vision2020
RE: How much is that doggie sniffing my car...
>but I think drug use can also pose a threat. It may endanger the
>user's children, fellow employees or fellow commuters.
All probably true. But the fact that many people use drugs absolutely
should not subject everyone to unreasonable searches like this. Unless
you want to live in a police state. Some people do.
>As a procedure it seems to invade privacy no more than a metal detector.
True. But the problem is in how it is used. A metal detector at the airport
serves a valid (how about "reasonable") purpose and you could argue that
a person consents to the search, since you do not have to go to the airport.
But dogs sniffing cars parked in an Albertsons parking lot is a search that
the government forces on people unreasonably, unless you want to argue
that simply going out in public is your consent to such a search - and I don't
want to live in your country if that is a good argument.
>For example, would it be illegal for me to put a metal detector in the
>doorway to my home, where there are no imminent threats?
Absolutely not illegal. You are not the government. "Unreasonable search
and seizure" doesn't apply to you. (Although laws dealing with unlawful
detention and theft and such do.)
> (some comparisons of dogs and metal detectors as procedures)
I agree that as a procedure there is no difference.
How about this? Do you think the action of walking through a parking lot, in
a completely lawful manner, etc, should give the police the ability to search
your person? If you think it does, then you probably have no problem with
dogs sniffing parked cars. (But I'll wonder where the system went wrong in
producing Citizens.) If you think it does not - good answer.
An unreasonable search of my vehicle is just as oppressive as an unreasonable
search of my person. Some would allow the vehicle search to stand because
"it's only your car." Or, "if you're not a criminal you don't have anything
to
worry about." That is a sacrifice of Principle that I'm not willing to make.
"Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness . . . to secure these Rights,
Governments are instituted among Men." Government DOES NOT exist to
oppress its citizens.
If being out in public is ever probable cause for a search, something has gone
very, very wrong.
E. O'Daniel
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