Per Car And Driver:
In an effort to reduce the efforts of people to securely stow away certain items, states are beginning to ban hidden compartments in motor vehicles.
http://blog.caranddriver.com/stow-n-go-to-jail-ohio-criminalizes-traps-in-cars-we-explore-the-tech-behind-hidden-compartments/ (http://blog.caranddriver.com/stow-n-go-to-jail-ohio-criminalizes-traps-in-cars-we-explore-the-tech-behind-hidden-compartments/)
(http://blog.caranddriver.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Stow-N-Go-To-Jail-placement-626x382.jpg)
In the war on drugs, the daily grind of law enforcement is enough to make even Sisyphus feel fortunate; at least the guy knew what his boulder would look like each morning. Cops who work to intercept traffickers, however, see ever-evolving methods of deceit in the transport of contraband. It’s no wonder, then, that the Ohio State Highway Patrol (OSHP) backed legislation last year making it a felony in the state to build or use a secret compartment in a vehicle.
Chrysler leads the OEMs in secret-compartment construction. Its various underfloor and in-seat bins can conceal all sorts of contraband.*
Known as “traps,†“hides,†or “clavos,†hidden compartments that exploit voids in a vehicle’s structure are certainly not a new phenomenon in drug running. But Republican state Senator Jim Hughes, the man behind the Ohio law, says the increasing sophistication of these devices and the escalation of their use has made it necessary to outlaw them.
Today, state-of-the-art trap construction taps into a vehicle’s factory-installed electronics, with additional wiring disguised as stock. Manipulating various controls in the correct sequence, similar to entering a cheat code into a video game, grants access to the compartments. These stash boxes, often located under seats, in airbag cavities, or beneath false floors, are undetectable to the untrained eye.
Neighboring Pennsylvania recently introduced similar legislation. California, Georgia, Illinois, and Utah have also criminalized hidden compartments.
The Ohio law specifically exempts law-abiding citizens who use a hidden compartment to secure legal firearms or valuables. Indeed, the law’s enforcement mechanism hinges on “intent†to use the secret compartment for hiding drugs. In at least two cases publicized by the OSHP since the law took effect, individuals were arrested not for transporting drugs but for violating the new secret-compartment law. In one case, police say two cellphones were found in the compartment of a defendant who has a history of trafficking. Neither case has come to trial as of this writing.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio calls the new law an unnecessary expansion of drug-trafficking statutes already on the books. An ACLU representative suggests that the real goal behind the law is to give prosecutors an additional charge to throw at defendants, thus boosting the government’s bargaining power when negotiating pleas.
But the ban on secret compartments also gives law enforcement the authority to go after those who build and install them. A California man, Alfred Anaya, was sentenced last year to more than 24 years in prison for building secret compartments in vehicles used by a drug-trafficking operation. The Drug Enforcement Administration busted the cabal and Anaya, despite his claims that he was unaware his handiwork was being used illegally. Just say no, kids.
The 2010 discovery of six kilos of cocaine hidden in a 2008 Chevrolet Silverado in northeastern Ohio provides an example of how secret compartments are accessed.
(http://blog.caranddriver.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Stow-N-Go-To-Jail-sidebar-discovery.jpg)
Wow, Ohio. Really?? Here's another questionable tactic they've been using: http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2013/06/fake_drug_checkpoint_in_mayfie.html
Quote from: peestandingup on July 01, 2013, 12:43:10 AM
Wow, Ohio. Really?? Here's another questionable tactic they've been using: http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2013/06/fake_drug_checkpoint_in_mayfie.html
Most people don't know that you aren't required to speak to an officer when they pull you over. And they cannot search your vehicle without a warrant. People who are truly innocent falsely believe that they have nothing to hide, cops falsely believe that when you exercise your rights, you must be hiding something. (After all, only crooks exercise their rights! ::) )
There are pages and pages of videos on YouTube of cops who don't know the law getting all offended when a citizen won't respond the way they expect. (There are also pages of videos of people who are antagonizing cops as well, which is wrong)
If I had a permit to carry, but didn't want them in the open part of my vehicle, don't I have the right to create a lockable bin in the truck?
