Two Sets of Rules: One for Them, One for Us.

Chris Keating reported on Twitter Friday that the Hartford Police Department moved its DUI checkpoint from near the Connecticut Convention Center, where state Democrats were holding their annual fundraising dinner, to a spot on Park Street, where few of the attendees were likely to drive as they left the event. The is a chilling example of the police accommodating the powerful at the expense of the powerless.

In exchange for infringing on our constitutional protection against unreasonable search and seizure, the police must observe some strict rules in setting up random DUI checkpoints because they have no probable cause to stop drivers who happen to be on that road at that time. One of those protections is that the police must announce several days in advance the place and time of the checkpoint. The Hartford police posted the place and time of Friday’s State Street checkpoint on Wednesday. On Friday, the department announced the checkpoint had been moved to Park Street. That’s not sufficient notice. Anyone nabbed on Park Street Friday night would appear to have a complete defense against a charge based on an unconstitutional stop.

The point of these intrusive checkpoints is to place them in spots where there’s a lot of traffic on a road with a history of accidents and violations. Near the Connecticut Convention Center on a Friday night must have fit that profile. And that was the problem. Stopping (and arresting) well-to-do, influential Democratic loyalists who’d been at an event featuring campaign receptions that began in the afternoon was going to send some boozy drivers into the night. Mustn’t raise the odds they’d be caught driving drunk. What’s the point of controlling all the levers of government, if you can’t move a DUI checkpoint away from an inconvenient spot at the last minute. Much better to set it up in a neighborhood where the poor and powerless live? Who listens to their complaints?