As a not-American stories like this make the very country itself seem like the blueprint followed by the tech giants. Illegally bullying the public at large, too big to punish, let alone reign in. It's not an ideal image, is it? And most depressing is that there's not a damn thing Joe average can do about it.
Sure there is, just be nice to the cop and identify yourself. The last part is where the guy in the story went wrong, incidentally. It's pretty clear he was deliberately protesting this, though. If you don't know for sure, and you don't want to be arrested, you can just assume that you probably are required to identify yourself [1].
As long as you're not in big trouble (some sort of felony, drugs or DUI), you'll generally get in less trouble for treating them nicely. Most of them have a bias that anyone who hates cops is up to no good and their experience will bear that out more often than not. It will get noted down that they were suspicious of factors X, Y and Z due to their training and experience.
That said, if you're part of some big crime, assert your right to remain silent by saying exactly that every time they question you until you have a lawyer. But really, if you're not into drugs or gangs or politics, that's pretty unlikely for a normal person.
And the checkpoints in the article? Just identify yourself and don't drink at all (call Lyft if you need one) and you'll be fine. Oh, and watch your speed when driving on the reservations. They make a lot of money on fines.
I get that you're probably a nice person and being nice to cops is generally a good idea. If you don't start off confrontational, things will go better. But I think you're severely misunderstanding the fundamental underlying principle that is wrong with these stops, and why people intentionally choose to not comply with them: People have the right to travel freely around without going through "papers, please" type checkpoints. Unless your behavior meets the legal requirements for a "terry stop" (google it), you should not encounter arbitrarily placed law enforcement checkpoints on public roads. The people who are fighting for this are standing up for the constitution and bill of rights.
These checkpoints are directly in violation of the supreme Court case Delaware v. Prouse.
I get why they're protesting. I'm answering for what one should do if they just want to go on their way and not get into trouble.
It's probably not very obvious for most people that he did something wrong as soon as he refused to identify himself (though the cops appear to have made their own mistakes, as well).
If it was once, or twice, I'd probably just show them id and move on. What is shocking to me are the stories about people for whom this is a regular occurrence, and where even thinking about what to do to avoid trouble at the regular police checkpoints is a thing.
To me this reminds me of my parents telling me about dealing with police checkpoints when they visited Poland before the fall of the Soviet Union.
I get why people protest this, I really do. I have spent decades in an area that has them.
I just wanted to make sure there's a clear answer here for people who are scared and just want to go through the checkpoint without getting into trouble. It's one thing if it's a voluntary protest to get oneself arrested in order to have standing to challenge the laws. It's another thing entirely if someone is scared because they just want to see the Sonoran desert and not the back seat of a police car.
