Time To Defend Your Private Space At All Costs

Cops' seat-belt sting

"The FBI had Donnie Brasco, the undercover agent who infiltrated the mob. Maplewood police have "Homeless Harry" — my moniker for the undercover cop who last weekend bagged a completely different kind of outlaw. Let me explain.
Blake Elfstrom, 22, of Maplewood, was driving his girlfriend home late Sunday morning. He was the fourth car at a stop sign before turning onto westbound Minnesota 36 from northbound McKnight Road in North St. Paul.
That was when he spotted a shabbily dressed, middle-aged man wearing glasses that seemed too big for his face. The man, who turned out to be Maplewood cop Paul Bartz, was holding up a sign — "Will work for food" — as he approached and looked inside the line of waiting vehicles.
Elfstrom was pondering whether to roll down his window when he saw the cars moving ahead of him. He entered the on-ramp, only to be waved to the side of the road moments later by one of several uniformed cops standing near a line of patrol cars.
He asked the cop why he was being pulled over. The officer told him his girlfriend was in violation of a 9-month-old law that gives Minnesota law enforcement the authority to pull over drivers and occupants for not wearing seat belts.
"How in the world did you know?" Elfstrom asked the ticketing officer.
"That homeless guy back there? He's an officer," the cop replied.
"I saw about 10 other cars pulled over as he wrote out the (summons)," said Elfstrom, who recently graduated from college. "Yes, I was quite surprised by it."
Elfstrom's girlfriend was tagged for $108 — the state-mandated $25 fine for a first-time offender, plus the $75 the law allows as a petty-misdemeanor surcharge fee — repeat after me: this is not a tax, it's a fee — that goes into the state general fund. The remaining $8 — repeat again: it's not a tax, it's a fee — goes to fund law libraries.
TAKING IT TOO FAR?
Bartz, as well as "Homeless Harriet," his unidentified female North St. Paul police counterpart working the eastbound ramp of Minnesota 36 at McKnight Road, were prolific in nabbing unsuspecting violators.
Officers from Maplewood, North St. Paul, the Ramsey County sheriff's office and the State Patrol issued 122 citations during the 3 1/2-hour operation, according to Dave Kvam, Maplewood's deputy police chief.
The vast majority of tickets — 103 — were for not wearing seat belts. Two involved child-seat restraint violations. Three were for license revocation or suspension penalties. Six involved motorists with no proof of insurance and eight were for other traffic- or vehicle-related infractions."

We can't be passive in the face of this intrusive extortion. Apparently now we can't just enjoy our daily lives in freedom from monstrous abusive police state antics and bullying.
This is what I will do if anybody approaches my vehicle too closely to intrude into my personal space to peer into the interior. First thing would be to have the window rolled down and I would loudly tell the person to stop immediately at a distance. If the guy continues to advance the next step is to open the door fast enough to smash him in the face and knees. After that it depends on the situation but the most important thing is to warn him off and not allow him to get in close proximity. Bullies, whether they're gangbangers or stupid druggies or cops, know that most people will be passive enough to let them stick their faces in your window. I will not let them do it under any circumstances.