This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , R-Wray, expressed his outrage today at a bill that he argues is nothing more than another excuse for police to needlessly harass citizens.

Senate Bill 151 allows law enforcement to pull over drivers for failure to wear a seatbelt.

“In this country, we have rules against illegal searches and seizures,” said Brophy, who led the GOP charge against the measure. “Adding another potential abuse of stops for basically no reason isn’t something that we need to do.”

Brophy was joined in his opposition to the bill by the entire Republican caucus, as well as Sen. Ron Tupa, D-Boulder, known as one of the legislature’s leading civil libertarians.

The state’s seatbelt policy has been debated in the legislature repeatedly over recent years. Many Democrats have argued that the state needs to make failure to wear a seatbelt a “primary offense” – meaning that a driver can be pulled over for that reason alone – in order to save lives.

Civil libertarians have opposed the measure on the grounds that it puts too much discretion in the hands police officers, and can lead to abuses like racial profiling and unnecessary searches and seizures.

Brophy peppered his arguments with a number of anecdotes about being pulled over. The story that drew the most laughs explained how Brophy had been pulled over late one evening near his home in Wray, and been told that he was going over the 25 mph speed limit in town.

According to Brophy, the officer proceeded to explain how “I had you on a visual at 32.”

“If I were on my bike I would have taken that as a compliment,” Brophy said. “We are equipping our officers with radar vision, I guess.”