Can DOT officers bother you at a truck stop?

I've seen them doing inspections @ rest stops

 

There was a thread on this happening in 2007.

http://www.thetruckersreport.com/tr...olice-searches-illinois-truck-stop-spark.html


Police searches at Illinois truck stop spark questions
12/28/07
For three weeks, John Herrmann has heard questions from truckers worried about whether they should park at his truck stop for the night.
Herrmann, general manager of Flying J truck stop in Effingham, IL, was working during the early morning hours of Nov. 30, when a detail of Effingham County-area law enforcement officers woke several drivers by saying “DEA” and asking to see the inside of their cabs.
The investigation has resulted in no known arrests, but it did spark the ire of truck drivers and raised questions regarding interruptions of mandatory rest periods.
The incident bothered dozens of Land Line readers and Herrmann said he’s heard much discussion of the search on satellite radio trucking shows.
“There’s been a lot of negative publicity over this and we can’t afford to lose any business – especially when the economy is down,” Herrmann said. “We sure don’t want to be known as the hotspot for cops.”
The search didn’t take long.
According to Kendal Balding, police chief in Altamont, IL, his officers and other police officers from the area began inspecting trucks after 6 a.m. in conjunction with the Drug Enforcement Agency and the Department of Homeland Security.
Herrmann said that only minutes after truckers told him of the police inspections, he contacted Flying J’s legal department at the company’s Ogden, UT, headquarters. After calling other truck stops in the Effingham area, Herrmann found out that police had also searched trucks at a TA and a Petro.
Then, Herrmann said, he approached the officers.
The truck stop certainly wants police to ensure safety and rid the business of any shady patrons, but Herrmann said the law enforcement officers told him “they don’t have to inform me of nothing” when he asked them about their activities that day.
“I was a little upset,” Herrmann said. “And after they were done, they didn’t even come in and talk to me.”
DEA and DHS officials haven’t returned several phone calls from Land Line seeking confirmation of those agencies’ presence during the Nov. 30 searches. Officials at the Effingham Sheriff’s Department have said they aren’t aware of any arrests tied to the searches.
OOIDA Member Rick Donais told Land Line on Nov. 30 that he consented to the search, and saw police officers moving from truck to truck with K-9 units sniffing the outside of truck cabs. Eventually, Donais said, the officers moved to the Wal-Mart retail store parking lot adjacent to the truck stop.
The Illinois State Police are familiar with searching trucks and hours-of-service issues. The agency even has a division of troopers that perform commercial vehicle enforcement. Lt. Dave Beasley, an Illinois State Police spokesman, said his agency didn’t participate in the investigation and wouldn’t comment on another agency’s investigation.


Landline>>>>

 

I have seen the DOT set up a portable scale in Sapp Bros parking lot in Peru
but they never approached a parked truck

 

Here is the full Landline article.


http://www.landlinemag.com/Story.aspx?StoryID=14604#.UoQmROIlqNE


11/30/2007
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‘Special detail’ wakes up truckers at Flying J in Illinois
Rick Donais deals with inspections multiple times every week.
Donais, an OOIDA member from Ontario, Canada, hauls car parts north from McAllen, TX, and regularly works with customs officials on both U.S. borders and at weigh stations in between.
But on Friday, Nov. 30, Donais awoke about 7 a.m. to a policeman knocking on his window asking to search his Volvo dry van. He was at the Flying J truck stop in Effingham, IL near Interstate 70 and Interstate 57.
Donais allowed an officer to look through his cab and allowed a K-9 officer to inspect his trailer, he told Land Line.
Donais said he also noticed about eight investigators randomly walking from truck to truck, inspecting vents on several back doors of trucks.
“They were going around and just randomly picking trucks,” Donais said. “I don’t need the harassment. It’s bad enough you get it at the scales and occasionally the roadside without getting it at a place where you’re usually comfortable and safe.”
Donais wasn’t alone.
Another OOIDA member reported being awakened Friday at the same truck stop.
The police called out “homeland security,” the driver reported to OOIDA’s Member Assistance Department although the officers were driving a marked Altamont, IL, police cruiser.
Waking drivers midway through their mandatory eight hours in the sleeper berth technically could be interpreted to require the driver to start the eight hours of sleep over, Donais said.
“Are they going to go back and re-log another eight hours?” Donais said. “I don’t think so.”
Donais also was puzzled by the involvement of police from Altamont, which is located about 10 miles west of Effingham.
Altamont Police Chief Kendal Balding confirmed for Land Line that his department is working a special detail on behalf of the Department of Homeland Security and the federal Drug Enforcement Agency.
“We’re just kind of assisting everyone,” Balding said.
Balding told Land Line that police didn’t begin knocking on truck doors until 6 a.m. while working the detail on Friday, Nov. 30.
Balding said truckers don’t have to allow policemen to inspect the inside of their cabs.
He referred other questions about the investigation to the Effingham County Sheriff’s Office. Staff in that office referred calls to the Drug Enforcement Agency office in Fairview Heights, IL.
The DEA office in Fairview Heights, IL, referred calls to the DEA spokesman in St. Louis, whom Land Line was unable to reach by Friday’s deadline.
Donais said he later saw the police move from the truck stop to the Wal-Mart parking lot.
The impromptu inspections at the truck stop were a rare surprise for Donais, who has driven truck for 30 years.
“I guess it’s just part of the job,” he said. “More and more they’re just coming at you from all angles.”
– By Charlie Morasch, staff writer
charlie_morasch@landlinemag.com

 

Drivers at the Pilot in New Braunfels, TX were talking about some LEO writing people up for sitting in the front seat parked for their 10 while logging SB. They guy parked next to me recommended that I should sit in the passenger seat. I have that seat removed.

 

^^^ @RM... So much for reasonable suspicion. More like profiling.

But cops can do anything they want to and you have to comply. I once got woken up outside Phoenix at that Flying J. A 4 wheeler was killed on the interstate below and it wasn't even the trucker's fault. One of the redneck cops come up to the J and started harassing driver's that wasn't parked between painted lines. I called the state police and they told me to go ahead and obey his commands. Luckily a spot opened and I moved in it.

I would say to be legal you would have to restart your 10 in case of a mid break inspection. You have to document it.

 

They apparently can do whatever they want. I told one prick that it's my constitutional right 4th amendment he said he doesn't give a #### and just got into my truck and started inspecting. They can't do whatever the hell they want, the republic has long been dead, get use to your democracy or whatever it is we live in now.

 

I know there is a thread or two about this topic floating around waiting for some loving necro.
http://www.thetruckersreport.com/tr...ew-drivers/211953-truck-search-by-police.html
http://www.thetruckersreport.com/tr...126351-while-10-hour-break-sleeper-berth.html
http://www.thetruckersreport.com/tr...new-drivers/196622-truck-searches-by-dot.html