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Published on Monday, July 29, 2002
in the Orlando Sentinel
EDITORIAL
Our position: Troopers have no business pulling aside motorists for a high-speed-rail survey.
Uniformed Florida Highway Patrol troopers have no business slowing down traffic on busy interstate highways and pulling over alarmed motorists for no purpose other than to solicit information about a proposed high-speed rail system for the state.
That's an abuse of law-enforcement authority -- plain and simple. Yet last week, a private company surveying motorists about their traveling habits between Orlando and Tampa paid off-duty troopers $30 an hour to do just that -- with the blessing of FHP brass and the Florida Department of Transportation.
FHP finally had the good sense to nix the practice, citing "safety concerns," after some motorists complained. Good. There are plenty of other ways to do surveys and not scare motorists.