Asked 5/18/2016 – Houston, TX

I live in Houston TX and there is this busy street and every day in the U-turn of it there are always cops. They pull over every car sometimes they even ha e about 4 cars just waiting in line to see if they have DL and insurance. I got a ticket for not having my DL handy but I do have one (purse had just gotten stolen) my question is: are cops hiding in U-turns legal? Isn’t considered entrapment? Shouldn’t cops just pull you over when doing something illegal?

Answer

Police have the right to be in any public place, just like anybody else. It is not entrapment (which is when law enforcement coerces someone to do something illegal that a person would not have doe otherwise). There IS a legal question about the constitutionality of police roadblocks and license checkpoints. Moe information would have to be discovered about the specific nature of the police actions, so contact a local attorney.