Decius wrote:

Motorists may be in for a surprise if they spot flashing red lights in their rearview mirrors in this Sacramento suburb [Rancho Cordova] during the holiday season.

Police are stopping law-abiding motorists and rewarding their good driving with $5 Starbucks gift cards.

This has been making the rounds for the past few days. The legal minds seem to agree that this isn't just a stupid idea, its unconstitutional.

[ Actually, that was my initial thought as well, but I lacked the legal background to really justify it.

I do know that my father once, in an uncharacteristic show of anger, got worked up when my mom and I got stopped for some similarly nonsensical reason one early morning. He was pretty displeased that we hadn't gotten a badge number from the cop.

This is even worse. Hate to say it, but I kind of agree with some of the comments at the link... seems like a completely unacceptable coercion to me.

-k]

RE: The Volokh Conspiracy - Unconstitutional Rewards: