Frankly, those kind of road stops violate the 4th Amendment Privilege against Unreasonable Searches and Seizures. There is no probable cause for police to stop anyone simply because the " Look like a hunter", or have some portion of an "animal carcass" exposed to view.
A valid search, with or without a warrant, requires facts that indicate a crime either is being committed or has been committed; and that evidence that will prove the elements of the criminal offense will be obtained by police by conducting a search, and seizure. ( IN rare cases, such as when the crime may not have been committed, but will be the end result of a series of events that comprise a conspiracy, if the officer can ARTICULATE facts indicating there may be proof of that conspiracy, or the future crime, he can get a warrant from a judge that allows him to stop a car, and conduct his search, and seizure.)
What evidence is there that a crime has been, or is being committed by someone driving by wearing "hunter orange", or camouflage clothing in the Fall, in Colorado?
Good Grief, man! Wearing Hunter Orange, if anything, is evidence that the hunter is COMPLYING with state game laws- not violating them!
For those reasons, I believe those searches ended because someone threatened to file a Civil Rights Action against the State if they continued to do these kinds of warrantless stops.
If any member here is every stopped like these "road checks" describe in the future, document the stop, and who the officers are that are involved, and RUN to your attorney's office. He may not do civil rights work, but he can find you someone who will. Plaintiff's Attorneys are paid fees by the losing party, in civil rights cases, and a lawyer will not even take a case unless he is fairly confident he will win.
Alan Gura, the attorney for the Plaintiffs is Heller vs. Washington D.C., the case that went to the supreme court to result in a defining of the rights protected by the Second Amendment as being Fundamental, and Individual rights of Americans- not a collective right of the states. His attorney's fee bill submitted is $3.1 million dollars. He of course, represented the Plaintiffs at trial, where they lost, on appeal to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, where they lost, and before the Supreme Court, where they won. Lots of work done over many years. Gura now has represented McDonald Vs. City of Chicago before the Supreme Court, and will be submitting a bill to the local District Court for his time and work in this case, filed the day of the Heller decision, and decided by the Supreme Court almost exactly 2 years later- a very short trip through the Federal Court System. Gura won't collect nearly the amount of fees he is asking in the D.C. case, but Chicago will be paying his fees.
So, don't suffer, or put up with this kind of abusive Police behavior. Be polite, and comply with officer directions on the street. He is "GOD" there, and has a gun. But, he is an officer of the court, and has to answer for his conduct in my "ballpark". :grin:
I taught a course of Police Liability years ago, and I gave the same advice to officers in my class to explain to them how to avoid being sued for violating an accused's civil rights. I have also explained the limits on police authority to Chiefs of Police, so that they more fully understood the powers they have( and don't have) under the 4th Amendment. I support, and encourage good law enforcement. But, I don't encourage officers to violate the Constitution.
They have broad enough powers to get their job done better ways, if they only think about where they are trying to go. Coaching them on how to find Probable Cause, and teaching them how to present it to a judge to get the needed warrant is part of the "fun" part of my profession as a lawyer.
