The U.S. Border Patrol is monitoring millions of American drivers nationwide in a secretive program to identify and detain people whose travel patterns it deems suspicious.

Suddenly, drivers find themselves pulled over — often for reasons cited such as speeding, failure to signal, the wrong window tint or even a dangling air freshener blocking the view. They are then aggressively questioned and searched, with no inkling that the roads they drove put them on law enforcement’s radar.

Only solution is going to be to ban the automated license plate scanners; otherwise this is going to keep on happening.

  • AbidanYre@lemmy.worldEnglish
    70·
    2 days ago

    “The beautiful thing about the Texas Traffic Code is there’s thousands of things you can stop a vehicle for,” said Joel Babb, the sheriff’s deputy who stopped Schott’s car

    Fuck everything about Texas.

    • dan1101@lemmy.worldEnglish
      4·
      1 day ago

      Too many laws is a problem all over. If authorities want to charge you they will find something. Combine that with selective enforcement and effective immunity for the rich and powerful and it’s a justice shit show.

    • burntbacon@discuss.tchncs.de
      3·
      1 day ago

      While true, fuck texas, it’s not like there’s any other state that doesn’t have the same laws on the books. In fact, I bet they have their own stupid little shit that’s unique to them that’ll get you pulled over.

    • Dogyote@slrpnk.net
      18·
      2 days ago

      Happened to me once outside San Angelo. Noticed the car behind turn their headlights off for a second, then they flipped their red and blues on. I was pulled over because my license plate lights were out, but I’m pretty sure they just wanted to see who was driving the shitty car with out of state plates through their town. No ticket, no warning, didn’t ask to search the car, just annoyingly nosey.