Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2007/12/18/police-ordered-to-pu.html
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Not sure I would feel happy and relieved to get a gift card after being pulled over for doing nothing.
ETA and a piddling $5 one at that… oh I can get a small drip and well okay that will do it.
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Getting pulled over for a traffic stop can be a dangerous, even life-threatening situation for many Americans—but hey, free macchiato!
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Huh. Some cops in Newfoundland are doing the same thing. I don’t know if I’d like it.
I don’t have the time mark for that. Start at Monkey Deer Sex and keep going.
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And how is five bucks going to serve as compensation when you’re fired for being late? And that’s the white privilege consequence. A POC gets to sit there wondering if they’ll be shot,and then the risk of the cop “finding” an issue when they see the driver is a POC, or just “panicking” and shooting anyways.
Yeah, then there’s the traffic hold-ups because the police have someone pulled over, which stresses everyone, even those who don’t get a GC for their trouble… Cops, there are far better ways to improve your image. Start by cutting back on your abuses of power, not increasing them.
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Imagine if the fire department conducted gift drives by showing up with lights and sirens blazing and ordering emergency evacuations before surprising kids with presents. Whee!
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“I stopped you for Driving While Black . . . Coffee! Ha, ha, ha! Have a gift card and a nice day, citizen!”
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The military could deliver wedding gifts by drone.
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Sorry if I triggered an anxiety attack. Maybe some free caffeine will help?
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Wouldn’t it be a happy assumption that if the officer spotted anything or anyone illegal in the car, or “smelled marijuana” when the window was rolled down, that they’d just wave them on because they had no probable cause for stopping the car in the first place?
Happy, happy, so happy.
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My town used to do this, until they pulled over a drunk and OOPSIE couldn’t get the charges to stick due to an unlawful stop.
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no to mention traffic accidents are the number 1 killer of cops. pulling someone over and standing by the side of the road for no reason is just about the worst idea ever.
( also: starbucks must be bad off if they need a cash infusion of the public’s money. )
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Starbucks gives these away, for the publicity. (edited to add: even more true 10 years ago, when this was posted)
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Jeez 10 years to the day almost to the day… I blame not having my coffee yet for not noticing.
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The link is long dead, the article is in the “general” section for some reason, and as you mentioned $5 is no longer much of a “gift” 
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There have been a few new articles coming over in non Boing categories lately. Christmas gremlins in the code.
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Hmmm. I had a cynical thought.
If they pull someone over and “smell drugs” while passing in the gift card, they probably can’t make any charges stick due to lack of probable cause to stop. However, they can do civil forfeiture of the car and any cash/property, can’t they? (In places where that’s a thing.)
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The cops are still pulling this same crap, though:
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They can do a civil forfeiture for no reason at all. They could just feel like it, and since they’re “charging your money and possessions with a crime” and inanimate objects don’t have a right to representation, and judges allow this because they’re fucking more crooked than a snake with scoliosis, they get to keep your money and possessions every single time.
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