Thread: CA: OCEANSIDE: Group to hold forum on police checkpoints

OCEANSIDE: Group to hold forum on police checkpoints
Forum aims to educate people about civil rights

By EDWARD SIFUENTES
Posted: Friday, September 17, 2010 9:34 pm
1 Comment

Immigrant rights organizations will host a forum Saturday to educate members of the community about their rights when approached by law enforcement officers, especially during checkpoints, organizers said.

In recent years, police have increased their use of sobriety and driver's license checkpoints, which lead to large numbers of illegal immigrant Latinos having their vehicles impounded. The Escondido Police Department also has increased its cooperation with immigration agents in recent months.

Immigrant rights advocates say those police tactics have sent many in the immigrant community into a panic.

The forum aims to tell people how they should behave and what their rights are when approached by law enforcement, said Misael Balderas, a spokesman for the Human Rights Council of Oceanside, which is organizing the event.

"North County residents have endured a growing sense of insecurity as the line between local police and federal immigration agents becomes more blurry," Balderas said.

The Human Rights Council of Oceanside was formed earlier this year by North County college students to educate people and promote civil and human rights, Balderas said. It was modeled after similar groups in North County, such as the Escondido Human Rights Committee, which sponsored other immigrant rights workshops.

Pedro Rios, San Diego director of the American Friends Service Committee, said people need to know how to conduct themselves when they are stopped by police to prevent a simple traffic stop from becoming an arrest.

Rios will be one of the speakers at the forum.

"We tell people that they have to be prepared to answer questions, don't lie and don't overreact," Rios said. "We stress responsibility. We understand that their situation sometimes obligates them to break the law (by driving without a license) but how they respond can make the difference between having their car impounded and going to jail."

The forum begins at 1 p.m. at MiraCosta College's cafeteria, One Bernard Drive in Oceanside.

www.nctimes.com

"We understand that their situation sometimes obligates them to break the law (by driving without a license"

Then is this group conspiring to aid in breaking the law? Would this in itself be a crime?

I'd like to get a transcript of that meeting! I never learned how to get off if I couldn't provide a DL and Proof of Ins.. Insurance being so costly here in NY I'll bet there are more than a few CITIZENS that would like to know how to get away without having it.

When my local Police Department has a drivers license check point,i often will drive through it and thank them for their outstanding efforts.I think the record for impounded cars is around 165.It makes my day to watch
the illegal alien scofflaws hitting the bricks sans automobile.