Wants to complain because she was caught speeding then given a breath test in case intoxication was the reason for the speeding (pretty standard here).

Threw in a comparison to Sandra Bland too.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/janis-powers/he-gave-me-a-breathalyzer_b_7857924.html



He Gave Me a Breathalyzer Test That I Couldn't Refuse

Less than a week after July 4, a day when Americans celebrate our freedom and liberty, Sandra Bland was pulled over for a traffic violation. The lawful traffic stop that escalated into an arrest and culminated in Ms. Bland's untimely death in a jail cell on July 13 has everyone talking about civil rights in America.

As we debate the boundaries of law enforcement's authority, I am reminded of my own recent run-in with a traffic cop. While I currently live in the state if Texas, where Ms. Bland was pulled over, my incident occurred on the other side of the world in a place widely considered friendly and accommodating: New Zealand. As a visitor in any foreign country, I never expect my rights as an American to supersede those of the nation where I am traveling. But things just didn't seem right when I was given a mandatory road-side breathalyzer test, just because I was speeding.

Now this test would have been warranted if I had, say, rammed into a sheep when it wandered into the road, and a cop had found me slumped over the wheel of my car with my speech slurred, my eyes bloodshot and a pile of empty beer bottles in the front seat. That's what we in America call "probable cause."

But in New Zealand, probable cause isn't a necessary prerequisite for administering a breathalyzer test. According to the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA), "A police officer can ask you to take a passive breath test or breath screening test if: you are suspected of drinking and driving or you are signaled to stop at a Police alcohol check point."

Here's the thing: these alcohol check points seem to appear and disappear at the whim of New Zealand law enforcement. The NZTA website doesn't provide information about how the check points are regulated. The best way to find out about police alcohol check points is, to the consternation of New Zealand law enforcement, Facebook.

There are thousands of followers on Facebook pages like "Auckland checkpoint and traffic watch" and "Checkpoint watch whangerei." These pages allow users to post the specific sites of police alcohol check points and they are updated regularly. Too bad there wasn't a Facebook page about police alcohol check points in Timaru, the small town where I was pulled over. Had I been able to consult one, I might have avoided a breach of my civil rights.

I was pulled over after an officer clocked me for driving too fast through a speed trap in the center of Timaru. My car was littered with empty water bottles and crinkled up road maps, evidence of a long road trip, not intoxication. My two children were in the back seat of the car, holding guidebooks and more maps. They had been serving as my navigators since my GPS was out of service. It was dusk, and we were only two kilometers from our hotel. I just wanted the officer to give me my traffic citation so I could head to the hotel and enjoy a glass of New Zealand sauvignon blanc. How ironic.

Instead, I was informed that in New Zealand, everyone who is caught speeding must take a breathalyzer test. At the time, I was ignorant of the actual law. The officer needed probable cause to administer the test (which seemed far-fetched given my situation), or I needed to be at a police alcohol check point. As far as I could tell, there was no evidence that I was at a police alcohol check point when I was stopped. There were no warning signs, no traffic cones, no other cars and no other cops. The officer never mentioned anything about it. I presume that if I had argued against taking the breathalyzer test, he would have told me that I was in one.

When I look back on the situation, I understand that in New Zealand, innocent drivers like me will be inconvenienced by mandatory breathalyzer tests in order to nab someone who is driving under the influence of alcohol. And that drunk driver, if not caught, could bring harm, even death, to others and/or to him/herself. Was I frustrated that I was delayed in getting to the hotel? Absolutely. Was I upset that I had to perform this test with my children looking on from inside the car, confused and bewildered? Of course.

The fact that I was compelled to take a breathalyzer test is certainly on the low end of the spectrum of potential civil rights abuses. The spate of deaths of unarmed black men at the hands of American law enforcement in recent months, and now the death of Sandra Bland, casts a shadow on the notion of what it means to live in the land of the free. Nonetheless, a minor infraction is still an infraction. And in New Zealand, their approach to catching drunk drivers gives law enforcement the authority to act based on the assumption that people are guilty before proven innocent. It flies in the face of the principles outlined in numerous amendments to the American Constitution, as well as thousands of years of legal precedence, dating back to Roman Emperor Justinian. While suffering inconveniences for the greater good is part of living in a society, citizens must question the boundaries that restrict their individual freedoms.

Fortunately, the United States does not use the New Zealand model of police entrapment to catch drunk drivers. And, to my benefit, we also don't extradite our citizens back to foreign countries where they have violated the speed limit. New Zealand law enforcement may have collected my DNA through a breathalyzer test, but they failed to collect my money for the traffic citation before I left the country. Since I can't find the ticket here at home, am I the one who's bending the rules?

