JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) – The Jackson Police Department (JPD) was under the spotlight after a viral video caught the attention of thousands on social media.
The video shows Wayne Halcomb refusing to comply with JPD officers after being asked to show his license and proof of insurance.
The video has gained more than 50,000 views with 2,000 shares on social media.
“You can’t treat everyone like a criminal to find the criminals. I mean that’s just not the way America works. You are innocent until proven guilty, and I need to find the people that are guilty, and they need to find the people that are guilty,” said Halcomb.
“People have the wrong concept that it’s roadblocks. It is not a roadblock. It is an administrative checkpoint where we are looking for wanted individuals in Jackson,” said Jackson Police Chief James Davis.
The checkpoints are a part of JPD’s Ticket, Arrest, Tow (TAT) initiative.
Carlos Tanner, a criminal defense attorney, said the checkpoints are legal based on the 4th and 14th Amendments.
“They could’ve been arrested for failure to comply. The laws clear that officers can stop you pursuant to a checkpoint, and the issue with the checkpoint is that they are conducted in a constitutionally appropriate manner,” said Tanner.
Last week, the ACLU of Mississippi released a statement calling the checkpoints a bad policy.
“There is not going to be a successful suit about checkpoints. Generally, the only thing I can think of is if they are saying these checkpoints are targeting specific people or being systemically conducted in a way that violates the parameters that the law says are acceptable for checkpoints,” said Tanner.
He also mentioned that the belief of a driver’s license being one’s property is false, and that’s why licenses can be suspended or revoked.