I was stopped by a deputy in Pinellas County for s...

I was stopped by a deputy in Pinellas County for swerving ONCE within the lane. He told me he was stopping me to see, if I was okay. No, he was stopping me to see, if he could write me for a DUI and take me to jail. I was stone sober, so he couldn't do anything.

It seems Florida's laws have become very dependent on the subjectivity of the officer's judgment as to whether a person is intoxicated or not, and an officer can write you a citation if you've had any alcohol at all. That probably means they can also take you to jail and impound your vehicle, as well. This is ridiculous and the reason why we have had a law that states .08 is over the limit. A law that is left up to officers' judgments is a law that will be twisted to cause inconvenience to others, detention, confiscation of property, and other heinous behaviors.

Swerving once within a lane of travel is not sufficient probable cause to detain someone for a traffic stop in pursuit of a DUI arrest. When he gave me my documents back, he told me I was "....free to go." What happened to drive safely, which should be the point of traffic law enforcement? The point is that there are law enforcement officers who trample others' Constitutional rights either outrightly or through subversion, because the ends justify the means. In this case, my ability to travel freely was suspended through detainment without probable cause.

I have heard that officers receive payments for their DUI stops, which seems to be a conflict of interest. Whether this is true or not, I should not have been stopped for merely swerving once in the lane.