Just IMO though.

http://i.imgur.com/tDXwZIY.gif

http://soundcloud.com/forestbrooks

This reads like an article from The Onion about a person trying to make a tie between Sandra Brand and being pulled over for a traffic ticket and 'asked' to take a test.

So, the laws in ANOTHER COUNTRY are different and she wants to act put upon? If she were thrown in a cell and kept away from her kid who was sick and needed medicine at home I could understand where she was coming from, but I can't feel sympathy for her.

>This reads like an article from The Onion about a person
>trying to make a tie between Sandra Brand and being pulled
>over for a traffic ticket and 'asked' to take a test.
>
>So, the laws in ANOTHER COUNTRY are different and she wants to
>act put upon? If she were thrown in a cell and kept away from
>her kid who was sick and needed medicine at home I could
>understand where she was coming from, but I can't feel
>sympathy for her.

She says she doesn't expect her rights as an American to override local laws then proceeds to complain that her rights here aren't the same as America.

She didn't even pay the fine.

Just IMO though.

------

12 play and 12 planets are enlighten for all the Aliens to Party and free those on the Sex Planet-maxxx

XBL: trkc21
Twitter: @tyrcasey

Comparing her situation to black folks', at that?

lol.

Rest In Peace, Bad News Brown

rage that they throw at you when they are the ones fucking something up, and you're the most horrible person in the world for calling them out on it, even if it's your job to. There is no other demographic of people that acts this way in response to being checked as systematically as they do. This is just my opinion coming from like 20 plus adult years of dealing with the American public in bars and gyms, and life in general. I could be wrong.

*american white woman might be more accurate, I don't know.

>rage that they throw at you when they are the ones fucking
>something up, and you're the most horrible person in the world
>for calling them out on it, even if it's your job to. There is
>no other demographic of people that acts this way in response
>to being checked as systematically as they do. This is just my
>opinion coming from like 20 plus adult years of dealing with
>the American public in bars and gyms, and life in general. I
>could be wrong.
>
>*american white woman might be more accurate, I don't know.

They're often the ones with the stinkest attitude when I ask them to move out of our company carparks (that we rent).

Apparently it's no big deal for them to park us in or take up two carparks but it's a big deal if they have to move their car elsewhere.

Just IMO though.

November 8th, 2005 The greatest night in the history of GD!

Looks more and more like click bait.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11488623

Janis Powers defends comparing Kiwi cops to Sandra Bland case

A US writer criticised over her account of a run-in with New Zealand police says she was starting a conversation about civil liberties and law over-enforcement.

In a piece posted on the Huffington Post, Janis Powers compared a mandatory breathalyser test conducted by Kiwi police after she was caught speeding with the arrest of black driver Sandra Bland.
Video

Ms Bland was found dead in a Texas county jail cell on July 13, three days after a traffic stop by a white police officer escalated into physical confrontation and her arrest.

Her death is reported to be a suicide but many in the black community doubt the official account and accused the police of racism, with the video of her arrest the subject of much controversy. In it the trooper points his Taser at Ms Bland and shouts: "I will light you up!"

Powers said of her piece, which had the headline He Gave Me a Breathalyser Test That I Couldn't Refuse: "There's a lot of noise but it's hit a chord. I write a number of things where people have some heated reactions."

Powers, who describes herself as a healthcare strategist, political commentator and "Solution Seeker", defended comparing what happened to Ms Bland with her own experience, which she said was an example of law enforcement going too far because there was no reason to suspect she was drink-driving.

"It absolutely was a valid comparison. I live about 115 miles from where the incident with Sandra Bland happened. I watched the video and as a woman I watched the video... I watched that and I thought back to this incident in New Zealand and I felt this is so identical," she said. "My thought was I'm going to write this article saying it doesn't just happened in America."
'It's ridiculous'

Ms Bland's situation was a racial issue, which was not the case with Powers, but both incidents highlighted "concerns about the over-extension of law enforcement".

"We've lost track of what general civil liberties should be about."

In Timaru, Powers said she complied with the police officer as she didn't know the what the rules were. Her breath test came back clean.

"I thought it was ridiculous. I thought it was totally pointless. I said that to the officer. He said, 'I know it's ridiculous but we have to do it anyway,' I said, 'I guess it's not discriminatory if you presume everybody's guilty'."

