
By Valerie Kalfrin
LONGVIEW, Texas (APBNews.com) -- Deluged with complaints from truckers and travelers who believe their vehicles were unreasonably searched, a national advocacy group is posting roadside warnings about Texas police hunting for signs of criminal activity. A yellow-and-black billboard with bright red letters saying "Just Say No to ... Vehicle Searches" debuted on Interstate 20 at the Louisiana-Texas border 10 days ago. It's the first in a series of signs to be directed at motorists throughout the Lone Star State, said J.D. Davis, founding director of the American Drivers Association (ADA).
The ADA provides legal counsel and safety information to 86,000 commercial truckers throughout every state but Hawaii. It regularly gets complaints about officers nationwide who pull drivers over for traffic violations and then search their vehicles without their consent, he said. But no state has as many complaints as Texas, where about 15 people a week write or call to describe "improper" searches conducted by Texas law enforcement officers, Davis said. One trucker from Bloom said he was detained for two hours with his 9-year-old son by a trooper who stopped him for speeding and searched his vehicle because he was "under arrest for not showing him respect," Davis said.
A New Jersey woman said she and her fiance were stopped and searched after a speeding violation because the officer told them he "didn't like anyone from New Jersey," Davis said.
Another trucker, traveling from Wisconsin, reported two officers searched his cab and left his clothes and belongings strewn about the sleeping compartment when they were finished, he said. "Commercial drivers don't carry drugs; [the officers] know that," Davis told APBNews.com. "What they're doing is retaliating for the driver having the audacity to question if their radar is accurate. They're looking for radar detectors, but it's primarily done to intimidate and harass."
Tom Vinger, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), said the ADA "can put up billboards wherever they like," but the advice they're giving is not adequate. "It's important for people to realize that just because you say no, you don't have the right to leave the scene unless the reason you were pulled over is finished," he said. If a trooper believes you're trafficking in marijuana and wants to call in a drug-sniffing dog, you have to wait for the dog to arrive, for example. "There's no law against questioning somebody for five minutes or 15 minutes," he said, adding that all DPS traffic stops are recorded on audio and videotape and that it is against department policy to search anyone's vehicle without probable cause. Official backs traffic stops Although the DPS doesn't keep figures on the number of searches troopers conduct, Vinger estimates that about 25 to 30 percent of them uncover "some kind of contraband or illegal activity." Routine traffic stops in 1998 generated 9,800 arrests and netted 42,000 pounds of marijuana, 2,600 pounds of cocaine and millions of dollars in drug money, he said. "We're making a serious dent in criminal activity," he said. The fact that about 70 percent of drivers stopped and searched are innocent is "regrettable," he added.
"Troopers are trained to look for bad guys, to look beyond the traffic stop. Obviously sometimes we're wrong. If you're a citizen who didn't do anything wrong, I would hope people would understand that violent criminals are out there with them and take some comfort that we're trying to combat that," he said. As for the officers who search their vehicles -- and uncover nothing -- "I would hope they tell them, 'Sorry to inconvenience you and have a good day,'" he said.
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