  A police drug search in August. / Matthew Staver, Bloomberg
Across the country, citizens are increasingly finding themselves
stopped on routine traffic stops or sobriety checkpoints only to
be subjected to extensive questioning and searches. At a time of
decreasing budgets, police seem to be hitting the streets in
search of their own sources of funding.  Federal and state
officers are tapping into an increasingly lucrative tactic
called "churning" or "policing for profits." This is how it
often works:  Officers stop cars on a pretext such as not using
a turn signal and then ask a series of questions about drugs or
contraband in the car. If the driver does not consent to a
search, officers will sometime declare that the driver is acting
suspiciously and call in a drug dog or search the passenger for
their own personal safety. Any drugs found can then be used to
seize the car and any money inside of it. The result is that
police are mining our highways for jackpot stops.  Churning has
become the self-help so