Power's piece had attracted about 2800 likes on Facebook and topped the Huffington Post's crime section. It wasn't, however, the post she'd received the most feedback on - that happened when she wrote about Malaysia.
Sandra Bland died in a Texas prison cell. Photo / Facebook
Sandra Bland died in a Texas prison cell. Photo / Facebook

She spent about eight nights in New Zealand and said the rest of her experience was amazing.

Powers said in her piece that New Zealand had a problem with police abusing civil rights.

"Now this test would have been warranted if I had, say, rammed into a sheep when it wandered into the road, and a cop had found me slumped over the wheel of my car with my speech slurred, my eyes bloodshot and a pile of empty beer bottles in the front seat," she wrote.

"I was pulled over after an officer clocked me for driving too fast through a speed trap in the center of Timaru. My car was littered with empty water bottles and crinkled up road maps, evidence of a long road trip, not intoxication. My two children were in the back seat of the car, holding guidebooks and more maps."
Backlash

Her post has disgusted American Huffington Post users as well as New Zealanders on social media here.

"Do every other country a favor and don't travel," one person advised Ms Powers.

"The fact that you came to our country, blatantly disrespected our law by exceeding the speed limit (not to mention speeding with your children in the car, putting them at risk, what a fine example of a human being and great mother you are), and then ran back home ignoring the fine you received for breaking the law, leaves me absolutely fuming," Ashley Williams wrote.

Others tweeted:

WOW. @janis_powers Did I honestly just read this? This type of attitude just exacerbates the problem #SandraBland https://t.co/qmjddV86R8
— Janise Jukebox (@Janise_Jukebox) July 28, 2015


There is so much fail in this that I hardly know where to begin http://t.co/PqNcPKX2YM
— Felix Marwick (@felixmarwick) July 28, 2015


really @janis_powers? You want to compare dead black people with a breath test? omg. RBT's reduce road deaths, fact. http://t.co/D87ocPEXcG
— Matthew Hatton (@MattCommonSense) July 28, 2015


@damianchristie @janis_powers This was a remarkable & awful comparison to make! I did lol at the claim of being entrapped into breath test!
— Min (@miriampierard) July 28, 2015

On her blog, Ms Powers says she "seeks to spark discussion by presenting them in a fresh and provocative way".

She tweeted that her post "goes to 11".

This One Goes to 11- as in sections I've appeared in @huffingtonpost with my #SandraBland - inspired blog http://t.co/Ug8F8YQJeP
— Janis Powers (@janis_powers) July 24, 2015

She admitted her original account of being breathalyzed only got "decent" traffic.

"I was a little disappointed that I hadn't put it out there for the world to read. Perhaps, if it had been on the HuffPo, it would have had a broader audience.

"And then the Sandra Bland incident happened. Less than a week after the 4th of July, right after I posted my story, the violation of a woman's civil rights came into question when she was pulled over for a traffic violation. An awful outcome. My story about the breathalyzer incident in New Zealand is different, but the issue at hand is the same. So I re-wrote my story and...posted it to the HuffPo. Check out the newly revised 'He Gave Me a Breathalyzer Test that I Couldn't Refuse', which is now on The Huffington Post in the Crime section."

She boasted that her piece meant she had appeared in 11 sections of the Huffington Post.

The New Zealand Transport Agency said a compulsory impairment test could be carried out for various reasons.

"This could be because of your erratic driving, or if you have been stopped for another reason and appear to be under the influence of drugs."

A person could choose not to take a breath screening or evidential breath test but if refusing such tests, must then undergo a blood test.

Ms Powers admitted she rewrote her account of the breathalyser test to take in Ms Bland's death and was disappointed with the number of readers the original piece had.

New Zealand road policing operations manager Inspector Peter McKennie said overseas drivers in New Zealand were subject to local laws like all other drivers.

He said alcohol was a factor in 30 per cent of fatal crashes in New Zealand and police were "very committed to preventing the harm and trauma associated with alcohol on our roads".

Mr McKennie said this approach had wide public support.

"Furthermore we strongly advise overseas drivers to pay any infringements or fines they have incurred while visiting, as failure to do so could impact on their future ability to return to New Zealand," Mr McKennie added.

Just IMO though.

*teary eyes voice* You mean to tell me this poor pristine white woman was subjected to breathalyzer test in front of her children for speeding? AWWWW, THE HORROR!

This compares to Sandra Bland because WHAT? People, especially caucasoids, that make incredibly hyperbolic highly distasteful statements DISGUST me. This woman needs to be ashamed of herself for such a poor comparison. Welcome to seconds of our lives that happen everyday.