Bill,

Yes Primetime did an expose on some cops doing excessive searches on
Louisiana highways primarily of out-of-state cars.  Specifically, a
parish just west of Lake Charles and another one closer to New Orleans.
The show originally aired sometime last fall and then was a re-run this
summer.  Immediately after the first show, the sheriff offices in the
two parishes were investigated by state authorities to see whether or
not they were really overstepping (you can't really rely on those types
of shows as they are fairly biased and usually only give one side of the
story).  The state did find that those two parishes gave a lot more
'subjective' type tickets to out of state license plates than to
Louisiana cars.  Subjective type tickets included:  improper lane usage,
following too close, etc.  Some would say, the tickets were an excuse to
pull people over and search their cars.  Cars subjected to this were
'drug-runner' type cars (if there is such a thing, although imho it's a
fairly discriminatory action).

Although the search itself is extremely offensive and time-consuming,
property is only actually seized if they have reasonable belief that it
was drug-related (i.e. large sums of cash that can't be accounted for,
we're talking many-thousands of dollars on up typically).  Since the
initial primetime show, both parishes have had to account for themselves
to the state and the situation has supposedly improved.

Personally, I have Louisiana plates on all my vehicles and drive from
the Baton Rouge area to Houston frequently and have never been pulled
over and rarely see someone pulled over, and have NEVER seen a search in
progress.  I did have an uncle with Florida plates drive thru a year or
so ago and was pulled over (in my opinion, his old car would qualify as
a 'drug-runner' looking vehicle, again, if there is such a thing) for a
fairly subjective ticket (not speeding).  They didn't request to search
his vehicle, but he said they were rude (then again, most people
probably think the cop giving them the ticket is rude).

If you do drive thru, they are pretty sticklers for the speed limit
around Lake Charles and have a habit of hiding in the best places.

Tonya
87 Vanagon GL Wolfs
74 S. Beetle