No, we concentrated on CMVs because we were specifically trained as DOT Inspectors for the NYSP CVEU (Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Unit) which is a little over 100 Troopers out of 5000 across the state. The vast majority of tickets handed out were "fix it" tickets, ie- get your mud flap or tire replaced within a certain period of time and there is no fine. Fines are set by the Legislature and decided on by the courts. LEO's have nothing to do with that side. In the CVEU it wasn't the number of tickets that mattered, it was the number of inspections you did over a month. If you got some guy hauling 140K lbs w/o an overweight permit or caught someone hauling HazMat in a dangerous fashion you were a good guy, but it's not like you became a Hero of the People or anything. As far as ignoring violations outside the FMCSR, no, we didn't on my job because we were also NYS Troopers, charged with enforcing the full range of Criminal, V+T and Selected Laws in NYS. So if I saw a drunk or some clown beating on his wife, I took care of it. But not all states have DOT Inspectors that are LEO's. Even in NYS we had DOT Inspectors that worked for the NYS DOT, the guys that plow the roads. They had no police powers and had to have a Trooper write any tickets for violations found. But, they were qualified Federal DOT Inspectors. NYS adopted the FMCSR init's entirety some years back and the State law mirrors the Federal precisely. So the Federal statutes apply within NYS to non-interstate CMVs.
I don't know where you heard Homeland authorized LEOs to enforce all laws of the land, but no, it's not true. Homeland doesn't have the authority to do that in the first place if I understand what you mean. What does happen is that an LEO coming in contact with who may be an illegal alien, for instance, will contact Homeland Immigration side (Border Patrol) and see if what he has warrants further investigation by USBP or things like that. But that has been common for at least 30 year IME. There were Troopers and other local LE who were cross trained and certified in certain specialized areas of Federal Law, like DOT or Immigration or on nuclear material, but that was a specialized thing requiring a bunch of extra schooling, testing and certification. But there is no blanket authorization by Homeland to enforce things you aren't fully trained in that I'm aware of. I don't know what state you live in but in my state EnCon Officers (Game Wardens) are trained the same as Troopers, they just specialize in Fish and Game laws. They can pull a car for a tail light and write a ticket if they want, just as Troopers can haul someone in for jacking deer. If that's not how things used to be in your state, then I'd look to see if your legislature changed the laws or if there was some court decision authorizing it.
Hope that clears up some of your misconceptions. I've been retired almost 10 yeas now, but that's about how it worked and still works to the best of my knowledge in my state. Your's may differ.
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Today's Featured Article - Third Brush Generators - by Chris Pratt. While I love straightening sheet metal, cleaning, and painting old tractors, I use every excuse to avoid working on the on the electrics. I find the whole process sheer mystery. I have picked up and attempted to read every auto and farm electrics book with no improvement in the situation. They all seem to start with a chapter entitled "Theory of Electricity". After a few paragraphs I usually close the book and go back to banging out dents. A good friend and I were recently discussing our tractor electrical systems when he stated "I figure it all comes back to applying Ohms Law". At this point
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