Reply #27: No Need: Just Need a Seed [View All]

[panzerfaust]

Interestingly, a retired cop friend of mine was just telling me that when an undercover unit in his state would need a particular type of car - say a red corvette - that the word would be passed at morning briefings throughout the state and everybody will pull over red corvettes for any pretext. If they could find any illegal drug, of any amount, in the vehicle it was seized. The amount did not matter, and state law allowed police use of the seized vehicle for one year (after which it was sold at police auction).

He told me that one time he did seize a car (yep, a corvette) when he found a single marijuana seed after the owner agreed to his request to search the vehicle after being stopped for some bogus - but legal - reason.

Couple of things to think about there.

First, to paraphrase what * said about a dictatorship, a Police State is fine - if you ARE the police; Second, even if you think you have done nothing wrong, think twice about allowing an officer to conduct a warrantless search. The guy lost in court, as he had agreed to the search without asking for a warrant or even protesting. He just said "sure", and lost his car.

And that was without the cops even planting anything!