MassPrivateITexas – The Fort Worth Police Dept. found itself on the receiving end of lots of criticism for its participation in a “voluntary” collection of blood and saliva samples for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) survey.
For one thing, having a squad of police officers flag you down and route you into a nearby parking space never feels “voluntary,” no matter how easy it is to opt out once you’re pulled over. For another, the paperwork signed by “volunteers” contained fine print that indicated consent had been assumed for the PD to “collect” information on the driver’s state of intoxication with passive alcohol sensors.
After a local news report detailed the concerns of one citizen who consented to a breathalyzer (the NHTSA paid $50 for blood and $10 for saliva — there was no compensation for submitting to a breathalyzer) because she felt it was the quickest way out of the “voluntary” collection, the Ft. Worth PD issued the following non-apology.
We apologize if any of our drivers and citizens were offended or inconvenienced by the NHTSA National Roadside Survey.
This apology was less than useless. This “apology” lays the blame at the feet of those who “felt” offended or inconvenienced by the voluntary-in-all-but-appearance sample collection.
Here’s the much better apology it issued via its Facebook page.
TO OUR CITIZENS:
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration hired off-duty Fort Worth Police officers to assist with the Roadside Survey by providing traffic safety and security of cash used to pay survey participants. This survey was intended to be voluntary and was conducted by NHTSA personnel.
We are reviewing the approval process for this survey’s utilization of FWPD off-duty officers not only to ensure that our policies and procedures were followed, but also to ensure that any off-duty job is inthe absolute best interest of our citizens. (Total B/S what part of the 4th. Amendment don’t you understand?)
We realize this survey caused many of our citizens frustration and we apologize for our participation.(Frustration? Motorists felt compelled to give their blood & DNA click here.)
I agree with our citizens concerns and I apologize for our participation. Any future Federal survey of this nature, which jeopardizes the public’s trust, will not be approved for the use of Fort Worth police.”
Chief Jeffrey Halstead
It’s too bad this moment of clarity didn’t strike before the PD assisted the NHTSA in its voluntary DNA draws (which the agency claims is anonymized and yet volunteers had to sign a participation form?), it is good to see that it realizes how involuntary this looked to drivers who were flagged down by the assisting officers. It’s also good to see the FWPD will steer clear of these questionable ventures in the future. Hopefully, this will also clue the PD in on how the imbalance of power between law enforcement and citizens often makes voluntary actions seem like anything but.
“Jeopardizing the public trust” is never smart, especially when the success of your work depends heavily on being perceived as trustworthy by the public. And trust isn’t something that’s easily earned back, not when the public perception of law enforcement as the “good guys” is steadily trending downwards.
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20131125/07500425357/ft-worth-police-department-offers-real-apology-its-assistance-nhtsas-bloodsaliva-sampling-survey.shtml
http://massprivatei.blogspot.com/2013/11/police-offer-bs-apology-for-its.html
This Texan won’t stand for it… and we must collectively reject this kind of behavior from the PD. They obviously new better.
Yea and that police cheif said ” Jeopardizing the public trust” is never smart”. Well the cops have jeopardized the public trust since the sixties and before.
“I agree with our citizens concerns and I apologize for our participation. Any future Federal survey of this nature, which jeopardizes the public’s trust, will not be approved for the use of Fort Worth police.””
Well we all know that won’t stop the Communists from changing the name of the program and doing the same thing under a different name just like they do with our education such as “No child left behind” to “Communist Core” and so on. The name changes but the goal is always the same until the elite get their full control and consent over us.
Expect them to roll out another program designed to do the same thing but under a different name until the people submit to it. Possibly something much worse, since that is what they always do.
As a Texan, I would never submit to this shit. They’d have to arrest me again for “interfering with a public servant” in which they would extort me out of countless fees, only to have the D.A. say that, in order to drop the case, we would just have to take a urine and saliva sample to prove your innocence (since they will say that the cop thought you were guilty by not complying) and thus defeating the purpose of it all in the first place. That’s how these sick bastards work. Either way, they get what they want and extort money from you to do it. That’s how they do it in Round Rock, TX.
The whole system is corrupt and needs to be taken down. Immediately!
Pigs are paid thugs and the sooner people see this the better. Phuque that lame excuse!