Motel 6 now provides daily guest lists to snooping law enforcement agencies

(NaturalNews) The motto of Motel 6 is "We'll leave the light on for you." Now, it might be more accurate for them to say, "We'll rat you out to the cops."

As reported by the Providence Journal in Rhode Island, the hotel chain's corporate managers have agreed to provide local police with lists of guests, ostensibly as a crime-fighting tool.

In announcing this "partnership," city officials in Providence made sure to highlight the fact that city police had made arrests as a result of the arrangement:

City police have arrested four people staying at the Motel 6 on Jefferson Boulevard as a result of the hotel chain's agreement to provide police with a daily guest list, Mayor Scott Avedisian said Tuesday.

The names of Motel 6 guests, which police then check for outstanding warrants, is one of five steps Motel 6 corporate managers agreed to take in response to a string of high-profile incidents and concerns the establishment was becoming a haven for passing criminals.

What about privacy and probable cause?

Additional measures included in an agreement Motel 6 execs signed in recent days included raising the minimum age to rent a room from 18 years old (when Americans can enlist to fight and die for their country) to 21; hiring a police detail every night; sharing their national "do not rent list" with cops; and conducting regular training, including how to identify human trafficking.

"We know everyone who is staying in the hotel tonight," Avedisian told the paper in a phone interview following a meeting with Motel 6 executives that included Warwick Police Chief Col. Stephen M. McCartney and Seekonk, Massachusetts, Town Administrator Shawn E. Cadime.

Not only are guests' names being provided to police by the Warwick Motel 6 every night, but guests are not even told that their names are being passed along.

Victor Glover, a vice president of safety and security for the chain's owner G6 Hospitality, told the paper that informing guests that local cops know they are there "is not a normal process of our check-in," which appears to indicate that the hotel chain is hiding that fact from guests.

"I don't know that we have any plans of instituting that as we move forward," he added, meaning the chain isn't planning on ever telling guests if the company can get away with it.

Glover was also vague about whether or not all Motel 6 hotels were involved in the practice. He did say that local police can generally obtain a guest list from any Motel 6 if they ask for it (presumably with or without a warrant and/or probable cause, as is required by the Fourth Amendment). He would not say if the hotel chain has similar problems at other locations, only that "there are times that issues come up."

Any department that asks can get guest lists

The notion of providing guest lists to police of all guests - not just those suspected of conducting criminal activity (which the new training is supposed to address) - arose after a spate of recent cases involving human trafficking at the Warwick location.

"We don't want the problem to just be transferred there," Avedisian said, adding that now that Motel 6 has agreed to share its "do not rent" lists, he will check with the state's tourism associations to see if other hotel chains want to do the same thing.

It appears we are being led to believe that only Motel 6 hotels are a "haven for passing criminals" However, couldn't all discount hotels be considered potential "havens for passing criminals"? As Warwick city officials have indicated, it won't be long before more chains are handing over guest lists to police.

Americans are slowly losing rights that are supposed to be guaranteed by the Constitution. Then again, you have to have public services and business people with enough virtue to abide by our founding document's limitations and provisions.

Many of our nation's founding fathers addressed the issue of virtue in public service, but it was Benjamin Franklin who once said, "Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become more corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters."

Sources:

http://www.providencejournal.com

https://www.law.cornell.edu

http://www.liberty1.org