Colorado sheriff creates roadblock so private firm can demand DNA blood samples [priv]

I've been behind on Politech recently, but this story made me irritated=20
enough to catch up on things.

The Gilpin County Sheriff's Office in Colorado, a rural area not that=20
far west of Denver, recently set up a highway checkpoint where motorists =

were stopped and, at least in some cases, not allowed to leave until=20
they gave breath, blood, and saliva samples for the benefit of a private =

research firm. A report by Ernie Hancock says the National Highway=20
Traffic Safety Administration was involved as well.

A Denver Post article is here:
http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_6922089

More:
http://cw2.trb.com/news/kwgn-invasive-checkpoint,0,2092732.story
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=3D57733
http://freedomsphoenix.com/Discussion-Page.htm?InfoNo=3D024006

The Post says the private organization in question is the Pacific=20
Institute for Research and Evaluation, or PIRE, in Calverton, MD. Their=20
Web site seems to be down but can be viewed here:
http://web.archive.org/web/20050826173038/www.pire.org/

This seems to be a fine opportunity for Politech readers to let PIRE=20
executives and Gilpin County supervisors know what they think about=20
police abusing their authority at the demand of a private research firm.

Gilpin County email addresses:
[email protected], [email protected], [email protected]=

PIRE email addresses: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]=
rg

The thoroughly-misnamed PIRE is a major DC government contractor (and in =

fact its offices are within walking distance of the Beltway). It=20
specializes in funneling over $35 million of taxpayer money a year into=20
its own coffers through law enforcement contracts of dubious utility,=20
mostly dealing with drugs and alcohol, from sources including the U.S.=20
Department of Justice. 100 percent of its budget appears to come from=20
government contracts or grants.

Although PIRE pretends to be a "nonprofit" organization -- at least that =

label helps to collect those fat taxpayer-funded checks from the DOJ --=20
in reality it spends about $1.35 million a year on lobbyists. Not a bad=20
30-fold return on investment. And its employees are paid six-figure=20
salaries that would be handsome even by for-profit standards.*

PIRE seems to specialize in devising new and intrusive ways of=20
government meddling in personal lives. One PIRE success story helps to=20
coerce retailers to card octogenarians who dare to try to buy a bottle=20
of Cabernet. ("This method of enforcement gives retailers the necessary=20
incentive to comply with the state=92s law regarding the sale of alcohol,=
=20
given that their next customer could be part of a compliance check. The=20
Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE) has developed a=20
detailed document to assist in the development and implementation of=20
compliance checks." See:
http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/alcohol/dotpartners/chapter_5.htm

PIRE is an ardent supporter of the War On (Some Politically=20
Unacceptable) Drugs, also known as an excellent way for Feds and=20
contractors to fleece the public in a war that will never end,=20
eviscerate the Fourth Amendment, and create a police state with=20
perfectly legal no-knock raids. One PIRE researcher who focuses on=20
"middle-school-based drug prevention programs" and has written a paper=20
claiming anti-drug programs in schools actually work:
http://www.nida.nih.gov/Meetings/Prevention/PrevBios4.html

PIRE also supports higher taxes on alcohol and firmly opposes lowering=20
the minimum drinking age to be akin to Europe or Canada (something that=20
would probably do much to limit abuse). See:
http://www.higheredcenter.org/thisweek/tw010629.html
http://resources.prev.org/documents/BeerTaxesNewsRelease.pdf

I'm sure that PIRE will be delighted to hear from the members of the=20
public that pay its executive salaries. And if course if they have=20
apologized for the Colorado incident, and pledge never to rely on such=20
underhanded tactics again, I'd be delighted to send along a response=20
from them.

-Declan

* Robert Carpenter, PIRE's CEO, was paid $221,785 in 2005
Ted Langevin, a VP/CFO, was paid $200,760
Joel Grube, a PIRE research director, was paid $237,075
Ted Miller, a PIRE research director, was paid $192,444
Jan van der Eijk, IS director, was paid $194,532
Paul Gruenwald, a science director, was paid $212,437
Robert Saltz, an associate director, was paid $191,527
Genevive Ames, a staff director, was paid $183,770

I've put PIRE's 2005 990 form here so you can see for yourself:
http://politechbot.com/docs/pire.pacific.institute.research.evaluation.fi=
nances.092107.pdf
_______________________________________________
Politech mailing list
Archived at http://www.politechbot.com/
Moderated by Declan McCullagh (http://www.mccullagh.org/)