This Can't Be Kosher in Cheese Country

[Kennedy 0]

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Green Bay
Police Begin Fingerprinting on Traffic Stops
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.

witty subliminal message
Guard your honor, let your reputation fall where it will, and outlast the bastards.
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[Rebecca 0]

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Citizens do have the right to say no. "They could say no and not have to worry about getting arrested," ...

Annnd, why would I be worried about being arrested in the first place, if that's me on my license and I'm only doing 5 over? Is this saying that I have the right to say no, and they have the right to arrest me for it?

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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.

Uh huh. Right. I trust them.

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The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.

It certainly is, my friend...

you've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel loquacious?' -- well do you, punk?

[jdhill 0]

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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;

So how are the prints going to tell if you are so you say you are without there being a database? They have to have something to compare it to?

J

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. - Edmund Burke

[Kennedy 0]

Oh this is just too perfect.

The story I posted was from a few days ago.

Todays worldnetdaily had something to say:

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POLICE STATE, USA
Cops stop fingerprinting traffic violators
Chief blames news media for publicizing 'Big Brother' issue


With public fears of a police state being created in Green Bay, Wis., law enforcement authorities are dropping a new policy where officers collected fingerprints from traffic violators.

"The news media blew it out of proportion," Police Chief Craig Van Schyndle told the Green Bay Press Gazette.

He says his department received numerous phone calls and e-mails from people opposed to the voluntary practice aimed at lowering the number of identity-theft crimes.

"But, of course, they were listening to the news media ... how horrendous this was," Van Schyndle said.

The chief says there's been a trend of suspects giving police false names, and the fingerprinting could prevent innocent citizens from being implicated in a crime committed by someone else. But he admitted only about a half-dozen wrongly jailed citizens would be affected in a year.

"Something that we tried to do to assist the victims and protect the public was changed to a Big Brother ... that we were keeping a database on these fingerprints," Van Schyndle told the paper.

James Plummer, director of the National Consumer Coalition's Privacy Group, said there simply wasn't enough justification to collect biometric data from those not involved in serious offenses.

"Isn't there another way they can work around it rather than just gathering more files?" Plummer said.

WBAY-TV in Green Bay has been among the stations publicizing the fingerprint policy, airing negative reaction from motorists who felt the policy was going too far.

"You look at the ID, that's what they're there for," Ken Scherer from Oconto, Wis., told the station. "Either it's you or it's not. I don't think that's a valid excuse."

Carol Pilgrim of Green Bay said, "I would feel uncomfortable, but I would do it."

Though the policy was voluntary, defense attorney Jackson Main said citizens tend to follow instructions from officers.

"[Drivers] could say no and not have to worry about getting arrested," Main told the Press Gazette. "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."

witty subliminal message
Guard your honor, let your reputation fall where it will, and outlast the bastards.
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[FallRate 0]

That's interesting. Did the Police Department advertise that the fingerprint was voluntary, or were Officers instructed to advise people that it was voluntary? That would make a big difference.

FallRate