Trading my civil rights for a used Protege

Let me start this off by saying that the used Protege in question used to belong to Brett and Cate and that I am very grateful to have her and she's a reliable, spunky (at least when she doesn't need a new fuel pump the way she does now), great little commuter car. And cute as the Dickens. But my civil rights are actually pretty neat, too, and what with the way things are going these days, possibly collector's items.

* * * * *

We had a burglary in the building where I work (by which I mean "The act of entering a building or other premises with the intent to commit theft" not "marrying two wives at a time"). We also had the actual theft as the perp entered an unlocked office suite (not ours), grabbed an unguarded purse, and absconded. Chase was given and the purse and its contents (minus some cash) were recovered and the perp is apparently wandering around Montgomery County looking for more unlocked doors and, possibly, slower citizens.

So because of all of this, a nice officer from the Montgomery County police stopped by to talk to us about building safety and the like. She brought pamphlets and fun green paper clip holders with the non-emergency number for the police printed on them. We learned that the Silver Spring association has after hours escorts (The kind that walk you to your car if you work late! Geez. You people.), which is good to know. We also learned useful safety tips.

But what really caught my attention was one of the pamphlets that the officer brought: It seems that the State of Maryland has a program where they will give you a pretty sticker to put in the back window of your car that allows the cops to pull you over without probable cause. Yep, let me repeat that: a pretty sticker to put in the back window of your car that allows the cops to pull you over without probable cause. They call it a "waiver of probable cause," in fact.

It seems that most car thefts occur between 1:00 and 5:00 am, so this, in theory, gives the police a jump on recovering your vehicle since most vehicle thefts are reported around 6:00 or 7:00 am, hours later. I think the sticker would only suspend your civil rights during the prime car-theft hours, but I'm not positive.

So, anyway, the officer herself pointed out that if one is driving around minding one's own business in the middle of the night (say, after a cast party) with that sticker and gets pulled over by MoCo's finest, then the officers in question are now free to look around for open liquor bottles and ask if one has been drinking, etc, etc. And, one would presume, to run the plates and one's license, etc, etc. Her fellow officers have pointed out to her that since they started doing this that they are catching many more inebriated citizens, which is good, but she still thinks we should be all clued up before we go sticking any stickers in any windows.

And I'm sitting there thinking that perhaps this sticker thing wasn't a bad idea. Heck, I'm a law abiding citizen - I have nothing to fear from random traffic stops. Hmmmm. And then I considered two things: 1. I don't drive a BMW or a Camry or a Prius - I drive a 6-year-old Mazda; and 2. I like my civil rights.

Which means that I did not opt for what's behind door number 3.

Although it does occur to me that if I were a parent of a teenager I'd be putting that sticker in the back window of said teenagers car in a New York second. Because these fictional teenagers of mine can have civil rights when they are all grown up and paying their own rent. And car insurance. Luckily, I don't have any teenagers, so that particular bit of hypocrisy can go unexercised.

Amendment IV
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.