Madd Volunteers in Florida Launch Traffic Observation Program
Author: William Moore
A program is under way in Florida that puts ordinary citizens on local roads durring the early morning hours. Their mission, to identify and assist law enforcement in locating the driver accused of "getting the attention" of a voulanteer. Information about the cars description and identification will be relayed to base via cell phone and units will spring into action.
Even harder to beleive is that these "weekend warriors" may decide to follow drivers that they have a hunch about. While in persuit, the MADD observer, will maintain contact with dispatchers from the Sheriff's office relying on every minute of that 6 hour class they took back at the acadamy. The volunteers will work in pairs using their own cars and cell phones, monitoring the roads between peak DUI periods (around 10 pm to 2 am). The information collected over the course of one half year will be assesed by the local law enforcement agency.
Manatee County Sheriff W. Brad Steube estimates that Florida drunk drivers will kill approximately 1,000 people this year. Although the volunteers have been instructed not to intervene or stop any vehicles suspected of DUI, the program raises some questions. Is it necessary? More importantly, volunteers can easily be described as "state actors" for legal purposes. Many of the individuals seeking admission into the program had previously considered persuing a career in law enforcement at some point in their lives. It remains to be seen how these individuals will view their own policing power. Of course, there is no legal basis for this and the participants will not actually be police officers. They will, however, be considered agents of the State. The following of automobiles and reporting them directly to law enforcement raises some significant constitutional issues. Furthermore, overzealous participants are certain to create traffic hazards while pursuing citizens whom they believe are impaired. "This pilot program is absolutely ludicrous" claimed one local radio personality while covering the subject on a station devoted to DUI cases. Calls subsequently flooded in from a concerned community.
"This Florida pilot program is the first in the country, so only time will tell", claims Fort Lauderdale criminal attorney, Andrew Alitowski. "I think that the qualified DUI lawyers in that jurisdiction will likely have a field day with cases arising from this 'so-called' operation.
It may very well be true that many general criminal defense firms may not recognize the numerous DUI defense issues that will be raised when the MADD arrests start pouring in". Our firm, William Moore, P.A. is located throughout South Florida and while we can't speak for Florida's northern states, it is our opinion that not all South Florida criminal defense firms are qualified to represent clients on Broward County DUI cases. In our area, general practitioners are more inclined to pass DUI cases along to one of the few Broward County DUI defense firms. this is the result of a common understanding among criminal defense attorneys that DUI defense cases are more specialized than any other area of practice (including murder). This is not to suggest that a DUI cases are always more complicated that all other offenses but "generally speaking" Driving Under the Influence charges, as a rule, leave an enormous amount of room for defense attorney error.
Litigating a DUI requires an intricate understanding of: double jeopardy, electronic surveillance, toxicology, accident reconstruction, administrative process, minimum sentences, engineering, search, seizure and even forfeiture. In fact, it is not all that uncommon to have every one of the aforementioned issues present in a particular case. "With the arrival of the MADD vigilantes and their -Observation Program-, we can expect that list to grow", commented Alitowski.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/law-articles/madd-volunteers-in-florida-launch-traffic-observation-program-692209.html
About the Author
DUI defense is a highly complex area of criminal law. To learn of how these complexities may be used to strengthen a criminal dui charge, contact Fort Lauderdale DUI Defense Lawyer William Moore by visiting either of the two sites below: Fort Lauderdale DUI Attorney or Fort Lauderdale Criminal Attorney
serious business if you think you are going to be a smart axx don’t message me only those who want to help me.
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Foreclosure Filings Hit Record High
By Kenneth Musante,
CNNMoney
Posted: 2008-05-14 13:00:31
NEW YORK (May 14) — US foreclosure filings reached a record high in April rising almost 65% over the previous year and putting municipalities at risk by cutting into the value of taxed property according to a study released Wednesday.
Some 243,353 households nearly one in 519 received a foreclosure filing during April according to the US Foreclosure Market Report from RealtyTrac an online marketplace that tracks foreclosed properties That was up 4% from March, and surpassed the record of 239,851 set in August 2007.
It’s “the highest monthly total we’ve seen since we began issuing the report in January 2005 said chief executive James J. Saccacio in a statement.
RealtyTracs measure of foreclosure filings includes notices of default auction sales and bank repossessions According to the report, 54,574 were fully repossessed by banks in April.
Property tax plunge: The record number of foreclosures added their weight to an already saturated real estate market pulling down home prices Plunging home values reduce the money that cities villages and towns collect in property taxes.
In particular jeopardy are parts of Nevada California Arizona and Florida whose states maintained the highest foreclosure rates, according to RealtyTrac.
“For example the city council in Vallejo Calif. – part of a metropolitan area with a foreclosure rate that ranked sixth highest in the nation in April – last week voted to have the city file for bankruptcy said Saccacio.
The state of California had the second-highest foreclosure rate in the nation up 112% over the previous year and affecting about one in 204 households The top spot among states was held by Nevada which maintained a foreclosure rate 3.6 times the national average affecting about one in 146 homes.
Nationwide single-family home prices have fallen 7.7% since the beginning of the year to the lowest level since at least 1982 according to the National Association of Realtors and data from real-estate broker Zip Realty showed that the number of houses on the market grew by 3.5% in April.
With more homes being seized by banks, local governments also lose out on tax revenue from sale transactions. “It’s really hitting the municipalities from multiple fronts said RealtyTrac marketing vice president Rick Sharga in an interview.
Ten hardest hit metro areas: Cities in California and Florida have been particularly hard-hit. Areas in those states accounted for 9 of the top 10 metropolitan foreclosure rates.
The California metro areas of Merced Stockton Modesto and Riverside-San Bernardino took the top four spots. In Merced one out of 66 households was hit by foreclosure in April.
In Florida Cape Coral-Fort Myers came in at number 5 Port St. Lucie-Fort Pierce and Fort Lauderdale came in at numbers 9 and 10.
Also making an appearance was Las Vegas a city that had seen heavy real estate speculation at number 7 with one in 116 households receiving foreclosure notices.
As Congress debates plans to prop up troubled homeowners the foreclosure rate shows little signs of slowing. Delinquent mortgage payments which lead to foreclosure will likely rise over the next six to 12 months according to a key mortgage trend statistic from First American CoreLogic.
Copyright 2008 CNNMoney
2008-05-14 06:06:18
How can I amend a chapter 7 bankruptcy file adding a creditor?
I file for bankruptcy and I have the meeting on the 17th. I DON’T have an attorney.And I forgot to add a creditor on the file.
Please, I need to know exactly what is the form I have to print out and fill out to bring to the court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. I know I have to pay a fee of $26. But I still don’t know what form I have to fill out and where to get it. Thank you for your help.
You need to add the creditors as amended on schedule D, E or F and then you need to prepare a simple Motion. typically in the Motion you must list the name and addresses of the missing/new creditors. There may be sample Motions on the Net.You may want to contact the Bankruptcy Court as many have clerks that help pro se filers.
Yeah, what they said.