"Nah, I aint pass the bar but I know a little bit, enough that you won't illegally search my s#*t". "We'll see how smart you are when the K9 come" "I got 99 problems but a bi@#h aint one, Hit me!!!!"
Quote from: spuwho on July 01, 2013, 01:00:29 AM
Quote from: peestandingup on July 01, 2013, 12:43:10 AM
Wow, Ohio. Really?? Here's another questionable tactic they've been using: http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2013/06/fake_drug_checkpoint_in_mayfie.html
Most people don't know that you aren't required to speak to an officer when they pull you over. And they cannot search your vehicle without a warrant. People who are truly innocent falsely believe that they have nothing to hide, cops falsely believe that when you exercise your rights, you must be hiding something. (After all, only crooks exercise their rights! ::) )
There are pages and pages of videos on YouTube of cops who don't know the law getting all offended when a citizen won't respond the way they expect. (There are also pages of videos of people who are antagonizing cops as well, which is wrong)
If I had a permit to carry, but didn't want them in the open part of my vehicle, don't I have the right to create a lockable bin in the truck?
I believe they can search through "probable cause" though, which could be any old BS they come up with. "Hey, this guy doesn't want to go through our fake drug roadblock. Git him!" So basically they're using this in a sneaky way of penalizing anyone who doesnt want to subject themselves to some random search. It might be technically legal, but its just another instance of us going further down the rabbit hole & all being guilty until proven innocent.
You might have seen this, but speaking of youtube shakedowns, here's some more where "probable cause" is apparently driving hundreds of miles from the mexican border & people refusing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4Ku17CqdZg
The interior of your car is an extension of your personal space, you're free to have a hidden compartment if you feel like it. The potential crime would be what's inside, I fail to see how just having the container itself could be unlawful under any constitutional scheme. What's next, may as well outlaw plastic bags since some people put drugs in them.
This was recently posted at a public park in Lakewood, OH. Note to self: Never step foot in Ohio again.
(http://i.imgur.com/nFZ0TqX.jpg)
Well with the exception of the entire park being under video surveillance that could match a lot of parks I've been in. And Lakewood is well known for their tactics, they have a YouTube channel named "Crimewood" which is primarily police chases. You can watch 12-15 cop cars chase a Saturn SL1 at the high speeds of about 30 mph, and they're proud of it!
As for the hidden storage bins, I think it is more appease voters wanting a tough on crime stance than actual operational effectiveness. What are they going to do, ask if you have a hidden compartment? At best it seems like a way for the cop to charge someone if a search turns up nothing.
For some reason this reminded of those crowns people used to have on dashboard that they hid stuff in? IDK maybe it was a northern thing.
Well, I have found that these younger cops don't have the stones to perform a proper cavity search.
You would think that after forty years of failure we would just declare the War On Drugs lost. This silly law is just one example of the many really stupid unintended consequences of that have resulted.
We have lost privacy rights while spending billions of dollars per year on this nonsense.
Quote from: Dog Walker on July 03, 2013, 09:45:27 AM
You would think that after forty years of failure we would just declare the War On Drugs lost. This silly law is just one example of the many really stupid unintended consequences of that have resulted.
We have lost privacy rights while spending billions of dollars per year on this nonsense.
In principle I agree Dog Walker. At least in regards to marijuana. I do not smoke it, but I do drink and have read countless studies on how that affects us more than pot. However, the practical implications of stopping the drug war may have hazardous effects to our daily lives. First off, it employs a LOT of people, both in the government and private industries. These people would now be unemployed with skills that wouldn't easily transfer elsewhere because you can only have so many enforcement type positions. It would also increase illegal immigration in my opinion because those that could live off of growing hemp or poppy or whatever now have nothing and will travel to where they believe there must be something. And finally, without a war on drugs we need a war on something so we could rank the level of return we get from our elected officials, so that might lead to more real wars. Not to mention the impact that less money coming into cities from citations, loss of free labor from inmates, and the collapse of the entire government funded rehabilitation network.
