Isn't this dishonest and can something be done about this??

State Property, state agency, legal, to check that you are in compliance with the written laws.

Entrapment is when they entice you to break the law. They are not enticing you to break the law by checking your compliance with the law.

 

How would it be entrapment? Rest areas are public access and public property. They are an extension of public roads. Even private property with public access, such as truck stops, shopping malls, etc., are fair game. If it is private property and the public does not normally have free access then typically enforcement doesn't have the right to do inspections. Going back to the situation of being inspected while legally parked at a rest area or truck stop, if you're off-duty then politely decline their invitation.

 

Good points on the entrapment, I was thinking more along the lines if they saw you cleaning your windows while being logged off duty or something. Not defending someone that doesn't log legally, just thinking it's a fine line. Wake up off duty, start your day and notice a smudge on the mirror. Wipe it off and WHAM, they have you for a log violation. Kinda far fetched, but I guess it could happen.

And roaming a rest area would certainly increase their chances for revenue.

 

I drive almost exclusively in Montana and have never seen a MCS officer at a truckstop. Could be that it was a safer place to have the driver move to for an inspection rather than the roadside shoulder or the driver pulled in there instead of the shoulder,

 

I've seen them inspecting in that same truck stop on 2 different occasions within about 3 or 4 weeks and both times it was on a Saturday iirc

I have no idea what the circumstances were leading to how or why that location (at the back row) was chosen. Just stating what I know I've seen recently.

 

I was going to say... I don't doubt @STexan saw what he saw, but I used to stop at that Pilot a couple times a week--all days and sometimes for several days--and the only time I have ever seen enforcement there is if they're getting something from the C-store or McDonalds.

 

Yea, I've seen them snatch guys in a couple of states at different truck stops.
I will never sleep at a scale, or an area that is used for portables, or an area that was an old coup. See them banging on doors in the mornings in those all the time.
I've never seen them come into a truck stop and start rousting people though. The guys I've seen them get, they're following in. That's a dude getting a level 2 at the J like 60 miles south of Waco on the 35. Last 4th of July.

 

The big Florida and ky scales with the safe haven signs don't bother you. I've been taking ten hour breaks at them for two decades and never been hassled. Now that being said, they do have to do their job so if they see a guy with obvious safety violations such as a blown tire, they are going to grab him when he gets up and goes to roll out.

 

I've wondered about that too, how many have something flagrantly wrong, yet park at a coup. Lol.

4 or 5 years ago on the 4th this bear was on the platform in Mississippi, and they were stopping everyone.
He was sticking his head in every ones window asking " How's it going? "
Did the same with me, and waived me through.
Later it came to me that since it was a Holiday weekend, he could smell everyone when he put his head in the cab, and he was looking for liquor.

 

That same scenario happened to me . The officer just asked me to proceed to the nearest truck stop (Eloy) for an inspection. He followed behind me. In and out in 15 minutes, all was good.