Radio Ranch with Roger Sayles AFTERSHOW - 050826 - Signals, Sheriffs, and the Side of the Road: A Candid Talk with Sheriff Dar Leaf

In today’s after-show, I sit down with Sheriff Dar Leaf of Michigan for a candid, practical conversation on signaling and traffic enforcement, sheriff autonomy, and how real-world policing intersects with citizen-led constitutional arguments. We kick off with California’s new signaling expectations—why two blinks won’t cut it for lane changes at highway speeds—and pivot into broader questions of training, discretion, and why the side of the road is the worst place to litigate “right to travel” claims. Sheriff Leaf explains the differences between Michigan’s constitutional sheriff role and California’s structure, how purse strings and prosecutors shape outcomes, and why some legal hills aren’t worth dying on. We also touch on local control, historic roots of the sheriff’s office, and the tension between statutory traffic regimes and common law ideals. Sheriff Leaf recounts on-the-job lessons about community policing (and grandma’s apple pie), handling unlicensed drivers asserting non-commercial status, and the limits of courtroom alternatives. The roundtable dives into land patents, local sovereignty assertions, DOT “private carrier” tags, insurance realities, and the need to focus resources on higher priorities like trafficking and public corruption. It’s an honest, ground-level look at law, culture, and what it really takes to keep the peace while navigating competing legal worldviews.