No, the drug war isn't going anywhere. However, the legalization of marijuana ... I would venture to say that it will be legal for medicinal purposes in Florida within the next 5 years and believe it may even be socially accepted for recreational use nationwide in 20 years. After all with the amount of money generated from cigarette taxes dwindling each year, that shortfall is going to have to be made up somewhere.
^might just be onto something there, that's what the unemployed can do. ICE, the 6th military branch.
I was laughing at the instructions on how to access the secret compartment. Key, brake, seat up, seat down, seat back, defroster. Really? I'd probably get mixed up, try to put the seat back first instead of up, or do the defroster first, or forget the brake, and never get into the thing if I needed to. Storage for weapons? I can see being attacked, and trying to remember which order to do the steps to access my secret weapon stash, except then I have to get out of the car to get to it.
Quote from: stephendare on July 03, 2013, 10:21:11 AM
Quote from: JayBird on July 03, 2013, 10:06:28 AM
Quote from: Dog Walker on July 03, 2013, 09:45:27 AM
You would think that after forty years of failure we would just declare the War On Drugs lost. This silly law is just one example of the many really stupid unintended consequences of that have resulted.
We have lost privacy rights while spending billions of dollars per year on this nonsense.
In principle I agree Dog Walker. At least in regards to marijuana. I do not smoke it, but I do drink and have read countless studies on how that affects us more than pot. However, the practical implications of stopping the drug war may have hazardous effects to our daily lives. First off, it employs a LOT of people, both in the government and private industries. These people would now be unemployed with skills that wouldn't easily transfer elsewhere because you can only have so many enforcement type positions. It would also increase illegal immigration in my opinion because those that could live off of growing hemp or poppy or whatever now have nothing and will travel to where they believe there must be something. And finally, without a war on drugs we need a war on something so we could rank the level of return we get from our elected officials, so that might lead to more real wars. Not to mention the impact that less money coming into cities from citations, loss of free labor from inmates, and the collapse of the entire government funded rehabilitation network.
No, the drug war isn't going anywhere. However, the legalization of marijuana ... I would venture to say that it will be legal for medicinal purposes in Florida within the next 5 years and believe it may even be socially accepted for recreational use nationwide in 20 years. After all with the amount of money generated from cigarette taxes dwindling each year, that shortfall is going to have to be made up somewhere.
They will just covert over to the war on immigration. When you can sell pot legally in the US, there will be a lot less beheading action going on with the mexican border. Easier to round up brown people that way.
That & the war on terror. America has to always be "at war" on something. What better one than an invisible boogieman that could be lurking around every corner. This is why the police across the country have become militarized. Because we "need" this to help us fight the bad guys. If no bad guys are found, then more than likely the citizens themselves will become the bad guys in order to justify these force's own existence. These types of Wars = industry & profit. The fact that they're unwinnable (or truly benefit society in any real way) is moot, as is the fact that many tactics to win this "war" are arguable unconstitutional.
Probably cause: http://youtu.be/w-WMn_zHCVo
Quote from: peestandingup on July 03, 2013, 01:42:04 AM
This was recently posted at a public park in Lakewood, OH. Note to self: Never step foot in Ohio again.
(http://i.imgur.com/nFZ0TqX.jpg)
OH SHIT! NOW WE'LL SEE THESE SIGNS GOING UP AT HEMMING PLAZA! Some things you just don't want to post in a Jacksonville forum!
I might understand if the boxes were true 'custom' dope or weapons storage lockers, but to call down Chrysler for being a 'top manufacturer,' is bull shit. If a officer pulls over a dodge caravan and is so unfamiliar with his job that he doesn't realize the kids have their soccer uniforms stashed in the floor, he needs to look for a new job.